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Mobile Media & Communication

Journal Description

Mobile Media & Communication

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Mobile Media & Communication is a peer-reviewed forum for international, interdisciplinary academic research on the dynamic field of mobile media and communication. Mobile Media & Communication draws on a wide and continually renewed range of disciplines, engaging broadly in the concept of mobility itself.

The journal embraces both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of mobility in communication, but above all aims toward state-of-the-art methodology. While the center of gravity lies in social sciences and humanities, the journal is open to research with technical, economic, and design aspects, provided they help to enlighten the social dimensions of mobile communication.

Mobile Media & Communication examines the phenomenon of mobility in communication – that is, what is understood as mobile media and communication, but also emerging phenomena such as mobile and ubiquitous computing. Contributions may include, but are certainly not limited to, explorations of the following topics:

  • Mobile communication as an innovation, including the emergence of new usage forms, the negotiation of norms, and symbolic representation by producers and users
  • The interrelationship of this nearly ubiquitous technology and the users’ everyday lives
  • The embeddedness of mobile communication within social networks, and the mutual shaping of technology and social structure
  • Local cultures and forms of use of mobile communication
  • Mobile communication in developing countries
  • Cultural differences in mobile communication
  • Mobile communication and gender
  • Specific methodologies that address the mobile character of the phenomenon: ethnography, observation, network analysis, experience sampling, and other still emerging methods
  • Mobile learning and education.
  • Persuasion through mobile media in various domains
  • History of mobile media
  • Journalism and mobile media
  • Specific methodologies that address the mobile character of the phenomenon: ethnography, observation, network analysis, experience sampling, and other still emerging methods

