[Air-L] Query on Research about "Too Much Communication"

[Naomi Susan Baron]

In response to Nancy Baym's question regarding research on user complaints 
about "too much communication":

Recently I did a cross-cultural study of attitudes towards mobile phones 
among university students in Sweden, the US, Italy, Japan, and Korea. One 
of the themes that surfaced over and again was how much users felt that 
communication via mobile phones was a double-edged sword: They both liked 
the fact they could reach others but felt trapped by the fact others could 
always reach them. Among the words of complaint were "addicted", 
"stressed", "chained" -- you get the idea.

I've just finished a paper called "The Dark Side of Mobile Phones", in 
which I provide both quantitative and qualitative findings. If anyone is 
interested in the study, please contact me off-list.

Best
Naomi

Naomi S. Baron
Professor of Linguistics
American University
Washington, DC  USA
nbaron at american.edu