COORDINATING MOBILE LIFE
by Jonas Larsen, John Urry, Kay Axhausen

We have argued that mobile phones are as symbolic of contemporary modern societies, as pocket watches were when Simmel wrote about Berlin. This transition corresponds with a shift from punctuality to more fluid ‘networked time’ where ‘punctuality’ is negotiated on the move, so that time, venue and group can change with the next email or text. Whereas trains and pocket watches were early modern twins, mobile phones and cars are the late modern ones, raging against past rhythms and timekeeping of early modernity when transport and mediated communication were unconnected. The striking popularity of cars, email and mobile communications are thus significantly tied up with how they afford a flexible and mobile social life, with high network capital, with dispersed and personalised social networks and where coordinated arrangements and travel are necessary for the mundane business of meeting up, for doing social life.

I wonder how many people are already living the mobile life and how this is reflected according to age, gender and other sociodemographic factors. Does anyone have some statistical data on this?