{"title":"Evolving mobile media: Changing technology and transforming behavior","authors":"Ran Wei","doi":"10.1177/20501579221131448","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Historians have long warned us that any prediction about the future, including the future of communication technology, is a risky business. However, adoption of mobile telephony seems to be an exception. The predictions were wrong, just in a different way— worldwide adoption of mobile phones went much faster than expected rather than more slowly. It is now proverbial to characterize mobile phones and devices as the fastest-diffused technology in human history. In my essay for the inaugural issue of Mobile Media & Communication (Wei, 2013), I described mobile media spearheaded by the smartphone as coming of age with a big splash. By that I meant that widespread adoption and novel uses of mobile media were unlike any other media technology. Looking back, the splash became a tsunami. In 2021, mobile users worldwide topped seven billion, accounting for 91.54% of the world’s population. In fact, Earth has more mobile phones and devices than people.","PeriodicalId":46650,"journal":{"name":"Mobile Media & Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mobile Media & Communication","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20501579221131448","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Historians have long warned us that any prediction about the future, including the future of communication technology, is a risky business. However, adoption of mobile telephony seems to be an exception. The predictions were wrong, just in a different way— worldwide adoption of mobile phones went much faster than expected rather than more slowly. It is now proverbial to characterize mobile phones and devices as the fastest-diffused technology in human history. In my essay for the inaugural issue of Mobile Media & Communication (Wei, 2013), I described mobile media spearheaded by the smartphone as coming of age with a big splash. By that I meant that widespread adoption and novel uses of mobile media were unlike any other media technology. Looking back, the splash became a tsunami. In 2021, mobile users worldwide topped seven billion, accounting for 91.54% of the world’s population. In fact, Earth has more mobile phones and devices than people.
期刊介绍:
Mobile Media & Communication is a peer-reviewed forum for international, interdisciplinary academic research on the dynamic field of mobile media and communication. Mobile Media & Communication draws on a wide and continually renewed range of disciplines, engaging broadly in the concept of mobility itself.