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The Gift of the Gab?: A Design Oriented Sociology of Young People's Use of Mobiles

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Abstract

This paper reports ethnographically informedobservations of the use of mobile phones andtext messaging services amongst young people.It offers a sociological explanation for thepopularity of text messaging and for thesharing of mobile phones between co-proximatepersons. Specifically, it reveals that youngpeople use mobile phone content and the phonesthemselves to participate in the practices ofgift exchange. By viewing mobile phone use inthis way, the paper suggests a number ofpossibilities for future phone-basedapplications and supporting hardware.

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Taylor, A.S., Harper, R. The Gift of the Gab?: A Design Oriented Sociology of Young People's Use of Mobiles. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 12, 267–296 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025091532662

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