James E. Katz

Social and organizational consequences of wireless communications: a selective analysis of residential and business sectors in the United States

Abstract While much effort has been directed towards predicting the potential market for mobile personal communication technologies, little prospective analysis has been devoted to how these technologies are likely to change the way people live their lives and the way businesses and other organizations will operate. This paper systematically explores these questions by presenting not only case study information and qualitative data, but the results of national surveys as well. Among the topics examined for residential users are the readily recognizable effects of increases in convenience, personal efficiency and security, as well as more subtle effects, particularly in the psychological and interpersonal realm. In the area of worklife, topics of control of organizational and manpower resources and competitive advantages that the technology seems to offer are discussed. Significant attention is also devoted to how these technologies are likely to affect business operations as wireless communication becomes cheaper and more powerful. Particular structures are identified which are likely to help organizations thrive in an environment characterized by increased competition and information flows. The analysis concludes with recommendations for organizational adaptations to take advantage of these burgeoning technologies.

Social network sites, marriage well-being and divorce

We analyze the link between SNS use, marriage well-being and divorce in the U.S.At the state-level, Facebook penetration is associated with increasing divorce rates.At the individual-level, SNS use is negatively correlated with marriage quality.Our results can be explained from either a causal or a self-selection perspective. This study explores the relationship between using social networks sites (SNS), marriage satisfaction and divorce rates using survey data of married individuals and state-level data from the United States. Results show that using SNS is negatively correlated with marriage quality and happiness, and positively correlated with experiencing a troubled relationship and thinking about divorce. These correlations hold after a variety of economic, demographic, and psychological variables related to marriage well-being are taken into account. Further, the findings of this individual-level analysis are consistent with a state-level analysis of the most popular SNS to date: across the U.S., the diffusion of Facebook between 2008 and 2010 is positively correlated with increasing divorce rates during the same time period after controlling for all time-invariant factors of each state (fixed effects), and continues to hold when time-varying economic and socio-demographic factors that might affect divorce rates are also controlled. Possible explanations for these associations are discussed, particularly in the context of pro- and anti-social perspectives towards SNS and Facebook in particular.

Attitudes towards robots suitability for various jobs as affected robot appearance

An opinion survey of 878 college students examined attitudes about the suitability of robots for various occupations in society and how these attitudes varied by the robots’ appearance. Factor analyses revealed three primary attitudes: Robot-Liking, Robotphobia and Cyber-Dystopianism, and three occupational niches: social-companionship, surveillance and personal assistants. Attitudes varied depending on subjects’ gender, religion, perceived competence with technologies and engagement with virtual reality environments and avatars. The analysis of relationships between subjects’ attitudes and perception of suitable occupations indicated that Robot-Liking is positively related with social companionship and surveillance occupations, whereas Robotphobia is negatively correlated with the three occupational niches.

Mobile gazing two-ways: Visual layering as an emerging mobile communication service

The emerging era of mobile communication transcends the traditional privileging of text and voice to draw upon sensations of augmented reality, especially in terms of the visual domain. Thus one will be able to have new views of the local environment (mobile visual services). In terms of the former, the sense of sight is increasingly being brought to bear on the nexus of physical environment and digital information, yielding literally novel and unprecedented views. This article assesses examples of these services and the way they inter-mix previously separate domains, but also create new layers of monitoring of self and others. In particular, it notes conflicts at the levels of public policy and individual privacy and autonomy.

Understanding communication privacy : Unlisted telephone subscribers in the United States

A national survey of over 1500 American households was analyzed to identify demographic variables that can predict subscription to unlisted telephone service. The survey was conducted face-to-face among a stratified random sample of households. The demographic variables we identified that contribute to subscribership are (in order of importance) being an African-American, not owning a home, metropolitan residence, multifamily dwelling, lower education, and income. Characteristics commonly thought to be important, such as being young, female, having kids, or being a professional or manager, were not statistically significant variables when considered with the others. Our findings suggest that unlisted service may not only be valued by subscribers as a way to cut problem calls, but also to reduce general accessibility by outsiders. Based on this analysis, we advance new service concepts that might still provide value of reduced accessibility but also allow customers to enjoy benefits of selective interactio...

