Informational Uses Of Smartphones

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Author note:

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Troels Fibæk Bertel, IT University of Copenhagen, Rued Langgaards vej 7, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This article examines the instrumental use of smartphones for information access and consumption among Danish youth at a time where smartphones have become widespread in Denmark and part of the everyday lives of most young people. The article is based on 31 individual semi-structured interviews with Danish High School students and uses a grounded theory approach. It finds that the use of smartphones for instrumental information use has become an important part of everyday life of young Danes. This changes the way young people manage everyday life as users become less dependent on planning and looking up information in advance and instead come to rely on always having access to actionable information. Further, the article finds that the use of information through smartphones may increase individual autonomy vis-à-vis the network of social contacts, as users may prefer to access information independently from this.

Keywords: smartphones, mobile internet, mobile phones, youth, information technology

Introduction

From Indian fishermen at sea using mobile calls to acquire information about where to land the day’s catch to yield the best profit (R. Jensen, 2007) to Scandinavian teens micro-coordinating meet-ups with friends via texting (Ling & Yttri, 1999), the exchange of actionable information was always an important part of mobile communication. With the widespread adoption of smartphones, the opportunities for access and use of such information on mobile handsets expand as basic voice and text communication functionality is complemented by near-ubiquitous access to internet-distributed information. This development bears a great potential for influencing how, when, and where users access and utilize such information, which in turn may have wide-ranging social consequences; as Meyrowitz (1985) has suggested and as the history of mobile communication has confirmed, changes in the flows of information associated with the introduction of new media may profoundly affect social organization at both individual, group and societal levels. To date, little research, however, has studied how the use of smartphones is influencing information use practices and what consequences this may have in the everyday lives of users.

This article considers the use of smartphones for information access and use in the everyday lives of Danish youth, a group who are among the most avid adopters and users of such devices. It asks: How are smartphones used for information access and use among Danish youth and what are the consequences of this use in their everyday lives?

The article examines the use of smartphones in their capacity as interface to internet-distributed information. Within this overall frame, it selectively focuses on access to and consumption of information that occurs outside of mediated communication directly between individuals; looking up a bus schedule online for example is within this focus while asking a friend via text, mobile email, or mobile Facebook is not. Further, the article’s primary interest is in uses of information that are instrumental (or goal-directed) as opposed to expressive (or process/social-directed). This is not to say that only instrumental use of information is important in the context of smartphones; indeed, mobile access to information is often used for passing time, for entertainment, or for sociability as well (Bertel & Stald, In press; Church & Oliver, 2011). In the interview data analyzed in this article, however, the instrumental uses of information emerged as a salient and distinct theme of clear importance to the respondents and will be analyzed as such.

Mobile Technologies and Uses of Information

The exchange of instrumental information was always an important part of mobile communication and continues to be so today. Indeed, the mobile phone like the fixed line phone before it was initially considered an instrumental device for the business sector (Green, Harper, Murtagh, & Cooper, 2001). Later this view changed as young people in particular appropriated the technology and increasingly used it for expressive purposes as well (Ling, 2004).

With smartphones, the functionalities and the possibilities for accessing information on mobile handsets have greatly expanded. The literature on this topic, however, is limited. In particular, few empirically based studies to date have been published about the use of smartphones for information access and use in the everyday lives of ordinary users. Most research of the everyday uses of mobile media has focused on communicative uses of traditional mobile phone functionalities, particularly texting and voice calls; as recently as 2008 in the Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies, Katz writes that the uses of mobile phones beyond interpersonal communication are still "innovative and unusual" and of little importance in the everyday lives of ordinary users (Katz, 2008, p. 10).

A recent and growing mobile communication literature has, however, detailed various dimensions of smartphones and their use (Bertel & Stald, In press; Goggin, 2011; Hjorth, Burgess, & Richardson, 2012; Watkins, Hjorth, & Koskinen, 2012). The iPhone, in particular, has been the focus of scholarly attention (Goggin, 2009, 2011; Hjorth et al., 2012; Ling & Sundsøy, 2010; Snickars & Vonderau, 2012). While the use of information is to some extent implicit in much of this work, it is most often not considered explicitly or in greater detail.

The use of location information in mobile applications has also received increasing attention in recent years (Gordon & de Souza e Silva, 2011; Wilken & Goggin, 2012; Wilken, 2012). Despite the growing interest in this topic, little research has been published by mobile communication scholars to date (de Souza e Silva, 2013), especially empirically based studies (however see Frith, 2013; Hjorth, 2012; Humphreys, 2008). Further, very few published studies have examined the everyday use practices outside of specialized populations such as innovators and early adopters.

