Mobile youth culture: A conceptual development

Abstract

The concept of “mobile youth culture” is frequently used in the field of adolescent mobile phone research to refer to the distinctive ways in which youths around the world embed the mobile phone in their everyday lives. Little attention, however, has been devoted to its theoretical foundations. Drawing from youth culture theory and new (mobile) media theories, this article conceptually develops mobile youth culture by (a) describing the commonalities in adolescent mobile phone use that constitute the culture, and by (b) discussing the origins of these commonalities through an analysis of the network, the social and personal logics inherent in mobile communication technology, and the way these are appropriated by youths to accommodate their transition to adulthood. The article concludes by pointing out the shortcomings of the concept: The limited attention for the heterogeneity in adolescent media use, the integration of mobile media technologies into young people’s media repertoires, the cross-generational implications of mobile media use, and the impact of local context and culture.