VIRTUAL MOBILITY OF URBAN YOUTH: ICT‐BASED COMMUNICATION IN SWEDEN

Eva Thulin and Bertil Vilhelmson

Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 2005, vol. 96, issue 5, 477-487

Abstract: This study explores how urban youth fit the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) into their everyday lives. Their virtual mobility may be lasting and have long‐term effects on activity patterns and socio‐spatial structures. We focus on the types of activities that become ICT based, and whether the extended networks fostered by virtual mobility affect local interaction, physical mobility, and face‐to‐face meetings. The study is based on an indepth, two‐wave panel study of young people living in Gothenburg, Sweden, supplemented by national ICT‐use survey data. Results show that young people use computers for one and a half hours per day, and half of this time is spent online. Time spent on ICT use is increasing, and ICT now encompasses a broader range of activities. The Internet is mainly used to communicate with people already known in ‘real life’. Contacts are both geographically far‐flung and very local. ICT use is found to generate additional contacts and communication rather than replace telephone calls and travel.

Date: 2005
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