Mobile Work Life

The aim of the Mobile Work Life Project (www.mobileworklife.ca) is to add to our current understanding of the now-ubiquitous use of mobile devices like smartphones.

The mobile phone brings a “ghost participant” into every social interaction (Caron & Caronia, 2007), regardless of whether the phone actually rings. The phone itself represents the constant possibility that another social context could interrupt the current “interaction ritual” (Goffman, 1967).  This interruption of a competing social context is only amplified with the advent of texting, email, and various smart phone “apps.” Mobile phones are reconfiguring our habitual social interactions, yet we know little about how and in what ways these interactions are changing.

• Have you ever put your iPhone on the family dinner table?
• Have you ever lost your smartphone?
• Have you ever had an argument with a loved one about your smartphone?
• Have you ever had a work-related phone call at a family-related event?
• Have you ever taken a family-related phone call while at work?

We want to know more about these experiences. This project is primarily an ethnographic investigation. We are taking an anthropological approach to understanding these devices and the roles they are already playing in our lives.