The field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has also contributed to the study of the use of information on smartphone handsets. For instance, smartphones have been studied as multifunctional "messy" ubiquitous computing devices (Barkhuus & Polichar, 2011) and the use of mobile information has been studied in connection to the mobile web (Church & Oliver, 2011; Cui & Roto, 2008), locative media (Lindqvist, Cranshaw, Wiese, Hong, & Zimmerman, 2011), and mobile search (Church, Cousin, & Oliver, 2012). Typically, such studies have, however, approached the subject from a more technology or design oriented perspective, studying for example how contextual factors influence use rather than what this use means to users in everyday life and what its consequences are.

Youth and Mobile Technology

The interest in studying the use of mobile media among young people is motivated by the fact that they are often assumed to be particularly early and competent users of new technology. Castells, Fernandez-Ardevol, Qiu, and Sey argue that young people may reveal potential uses for the technology quicker than other groups because they are generally more willing to adopt and use new technologies and because they "use these technologies more frequently, better, and faster" (2007, p. 247). The assumption that being young equals heavy and competent use of technology is of course not without its problems. Clearly young people are not always the heaviest users of new (or mobile) technologies; mobile email for instance is used by 58% of the 20-39 year olds versus 46% of the 16-19 year olds (Statistics Denmark, 2012a). Also, young people are not necessarily a homogenous group as regards access to technology, individual competencies, or indeed the configurations of the wider contexts of their individual lives (Buckingham, 2008). However, as regards the use of smartphones and the mobile internet in general, recent statistics show that young people and young adults are the most avid adopters and heaviest users of smartphones in a Danish context. A recent industry survey found that among the 15-34 year-olds, 75% own smartphones (FDB Analyse, 2012). 78% of the 16-19-year-olds use the internet on mobile phones in 2012 (Statistics Denmark, 2012a). In comparison 50% of all Danish households in 2012 own one or more smartphones (Statistics Denmark, 2012b) and 55% of the general population between ages 16-74 in 2012 use the internet on the mobile phone (Statistics Denmark, 2012b). Because young people are at the forefront of adoption and use of smartphones and the mobile internet, studying media use in this group may help us understand current and future use practices as well as potentials and problems associated with the new technology more generally (Hartmann, 2005, p. 141; Livingstone, 2009, p. 2).

Method

The study uses a grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006) and is based on 31 individual semi-structured interviews (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009) with Danish high school students aged 16-21 (M=17.74, SD=1.15) conducted in October 2011 and April 2012. 17 female and 14 male respondents, approximate even spread across high school levels 1-3, were recruited from three schools which were sampled for maximum variation (K. B. Jensen, 2011); one school was located in the center of Copenhagen, one in the periphery of the greater Copenhagen area and one in the central Jutland in the opposite end of Denmark. Respondents were interviewed at the school premises in order to ground the interviews in an everyday life context. Aside from aiding memory this "protected place" (Lindlof & Taylor, 2011, p. 188) ensured that they felt comfortable, confident, and at home during the interview sessions. The interviews initially were very explorative and open. Progressively the focus was narrowed as some topics became saturated in line with a grounded theory approach. The two-round approach allowed for different methods of sampling as appropriate to the progression from explorative to more focused interviewing. In the first round, both smartphone users and non-users were recruited in accordance with maximum variation sampling. In the second round, smartphone users were targeted specifically in theoretical sampling (K. B. Jensen, 2011). Analysis was conducted by a single analyst in an iterative coding process; initial and focused coding (Charmaz, 2006) was conducted using Atlas.ti versions 6.2 and 7.

Uses of Information on Smartphones in Everyday Life of Young Danes

Uses of Information

Previous research has found that mobile access to information is a central motivation for using a smartphone (Barkhuus & Polichar, 2011, p. 663; Bertel & Stald, In press). In these studies as well as this one, the general possibility of looking up information wherever and whenever is one of the most appreciated features of the technology. In the interviews, some respondents mention using mobile search to "fact check" information and to inform or settle discussions in social contexts, a form of "conversation enhancement" described in previous studies (Cui & Roto, 2008). Others mention checking the weather forecast to decide whether or not to go shopping, looking up schedules for public transportation when needing to catch a bus or simply using search, typically Google or in school settings sometimes Wikipedia.

