"Imagined privacy" a fascinating concept which I haven't heard before. But I wonder if it is the only -- or even the dominant -- explanation.
Some observations of mine as a frequent Toronto bus and tram rider; 1. "My social world is on my phone. I don't care -- and am not even aware -- that others are listening." In short, considerations of privacy don't matter. I first observed this pre-mobile phone in 1974 when I was in a posh London restaurant. The eldery high SES couple next to me were talking VERY LOUDLY about who was "bopping" whom among their friends. "Francine is doing it with Charles these days." etc. Total disregard (indeed lack of awareness) of whether anyone could overheard them because the others didn't count. 2. Foreign language speakers often speak more loudly into their mobile phones. Here is a real or imagined privacy because the assumption is that others won't understand what they are saying. (English, Cantonese and Mandarin are the 3 dominant languages of Toronto.) Alas, I haven't run comparative observations: do Finns murmer in Suomi on their mobiles in foreign countries as much as they do in Finland? In short, the whole interplay of public and private needs rumination. Barry _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________ > > 1. Best sociological or social psych lit on the "imagined privacy" phenomenon? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: Best sociological or social psych lit on the "imagined privacy" > phenomenon? > From: "David Brake" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:05:34 -0500 > X-Message-Number: 1 > > What chapters or papers would people recommend as analyses of the > phenomenon we have all observed where people convince themselves that > nobody around them can hear them on their phones? I know I have read such > a paper but can't find it now. I'm not interested in papers that quantify > the phenomenon or its distribution - I'm looking for papers that talk > about why psychologically this mental 'censorship' is necesssary or that > relate it to other similar phenomena (perhaps in a historical context?) or > that ask what it means for society that we are increasingly hearing little > bits of other people's conversations. > > Thanks in advance... > > > > --- > > END OF DIGEST > > --- > You are currently subscribed to mobile-society as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to %%email.unsub%% > --- You are currently subscribed to mobile-society as: archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
