Mobile Phones as Technological Companions : Users' Perspectives and Experiences

The applicability of the term technological companion on mobile phones has been investigated with focus group sessions with mobile phone users in Uppsala, Sweden. A definition of a companion with features like, friendliness, long time proximity, information handling was conceived. With the help of this definition the applicability was then tried with the help of data gathered during the focus group sessions. The study shows that users rarely turn off their phones and that the phones accompany them almost everywhere. The phones are mostly used for communication between people, but also to access information, play music and to take photographs. The users would not want to live their lives without their phones but some of them agree that mobile phones and constantly being within reach can increase the feelings of stress. The users do not agree that they have a relationship to their mobile phones, other than that it is a useful tool for getting things done. Thus it is concluded that the users do not think of their mobile phones in terms of technological companions. Given that mobile phones do share a lot of the features that are thought to be necessary for a companionship it is suggested that mobile phones are likely to be a suitable platform for implementing a technological companion