

Palestinian girls, dating, and the mobile phone - rantfoil
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2008/04/14/palestinian_gir.html

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wallflower
Fascinating article. The field trip/study occurred in 2003 - since then the
paper admits mobile phones have become more pervasive and common. However, the
behavior of the teenage girls it examines during study points out that a
mobile phone may be a totem of your social identity (especially, when you're
just fiddling with it in _public_ making use of idle time). Italic emphasis
added below.

"The girls...did not possess the phone through _personalization_...Instead,
they related to the mobile in a very _functional_ way...seeking devices...not
seen as technologically advanced or too sophisticated...Rather than display
their mobile phones, then, the girls were preoccupied with hiding this object,
which they were not supposed to own - and with denying the _relationships_
_it_ _signified_ "

"For these teenage girls, the mobile phone connoted not mobility and movement
in space, but rather intimacy and person-to-person communcation.."

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andrewparker
danah boyd says, "In short, they document how culturally specific gendered
practices (not technological features) frame the meaning and value of
technology."

This rings so true for me... it's like the Clay Shirky quote: "the social
characteristics of the web only become interesting once the technology is
boring." (paraphrased).

That's why the usage and behavior on a site like craigslist is more
interesting than any web service in the last year.

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mdemare
It's certainly fascinating to see how technology and traditions influence each
other. Here in the Netherlands I've seen muslim girls receive text messages
during the ramadan, signalling them when they're allowed to eat.

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Maven911
How do you get to downvote comments or articles?

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yummyfajitas
Pics of cute palestinian girl or it didn't happen.

(Sorry, it's the internet. Someone had to say it.)

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yters
That's something I hate about the internet. The constantly repeating memes is
like standing in an echo chamber and feeling my brain melt because of the
incessant repetition. Also why I detest pop music.

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Tichy
So you think without the internet, men wouldn't be interested in pictures of
pretty girls?

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yters
How many pairs of pants does Margaret Thatcher have again?

