Loose Talk (And Text) Costs Lives: Discursive Divergence In The Use Of Mobile Phones

Abstract

Use of mobile phones in Australia is governed by a range of discursive rules, despite the short time in which they have become the major communication tool for the majority of Australians. A wide range of formal rules and emergingpractices are in evidence and these affect the health and safety of everyone. Drawing on interviews with young adults (18 to 35) in the Hunter region of Australia, observation of mobile phone uses and analysis of cultural texts this paper examines the newly formed (and forming) discourses of the mobile phone. Formal rules and current research are compared in three areas of interest (use in hospitals, privacy and security issues, and driving) to raise concerns about the consequences when ambiguous or conflicting discourses and practices compromise public safety.