The online ideal persona vs. the jealousy effect

A model was developed to explain the negative effects of selfies on relationships.Analysis confirms a partial mediation model through two processes.Jealousy, stemming from excessive individual photos sharing.The emerging of an online ideal persona in the picture-takers mind.These conflicts in turn, reduce perceived quality of the romantic relationships. Drawing on social-psychology and communication theories, we advance a theoretical model to explain the negative effects of selfies on romantic relationships. We suggest that this individualistic use of social media is related to selfie related conflicts between partners through two processes: (1) jealousy, stemming from excessive individual photo-sharing or comments about those pictures, and (2) that, by sharing flattering images of oneself, an online ideal persona is created in the picture-takers mind that diverges from real-life. These conflicts in turn reduce perceived quality of the romantic relationships. To test the model we conducted a two-wave, representative panel survey, separated by one year. Results support a partial mediation model between taking selfies and lower perception of relationship quality, suggesting that both mediators, jealousy and the online ideal persona, have a negative effect on romantic relationship over time.

Bounded Solidarity Confirmed? How Korean Immigrants' Mobile Communication Configures Their Social Networks

A hierarchical regression analysis of U.S.-based Korean immigrants mobile communication use i.e., voice calling and texting and their social network characteristics i.e., network size, diversity, and centrality revealed significant associations between texting with coethnic strong ties and network centrality within the ethnic community. Korean immigrants who texted frequently with both coethnic and host weak ties had larger networks. Network diversity was, however, associated only with voice calling with host ties both strong and weak. These findings have implications for theories of bounded solidarity. Specifically, the results suggest that mobile communication is significantly associated with a denser social networks, and b an important and unique source of social capital embedded in immigrant communities.

Dimensions of concern over telecommunications privacy in the United States

Abstract Analyses of attitudes and concerns about privacy from a national survey sample of 1,532 adult Americans in 1988 revealed several separate dimensions. A modification of Tryons method of clustering variables (third‐order correlations) yielded groups of variables whose meanings were much more interpretable than they had been when factor analysis was initially used. We tested the validity of the clustering by a highly comprehensive system of item analyses. The main findings were that (1) respondent concerns over telephone privacy were not related to other aspects of privacy, (2) interest in devices like Caller ID that enable recipients to know the number of the caller were not related to other aspects of telephone privacy, and (3) general privacy concerns under conditions where the respondent and the other party know each other were independent of those conditions where they do not know each other. Implications for telecommunications policy and new services are discussed.

Privacy Issues of a National Research and Education Network.

Abstract The growing expectation that people are entitled to privacy in their electronic communications and to control who has access to them will at certain points conflict with the powers and capabilities of networks. In particular, a perennial conflict exists between privacy and reserve on the one hand and accessibility, data gathering, and efficient sharing of personal information on the other. While network capabilities exacerbate this perennial conflict, they can also help foster scientific cooperation if policies, technologies, and research environments are designed properly. Education too could be made more efficacious via a national research and education network (NREN) with appropriate privacy functionality. Based on an analysis of historical and contemporary practices, this article presents a variety of technical, managerial, and policy options to help secure these objectives.

In the Company of Robots: Views of Acceptability of Robots in Social Settings

We draw on computer mediated communication (CMC) theories to argue that users’ earlier experiences with online social environments tend to attribute human-like characteristics to robots. Specifically, when users engage in socially-charged electronic environments to interact and communicate electronically with others, they find ways to overcome the relative lack of cues to adapt to the medium. We explore whether users who have more experience using information and communication technologies (ICT), are more likely to recognize humanlike cues in robots. The findings show that avatar engagement and sense of online community have a strong effect on robots acceptance and recognition of human-like characteristics; this is even after accounting for predictors expected to affect attitudes toward robots such as religion, gender, age and robots’ appearance. The chapter ends by exploring the implications of this research for greater social acceptability of robots in various human domains.