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Journal Feed

  • Book Review: Critical Perspectives on Open Development: Empirical Interrogation of Theory Construction by Arul Chib, Caitlin M. Bentley & Matthew L. Smith
    by Charles Erize P. Ladia
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 276-277, January 2025.
  • Changes in the editorial team
    by Adriana de Souza e Silva
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 3-4, January 2025.
  • Disentangling the good, the bad, and the neutral of co-present mobile phone use: A new perspective on “partner phubbing”
    by Michal Frackowiak
    Mobile Media & Communication, Ahead of Print. Studies show that the use of smartphones in the presence of a partner may result in lower relationship quality, intimacy, and increased conflict. Such co-present phone use, often referred to as “phubbing” or “technoference,” has been problematized in the literature. However, few studies have hitherto explored the possibility that using phones in each other's presence may not cause any relational harm and might even support relationship maintenance. Only recently did the critiques and theoretical frameworks begin to expand our understanding of the broader role of smartphones in dyadic interactions. In this study, we […]
  • Parental technoference and the impact on familial relationships
    by Heather Gahler
    Mobile Media & Communication, Ahead of Print. Mobile technologies can become sources of interference that interrupt everyday family life. This concept, dubbed technoference, underlies the current study on how technological intrusions influence the parent–child relationship. This study of U.S. co-parents in families of preschool- and kindergarten-aged children examines the extent to which such interruptions are perceived to have negative consequences on the relationships that co-parents have with their children. The study found that the more the participant perceived the other co-parent as allowing technology to interfere during parent–child time together, the more likely the participant was to rate their co-parent's […]
  • Parental phubbing, loneliness, and adolescent materialism: A cross-lagged panel study
    by Pengcheng Wang
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 255-275, January 2025. An increasing number of researchers are focusing on the adverse consequences of parental phubbing, however, it remains unstudied whether and how parental phubbing impact adolescent materialism. To address the research gap, we investigated the temporal and bidirectional relationships between parental phubbing, loneliness, and adolescent materialism. To be thorough, the mediating role of loneliness and the moderating role of gender were examined. Data were collected from 1,447 Chinese adolescents in June 2019 (T1) and January 2020 (T2). The results showed that T1 parental phubbing positively predicted T2 adolescent materialism, […]
  • (Dis)connecting families: Parents’ versus children's perspectives on the role of mobile devices within family interactions
    by Nele Janssens
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 192-213, January 2025. The characteristics of mobile technology devices have enabled new ways of integrating technology in familial interactions. This study aimed to investigate (1) differences in perspectives of technoference and family-oriented mobile technology use between parents and children, (2) the relation between parent–child interactions that take place via mobile technology and the quality of the parent–child relationship, and (3) its association with the well-being of parents and preadolescents separately. Structural equation modelling was performed on cross-sectional data from 390 parent–child dyads. The findings revealed discrepancies in child technoference perceptions and […]
  • How do smartphone users access the internet? An exploratory analysis of mobile web browser use
    by Ludwig Fichte
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 151-170, January 2025. In this article, we use a top tasks survey (n = 466) and unmoderated interviews (n = 101) to explore how smartphone users access the internet: through browsers or standalone applications. We found a surprising number of users surveyed rely on mobile browsers to conduct internet-based tasks ordinarily associated with standalone apps, such as reading emails (34%), watching videos (24%), and listening to music (16%). Interviews revealed several practical and socioeconomic explanations for “browser-centric” smartphone use, including memory conservation on inexpensive mobile handsets and privacy management. We discuss the implications for information […]
  • Eco-Warrior: A theory-based mobile app intervention for forming and sustaining pro-environmental habits
    by Ching-Hua Chuan
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 234-254, January 2025. This study developed and evaluated a theory-driven mobile app to facilitate pro-environmental behavior change and habit formation to address the prevalent attitude-behavior gap in environmental activism. The app first informs users of interconnected environmental problems and offers various pro-environmental behaviors for users to practice daily. The app further nudges users toward achieving their behavioral goals through personalized daily reminders, progress-tracking, empowering messages that celebrate their achievements, and reaffirmation of the beneficial impacts of their actions to facilitate eco-habit formation. To evaluate the app's effectiveness, a sequential mixed-design method […]
  • Off-grid? Resistant media operations by delivery gig workers in response to app-based tracking
    by Sebastian Randerath
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 214-233, January 2025. Tracking by mobile media has become key to coordination and surveillance of delivery gig work. Through their daily app-based media operations, delivery gig workers contribute to the capitalisation and establishment of platform companies’ spatiotemporal regimes. But this app-based tracking has been a source of tension and conflict, particularly in the face of growing organised and unionised resistance by delivery gig workers in Germany. App-based tracking is evolving into an arena for negotiating resistance, conducting counter-surveillance and (temporarily) disrupting platform-based supply chains. These forms of labour resistance and counter-surveillance […]
  • Ear buddies: A moderated mediation model of the effect of mobility on parasocial relationships with podcast hosts
    by Hailey Scherer
