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The young develop their own mobile communications culture

December 18, 2001

Mobile phones became part of the everyday lives of young people in Finland at the end of the 1990`s. The young created their own mobile communications culture, of which talking on the phone is only one part. The Information Society Research Centre of the University of Tampere has studied the mobile communications of children and young people since 1997. Nokia, Sonera, and the National Technology Agency of Finland have participated in the study. The research project is part of the Tekes' technology programme TLX Telecommunications - Creating a Global Village.

As a result of the study the Information Society Research Centre has published a book "K'¤nnyss'¤ piilev'¤t sanomat: nuoret, v'¤line ja viesti" which contains observations of the creation and first steps of the mobile phone culture of the young people in Finland. The book describes how mobile communication has become part of the daily routines of children and young people.

Schoolchildren use mobile phones more and more in Finland, and a major part of them have their own mobile phones. According to the study conducted by the Pori School of Technology and Economics, for example, about 60% of children aged 9 to 12 years have their own mobile phones. With young people aged 13 to 16, the corresponding figure is almost 90%. According to the City of Helsinki Urban Facts, every third 10-year-old schoolchild in Helsinki has a mobile phone in his/her use.

Text messages, prompt calls, and games

The mobile phone is a natural part of the lives of the young. With the mobile phone, they attend to their everyday routines, maintain social relationships, and express their own style and way of life.

Young people are advanced users of mobile phones and mobile services, and there exists hardly any resistance of principle to mobile phones among the young. On the contrary, they usually regard mobile communications as humane technology and their own mobile phones as close, personal devices.

The mobile communications culture of the young is characterized, for example, by the large volume of text messaging, so-called prompt calls (letting the phone ring only once to indicate that you have called), and playing games. Text messages can express the full range of feelings, from joy to sadness, and in text messages it is easier to tell even about delicate matters. Quite a number of young people have, for example, started a dating relationship through the use of a text message.

"Naming young people`s mobile phone culture as either better or more peculiar than adult communications would not do justice to either group. It is natural for the young to create their own distinct uses that do not fit the adults` everyday lives. However, parents may find it extremely useful to be familiar with these uses, for example, when trying to solve the family`s communications problems," says researcher Eija-Liisa Kasesniemi.

In addition to text messaging, the young regard the mobile phone as a useful object and a life management tool. The mobile phone is an alarm clock, calendar, and source of entertainment, but above all, it is a means for expanding and maintaining social networks.

Children use mobile phones less openly

Children under 10 years of age also have mobile phones, but their mobile communication is still rather unnoticed. It is not uncommon to even forbid children to show off their phones or to draw attention to them in any other way. Very often the mobile phone is acquired for reasons of safety and to serve as a means for keeping contact with small schoolchildren who are allowed to go out by themselves.

Many children seem to learn to use their mobile phones easily. However, children do not necessarily consider the mobile phone mainly a communications tool, but to them the most important feature of the phone may be a certain game. For a child, communication takes place here and now. Children express themselves with looks, gestures, postures and movements, which are impossible to communicate over the phone.

Book about the mobile phone culture of young people in Finland

The book that has recently been published focuses on describing the role of the mobile phone in maintaining the social relationships of the young and on presenting the mobile phone uses that are characteristic of the young. The book is based on the project that was launched in 1997 to study the mobile communications of children and young people.

The project related to the mobile communications of children and young people continues under the name Wireless Kids. The aim of the international pilot study launched in 2001 is to analyse and compare the mobile communications cultures of children and young people in four different countries.

"The use of mobile devices has become more common among children and young people in different parts of the world. However, no global communications culture is being created, but there are many differences in the uses," says researcher Pirjo Rautiainen.

The material also serves as a basis for a publication on mobile communications between children and between family members, and a dissertation dealing with the media relationship of children and young people from the perspective of, for example, identity, sex and competence. Another dissertation is being written about the established text messaging culture of girls and boys, and about new mobile writing formats and mobile writing.

Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation