New Tech, New Ties

"The message of this book is simple: the mobile phone strengthens social bonds among family and friends. In New Tech, New Ties, Rich Ling examines how the mobile telephone affects both kinds of interactions - those mediated by mobile communication and those that are face to face. Ling finds that through the use of various social rituals the mobile telephone strengthens social ties within the circle of friends and family - sometimes at the expense of interaction with those who are physically present - and creates what he calls "bounded solidarity.""--Jacket.