Mobile Facebook is also very popular among the respondents in general. Some describe how they mainly use mobile Facebook in what has been called a "listening" mode (Crawford, 2009; Goggin & Crawford, 2011), where they follow the social interaction without contributing explicitly. These respondents describe checking the Facebook app frequently, scanning for interesting social information, briefly checking "listening in" on the ongoing conversation. While the use of mobile Facebook seems to mainly be about following the flow of more expressive types of information for the purpose of entertainment and keeping updated, instrumental uses are also mentioned in the interviews—for instance looking up the details of how to get to some event (e.g. a party) posted on Facebook while en route, as in Andreas’ example below.

The use of location information in mobile navigation (for instance Google Maps) also is quite popular among the respondents and it is clear that this to many of them is a valuable tool in everyday life:

Interviewer: "In which situations is it the most important for you to have a smartphone?"

Andreas: "Well, if I'm lost then it is nice to be able to go into Google Maps and then find out where I am and how I get where I’m going. And then also if I'm on my way to some event that started on Facebook, like, ‘Where is it?’".

Andreas, male, age 16

Like many respondents, Andreas points to navigation as an important functionality on his smartphone. One reason that this functionality is central is the convenience and flexibility it provides; users do not have to look up directions ahead of time but rather can depend on accessing the information as needed, "just-in-time" (Rainie & Fox, 2012). This theme will be developed further below. Another reason is the security that it affords users; always having location information ready at hand means that the user is never lost (provided that the technology works). The theme of security is well known from the mobile communication literature where particularly the possibility to call for help or assistance was found to be a significant motivation behind the adoption of the mobile phone (Ling, 2004). With smartphones users retain the possibility to call or text for help or assistance but in addition get the opportunity to look up online-accessible information autonomously, a theme that will be developed further below.

The above uses of information are all quite general and most would likely be found in many smartphone user groups. One practice that is peculiar to the respondents because of their status as high school students is the use of "Lectio", a coordination, administration, and information system which is used by most Danish High Schools (Lectio.dk, 2013). Mobile access to Lectio gives the respondents continuous access to an updated, authoritative source of information that is essential in high school life; personal data and grades, individual schedules, cancelled classes, classroom changes, announcements of homework, uploaded assignments and other documents are all examples of information available through the system. Since some of this information is both necessary in daily life in high school as well as prone to frequent changes, and since students, further, are expected to keep updated with any such changes, mobile access to the Lectio system is central to the respondents. For this reason it will figure prominently in the remainder of the analysis.

Smartphones, Information, and Flexibility

The above uses all share one common trait and that is, that they appear to point towards flexibility. Search, Navigation, Facebook, Lectio all provide different kinds of information that the user can then use as basis for acting and in everyday life contexts.

Mobile communication has, of course, always been associated with flexibility, the example par excellence being "micro-coordination", the ability to reschedule and renegotiate meetings and appointments "on-the-fly" using mobile phones (Ling & Yttri, 1999; Ling, 2004). In what follows, I will argue that smartphones extend the flexibility associated with mobile person-to-person communication into the area of information use, and that this is associated with changes in the behavior of users, who come to rely on accessing information just-in-time

A Reduced Need for Accessing Information Ahead-of-Time.

It is not only in situations where planned events change that information use on smartphones promotes flexibility. Being connected to internet-distributed information at all times also means that the general need to retrieve and collect information in advance is reduced. Instead, users may depend on their ability to access the information that they need, when they need it, on demand and just-in-time:

"I actually sometimes use it [the smartphone] to do my homework. If my teacher has uploaded documents to Lectio about what we're supposed to read for that class then sometimes the night or evening before I just think ‘I'll just read it on the train’. And then I read it on my smartphone".

Michelle, female, age 19

Michelle here recounts how she is able to use the time she spends in transport to prepare for class. Relying on persistent internet connectivity, she is able to use the "moments in between planned activities" (Cui & Roto, 2008) and to make the most of her time, filling it up "to the very smallest folds" (Fortunati, 2002, p. 518).

Students travelling by public transportation have doubtlessly always used this time for doing homework. Previously the time spent travelling would, however, be disconnected from internet access and one would have to prepare for that situation by bringing the relevant books, assignments etc. Near-ubiquitous access to information on smartphones eliminates (some of) such a need for planning ahead. Rather than printing documents or saving PDFs to her laptop computer (that she could then use during the train ride) the night before, Michelle can rely on retrieving the information as needed through the mobile connection.

