From Voice to Writing

This article is a comparative analysis of interpersonal communication practices concerning the mobile phone. The author draws on the results of two qualitative surveys in France and Japan, each consisting of forty semi-structured interviews on situations and motivations of mobile phone use. These findings show that today’s mobile communication is characterized by the rapidly increasing use of written messages (e-mail in Japan and SMS in France) for maintaining and managing interpersonal contact. The comparative study of this new communication format raises a number of questions. These are generally related to the increasing diversity of available modes of entry into contact with others and, more specifically, to the signification that can be given to written communication on a mobile phone.