The Mobile Media Debate

Book excerpt: An accessible, engaging, and timely overview of the key debates surrounding the role of mobile media in today’s society. Edited by Thilo von Pape and Veronika Karnowski, this volume includes contributions from a variety of geographical and disciplinary backgrounds, reflecting the diverse standpoints within the field of mobile media and communication. The collection explores perspectives from the micro-level of individual or small group appropriation of mobile media, to the uses and effects among larger communities, public spaces, and societies at large. The chapters address individual uses and effects of mobile media, such as problematic smartphone use, news consumption through mobile media, and mobile media as an empowerment tool for entrepreneurs. They also discuss the role of mobile media in private and professional social constellations (phubbing, personal mobile device use at work) and in struggles over personal empowerment, counter-power, and global development. Looking beyond the smartphone, the book also explores underlying infrastructures and emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. This book is a key resource for students and scholars of media and communication, as well as policy-makers and practitioners working in related areas such as media education.