Similarly, several of the respondents describe how mobile access to the Lectio system eliminates the need for them to check which classroom to be in before arriving in school:

"I can see my schedule and which classroom I'm supposed to be in and which homework I have to do. That's also really cool, I think. How you can arrive in school and then you can see ‘Oh, OK. I have to be in room 202 and the class is History’ or something like that".

Pipa, female, age 21

The reason that the ability to look up which classroom to be in is significant for the respondents has to do with the fact that the schools themselves allocate rooms in a quite flexible manner. A student cannot for example assume that he or she will always be in the same classroom for a history class as rooms often vary between classes. Students therefore must look up their schedule in order to know where a given class is taking place a given day. Although this allocation is typically made well in advance, classroom allocations may also change with short notice—such as when a class is moved to a computer lab. This gives further incentive to keep frequently updated with the school information system as is facilitated by the use of smartphones.

Flexible Alignment and Adaptation.

A significant way that smartphones can be seen to increase the flexibility of users is by affording them the ability to keep continuously updated with online information, thus allowing them to respond and adapt to changes in this information a flexible manner. In the case of high school students, changes to a Facebook event or a school timetable in Lectio are examples of changes that could require such responses. Regarding the use of Lectio in particular, the respondents often mention mornings as a time when access is particularly important; getting ready for school they need to know their schedule in order to know which books to bring for the day, where to attend the first class, or if any classes are cancelled etc.:

"I'll go on to lectio.dk, and find my school and class. Then I'll check what classes I have and if I have to attend because sometimes [snaps fingers] they might cancel the class in the middle of the... as soon as you get out of bed. So there is one rule: You always check your schedule before getting out of bed!"

Mohammed, Male, age 17

"It was only after I got it [the smartphone] that I realized how useful it was. It was really nice to be able to check if there were any cancelled classes in the morning. Because before I had to turn on the computer. It is slow [...] It just took so long to turn it on and off so there wasn't really time [laughs]. Then you sort of had to hope for the best. There were some classes where I knew there was a tendency that they would be cancelled and then I did it [turned the computer on]. But otherwise I just hoped for the best and it happened very few times that they were cancelled."

Mette, female, age 18

Having free and easy access to internet-distributed information at all times and places, even in bed, makes a clear difference in the everyday lives of these respondents. The smartphone provides Mohammed with actionable information about whether he needs to get up for school or not—all while remaining in bed. The significance of this may seem small at first glance; Mohammed could easily get out of bed and use his computer to look up the information. Getting out of bed to turn on the computer and wait for it to boot before checking his schedule would, however, mean that Mohammed was in fact starting the day despite not having to, something he clearly wants to avoid. The fact that Mohammed has made checking his school schedule with his smartphone in bed a fixed part of his morning ritual speaks to its importance to him. Mette similarly describes how previously to owning a smartphone, she would often not check her schedule for updates in the morning; partly because such changes were relatively rare event but also because her computer was too slow for her busy morning schedule. To Mette, the ease and convenience with which information can be accessed on her smartphone means that she keeps more updated with the school information system and is more likely to be aware of changes, which allows her to respond by adapting her behavior accordingly.

From the users’ perspective, being connected to information at all times and places in a manner that is easy and quick, then, means that they can respond and adapt to changes in this information in a more flexible manner than was the case before they had smartphones.

Smartphones, Information, and Autonomy

In what follows, I will argue that the individual’s increased possibilities for accessing information on mobile handsets may also have consequences at the social level. Specifically, when in need of actionable information and given a choice, users may prefer to access this information online, independently from the network of social contacts. This is in contrast to previously where mobile mediated person-to-person communication would often be the primary means of acquiring such information.

Mobile Communication, Connection, and Autonomy.

