“The mobile phone in the married life. Find a personal territory or to maintain the marital relationship ? “Martin, Singly, Networks, 2002
The mobile phone is it a piece of equipment marital or personal ? What place does it take in the couple ? It is to these two major questions that are answered by the authors in the article that we present this week. The authors of the article distinguish two types of mobile phone use : the phone can be used by an individual as a purely private and individual, without his / her spouse to intervene, it is ” individualized “, it can be used in common with the partner and in this case, we can say that it is “conjugalisé”. The individualization can take many forms and encompass different degrees: its main user will pay more less often, to his spouse ? the spouse will be able to answer when the ringing of the phone rang in the absence or in the presence of the “owner” of the laptop ? Another element of objectification of the degree of individualization of the mobile phone is perceived by the authors in the knowledge, the spouse, the secret code (PIN code) allowing to put in service the phone and activate the line. For them, the knowledge of this code seems to be the most important index of the individualization of the laptop, because ” unlike other indices of individuation, the knowledge of the PIN code does not reflect the uses of exceptional or accidental, the loan one-time or sharing incidental : it reflects the character potentially marriage of the laptop.” It may be interesting to know in terms of the major social characteristics of individuals – gender, age, their social or cultural environment – how to vary the individuation of the laptop ?
From the construction of an index of individualization, the authors show that ” the higher the degree of the respondent is high in the hierarchy of academic degrees, the more mobile is likely to be very individualized “. But above all,the chances of having an individuation of the laptop important increase with age of the respondent : the respondents aged between 40 to 45 years of age as those aged 45 to 50 years have, more often than the respondents, most young people, use is very individualized to their laptop.
How to connect the study of the individualization of the laptop to the married life ? The authors establish a link between the type of conjugal relationship of individuals and their use of mobile phones. People who have a use individualized their phones are more likely to be characterized by a conjugal life more individualized, that is to say, less of a focus on the couple and on the individuals who constitute it. We note that a torque is more or less individualized or merged according to the tendency of spouses to, for example, a vacation of one without the other, to attend a club or an association without him, to visit his parents without him, having regular evenings without him. Thus, the ” individualization of the mobile phone is only a particular dimension of the individualization of the life in the couples. It does not distinguish in a fundamental way : the individuals with the behaviors, the more individual are also those who use often individualized in the laptop ; and conversely, couples in the most fusional are also the ones where the laptop is often shared if not shared “
However, ” the notebook differs from the other aspects of individualization on an essential point : the individualization of its use tends to increase with the age of the user. “