Gossip in mobile lifestyles

This paper is liberally speculative about the patterns in gossip and the purpose of it, but it has some fascinating theories about what types of communication mobile phones are allowing us to do. In particular, the ability of gift-giving through the act of sending text messages and the ability for shy males to develop social skills by text are interesting side effects of the technology.

"Thanks to mobiles, we can now be in constant contact with a wide network of family and friends. We can gossip anytime, anywhere: the stresses and strains of work, traffic jams, tedious train journeys, supermarket queues and other frustrations of modern life can be instantly relieved by a bit of 'verbal grooming', by talk or text. "

Evolution, Alienation and Gossip, 2001
The role of mobile telecommunications in the 21st century
Kate Fox
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