According to Relational Dialectics Theory (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996), the relationship between connection and autonomy in interpersonal relations can be conceptualized as a dialectical tension, where centrifugal and centripetal forces pull in opposite directions in a constant negotiation of the balance between the two. The "perpetual contact" (Aakhus & Katz, 2002) associated with mobile person-to-person communication has been found to affects this negotiation of connection and autonomy in complex ways. Pettigrew (2009) for instance argues that text messaging gives the users a degree of control over the communication which can be seen to increase autonomy, as when it is used for private "under the radar" communication in the presence of others (Ling & Campbell, 2009; Pettigrew, 2009). Castells et al. describe how by "giving parents the security of a lifeline to their children, wireless phones also give children greater levels of the privacy and independence they crave" (2007, p. 148). Other researchers conversely point to the fact that while mobile communication among children and teens may support autonomy from parents, the mobile "lifeline" mentioned by Castells et al. may simultaneously lead to increased connectedness in terms of surveillance from parents who are always able to check up on their children (Ling & Bertel, In press; Ling, 2007). While the above illustrates that there is no single unambiguous "effect" that mobile communication can be said to have on the connection-autonomy dialectic, overall, Katz argues that "In terms of the autonomy-connectedness dialectic, perpetual contact gives priority to connectedness to the detriment of autonomy" (Katz, 2008, p. 442).

Mobile Information, Connection, and Autonomy.

The argument I will make here, then, is that where the exchange of information through person-to-person communication on mobile handsets may be seen as pulling towards connection in the connection-autonomy dialectic, the use of internet-based information on smartphones may conversely be said to pull towards autonomy.

Oftentimes, accessing information autonomously may be preferred simply because it is easier; it may be easier to check Lectio or some other information system or app on the smartphone than sending a text message, calling, or finding a person to ask:

Alexander: "That thing about the classrooms [being able to look up where to be] that's actually really cool. Because then you don't have to ask and stuff."

Interviewer: "Who would you usually ask?"

Alexander: "Someone from my class. It doesn't matter. Someone who's in school. But anyways, I have it as a bookmark here, right. And then I just click it."

Alexander, male, age 19

Using a shortcut on the smartphone to quickly and easily look up his schedule frees Alexander from having to obtain this information through the network of social contacts. It is easier and so becomes the preferred way to access the information. Beyond ease of use, the wider social context is, of course, also a significant influence when choosing how to acquire information using smartphone handsets; for instance, always being the one asking your friends for directions etc. may not be a desirable role to occupy:

"I was on my way to a girl's night one time, and I was on my bicycle, and I had gotten lost. And the others would bully me to death if I called and said I had gotten lost. Because they'd made bets how late I would be because I would get lost [laughs]. So I just checked Google Maps and found my way there, and I wasn't late. And no one had to know I had gotten lost. That was really cool!"

Nanna, female, age 16

Nanna in this example gets lost on the way to a girl’s night and needs directions. Simply calling one of the other girls attending the event would be an easy way to get help. This would, however, come with a penalty as Nanna would be teased with being lost. Benign as this teasing would undoubtedly be, Nanna would be reinforcing an undesirable image of not being in control if she called her friends; the other girls are expecting her to get lost, to the point of making bets about it. Using the smartphone to access the information without involving the others in this case is much preferable to Nanna who manages to find her way on her own and keep her troubles secret.

Taken together, the above examples show that the persistent individualized access to information on smartphone handsets may pull towards autonomy in relationships. Having the possibility to bypass the network of social contacts for mobile information does not, however, mean that one will always choose to do so. As Ling has argued, mobile communication contains ritualistic aspects that serve social functions and help build social cohesion (Ling, 2008); unlike people, Google Maps does not small talk or comfort users when they are lost. Taking Ling’s point further, the increased autonomy of individualized access to information, then, can also be seen as a missed opportunity to socialize.

Research has often emphasized how the introduction of new networked information and communication technologies increase communication (Rainie & Wellman, 2012, p. 89) and interpersonal connection (Quinn & Oldmeadow, 2013) as well as break down situational barriers in so-called "context collapse" (Marwick A.E & Boyd D, 2011; Watkins et al., 2012). While these are, indeed, important aspects of the use of new media, Nanna’s example underscores the less often discussed point (although see Meyrowitz, 1985, p. 48) that new media may also be used to limit and control communication, to erect barriers and to separate contexts. As Ling and Campbell have pointed out in the context of mobile communication, new media may both bring us together and tear us apart (2011). As such, new media practices, in this case informational uses of smartphones, enter into complex negotiations of relationships as illustrated here, giving users more choices and fine grained possibilities for managing interactions and relations as well as for regulating the connection-autonomy dialectic.

A final point, which is central and yet has not been discussed above, is the observation that as users gain independence in the context of relationships, they are simultaneously becoming increasingly dependent on their handsets and the systems and repositories of information to which they provide access. Smartphones, then, may give users greater autonomy in interpersonal relationships but this may come at the cost of a greater dependency on technology.

