Field challenges

Abstract

In the case of topics close to my research agenda, there has been over the past years a significant shift in the theoretical understanding of the way people use and integrate mobile communication into their daily lives. Compared to a decade ago and earlier, theories of media no longer construe a sharp divide between mobile and other forms of communication, or between online and offcommunication. The distinction between digital/ mobile and real life has been largely erased. This is partly due to a change in technologies of digital communication and what might be called the mobile pivot. An illustration of this conceptual step forward may be seen in the breakdown of formerly rigid boundaries between mobile communication and other forms of communication, especially between the field of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and that of mobile communication. Newer theoretical paradigms, such as that advocated by Scott W. Campbell (2019); Scott Campbell (2020), see the inter-mixing of mobile communication processes increasingly erasing boundaries between the two fields. This erasure has implications for the field of mobile communication both internally and externally. Internally, the scope of what can be legitimately considered as a topic of interest within the ambit of mobile communication has been expanded. Externally, the field boundaries of other disciplines have expanded into the mobile communication domain; this benefits the mobile communication field by having new cadres of researchers engaged with its issues. Fresh ideas and cohorts of new researchers are now contributing