Discursive mobile phone practices and informal rules

This paper uses Discourse Analysis (DA) to investigate the socially
constructed discursive practices of mobile phone use; specifically it examines the
informal rules of mobile phone use. It qualitatively investigates mobile phone use
within an Australian cultural context. „Discourse theory begins with the
assumption that all objects and actions are meaningful, and that their meaning is a
product of historically specific systems of rules‟ (Howarth 2000, p. 8). Evidence
of socially constructed textual meanings related to mobile phone use is found in
the informal rules created (and practiced); those that in some way govern the use
of mobile phones. The research reveals that there are divergences and
inconsistencies within the discourse of mobile phone use, and illustrates that
individuals make differing personal choices in similar social contexts.