Non-Use

Based on the above, it is easy to get the sense that ubiquitous access to information through smartphones is an absolute necessity among young Danes, something that it is impossible to do without. At the time of the interviews there are, however, still many young Danes who do not have smartphones, 25% in one industry estimate (FDB Analyse, 2012), and who manage without it:

"There are plenty of people in my class who don't have smartphones, who check it [Lectio] before leaving home and who check it the night before and write it [which classrooms to be in] down and stuff. Or send text messages to those who do have smartphones and say ‘Hey, which room are we in?’ [laughs]. I think it is just a habit. You get used to it".

Sara, female, age 18

Sara, herself a smartphone user, in this example describes how "plenty" of her classmates do perfectly fine without smartphones by accessing and storing information ahead of time (as opposed to just-in-time) or by depending on the network of contacts to gain access to the information second hand. This is in a way the mirror side of the smartphones relation to flexibility and autonomy discussed above: Where individualized access to information through the smartphone may decrease the need for ahead-of-time access to information and increase the autonomy of the user vis-à-vis the network of social contacts, not having this access means that the need to access information ahead-of-time or through mediated person-to-person communication remains the same. It is, however, also clear that the status quo is being recast as decidedly inconvenient in the light of smartphone ownership; indeed, many of the respondents describe how they have become accustomed to the convenience of persistent internet access in particular and consequently wouldn’t want to do without.

Towards Taken-for-Grantedness

While the mobile internet has, as Goggin has pointed out, "been famously slow to materialize" (2011, p. 129), recent years have seen a transformation of mobile internet access from novelty to mundane and dependable everyday technology. Indeed, when interviewing young Danish smartphone users, it is striking just how ordinary and depended on near-ubiquitous internet assess on mobile devices has become to them:

"I think it can be difficult for people. I mean, I don't understand how people can know that they have to be in a specific classroom if they do not have a smartphone".

Pipa, female, age 21

"I mean that it's almost like a necessity, right. It's like I trust it so much that I don't really check where it is I'm going before I leave. Then I can just quickly check the travel plan and find out. Like that, right. […] So that way I don't do it like I normally would if I did not have the smartphone, right".

Simon, male, age 19

Pipa, like many of the respondents as described previously, depends on her smartphone for finding out which classrooms to be in for which classes, and has come to rely to this to the point that it is almost incomprehensible to her how others can do without. Simon, too, has come to depend on near-ubiquitous internet access on his smartphone, which has allowed him a more flexibly structured everyday life; He no longer looks up travel information before leaving the house but rather trusts his device to supply this information as needed, just-in-time.

The above examples suggest that increasingly smartphones, like mobile phones before them (Ling, 2012), are becoming taken-for-granted among young Danes; this is captured particularly succinctly in Simon’s statement that he "trusts" his smartphone so much, that he does not check where he is going, before he leaves. At least two aspects appear to influence this taken-for-grantedness in a Danish context. One is that smartphones and the systems to which they provide access in a Danish context are indeed most often dependable; users typically can trust both handsets and networks to function properly. Another is the fact that the smartphone, being a convergent medium, in many ways is instantly familiar to users; the form and mobility of the mobile phone and the content of the networked computer, are already individually well known (Bertel & Stald, In press).

Conclusion

This article finds near-ubiquitous individualized access to information resources on smartphones is becoming an integrated and relied-on element in the everyday life of young Danes.

At the individual level, near-ubiquitous access to information, it is found, allows users keep updated with

flexibly structured everyday life, where planning and preparing for the contingencies of daily life becomes less important as users instead depend on accessing information on demand when the need arises. To the extent that such information is available online, persistent access also allows them to adapt and respond more flexibly to any changes to events, plans and schedules (for instance a timetable or Facebook event) through a process of what I have referred to as flexible alignment of schedules, a form of micro-coordination in asymmetrical relationships.

At the social level, having access to ubiquitous information means that respondents may become more autonomous vis-à-vis the network of social contacts as information on-demand is no longer exclusively accessible through mediated person-to-person communication but can be accessed individually. As users come to rely less on mediated person-to-person communication, however, they come to depend on the persistent access to information through technology instead.

While the above indicates that there are strong incentives for young Danish high school students to acquire smartphones, it is not yet a de facto necessity. Not having a smartphone, however, means that non-users must plan and prepare activities to a higher degree than users. Alternatively, they may depend on accessing the information from the network of social contact through person-to-person communication, which I have referred to as social facilitation of information.