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 28-46, January 2025. The affordances of different media technologies can affect how users develop parasocial relationships with the media figures they encounter on those devices. This study examined the relationship between mobility and parasocial relationships with podcast hosts. Participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 165) responded to a survey on a memorable podcast listening experience. The results revealed a conditional indirect effect of mobility on parasocial relationship strength through narrative transportation. Media multitasking moderated this effect. Specifically, there was a positive effect of mobility on transportation that increased incrementally at moderate and […]
  • Sharing is caring: The positive role of smartphone co-use in social dynamics
    by Anneleen Meeus
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 129-150, January 2025. Smartphones are increasingly present during the exchanges we have with others in real life. Such co-present smartphone use has mainly been examined from a negative perspective, and research has insufficiently recognized the positive role these behaviors may play in social relationships. The main goal of the current study was therefore to offer insight into the processes by which smartphone co-use may be related to positive social dynamics during in-person interactions. Data were collected through two cross-sectional studies among 1) in Austria (N = 257, Mage = 32.84, SDage = 13.97, 55.9% female) and 2) […]
  • Shaping infrastructural futures: The International Telecommunication Union’s visions for mobile communications and the anticipatory politics of 5G standardization
    by Kieran Hegarty
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 171-191, January 2025. This article shows how dominant actors inscribe certain ideas, visions, and predictions of infrastructural futures for international mobile telecommunications through standardization. It argues that standard setting is a key avenue that brings different (and sometimes divergent) interests, groups, concerns, and activities into alignment around a certain vision of social and technological progress. To demonstrate this, two key stages in the 5G standardization process were examined. First, we explored the path to the release of IMT-2020—the standard for 5G networks, devices, and services released by the Radiocommunication Sector of […]
  • Exploring Kenyans’ interactions with misinformation on WhatsApp
    by Kevin C. Mudavadi
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 69-87, January 2025. The abundance of misinformation spreading online has precipitated a need to investigate experiences with misinformation in more closed spaces like those found on WhatsApp. Based on interviews with Kenyan adults, this study examines participants’ perceptions of misinformation circulated on WhatsApp and its potential consequences, interactions with misinformation, and decision-making. Findings indicate that participants perceive sharing misinformation on WhatsApp as a means of telling others about what is happening around them. Participants acknowledged the dangers of misinformation spread on WhatsApp but were wary of correcting it because of family […]
  • Influence of different parental mediation strategies on adolescents’ hedonistic smartphone use: Parent–adolescent reports
    by Nandhini Priya
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 107-128, January 2025. Hedonistic smartphone usage refers to smartphone activities for instant gratification and pleasure; increased hedonistic use is associated with perceived stress, problematic smartphone usage, and smartphone addiction among adolescents. Parents naturally intervene in adolescents’ screen media use through various mediation strategies, including active mediation of safety, restrictive mediation, monitoring mediation, and technical mediation, to reduce potential negative impacts and online risks. This study aims to identify the relationship between parental mediation strategies and adolescents’ hedonistic smartphone use using the data from 447 adolescents and 432 parents. This study also […]
  • Gluten-free apps, disability, and travel: Developing a critical heuristic for the implementation of mobile apps
    by Justin Grandinetti
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 88-106, January 2025. Mobile applications are often positioned as a technologically driven answer to navigating the world with disability; nevertheless, apps created for specialized communities designed to facilitate mobility can quickly meet friction that stymies movement through place. Accordingly, the effectiveness of mobile apps is determined by a complex sociotechnical puzzle that includes cultures, industry regulations, public knowledge and legislation, the unique histories of urban spaces, and infrastructural access. Drawing from short-term autoethnographic approaches designed to evaluate the utility of mobile applications, this article provides a critical assessment of using location-aware […]
  • Getting hooked on mobile games: Strengthening purchase intentions towards mobile games using investment model and parasocial interactions
    by An-Di Gong
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 47-68, January 2025. Free-to-play has become a common business strategy in the game market, the associated microtransactions of which have attracted academic attention. In recent years, gacha games have gathered a considerable consumer base in the mobile gaming market, and these players have demonstrated strong purchasing power with regard to additional game resources. Within the framework of parasocial interaction and the investment model, this study explored factors influencing players’ game commitment and purchase intentions. This study used structural equation modeling and moderation analysis to examine data collected from 2,045 Chinese mobile […]
  • Can mothers avoid guilt about their smartphone usage behavior? Effects of the availability norm and goal conflict on guilt, recovery, and accomplishment experiences
    by Annabell Halfmann
    Mobile Media & Communication, Volume 13, Issue 1, Page 5-27, January 2025. Balancing everyday tasks with the expectations of others regarding one's availability via smartphone is a challenge, especially for mothers. This research replicated and further developed studies by Halfmann and colleagues in 2021 and 2024 that yielded contradictory results regarding the conditions of feelings of guilt about (not) using the smartphone. More specifically, we investigated how smartphone-related goal conflict, the availability norm, and the parental phone use norm are related to mothers’ feelings of guilt when completing non-stressful everyday tasks. In addition, we researched how smartphone-related goal conflict and […]
  • Corrigendum to “Book Review: Protests in the Information Age: Social Movements, Digital Practices and Surveillance by Lucas Melgaço and Jeffrey Monaghan”
    Mobile Media & Communication, Ahead of Print.
  • RETRACTED: The abject as mass entertainment: Micro-celebrities in China’s Kuaishou video-sharing app
    by Chris K. K. Tan
    Mobile Media & Communication, Ahead of Print.