Tyst förhandling i högljutt rum - En studie av mikrointeraktioner och sociala normer kring mobiltelefonens närvaro i konsertmiljön
(2026) MKVK04 20252Department of Communication and Media
Media and Communication Studies
- Abstract
- This study examines how smartphone use is negotiated in live concert settings and how digital technologies reshape norms of presence, attention, and social order in physical public spaces. While smartphones are highly visible in contemporary everyday life, previous research within media and communication studies has primarily focused on digital platforms, technological affordances, or mediated content, rather than on how digital devices are integrated into situated, face-to-face interactions. This study addresses this gap by adopting a micro-interactionist perspective on smartphone use in an otherwise analog social setting. The empirical material consists of six live concerts with varying genres and audiences, accompanied by interviews in... (More)
- This study examines how smartphone use is negotiated in live concert settings and how digital technologies reshape norms of presence, attention, and social order in physical public spaces. While smartphones are highly visible in contemporary everyday life, previous research within media and communication studies has primarily focused on digital platforms, technological affordances, or mediated content, rather than on how digital devices are integrated into situated, face-to-face interactions. This study addresses this gap by adopting a micro-interactionist perspective on smartphone use in an otherwise analog social setting. The empirical material consists of six live concerts with varying genres and audiences, accompanied by interviews in the field. The findings show that smartphone use is not merely an individual behaviour but a socially negotiated practice shaped through our micro-interactions such as glancing and gazing, bodily adjustments, smiles, sighs and silent sanctions. Mobile phone use, when regulated by the norm, functions as a form of side involvement that coexists within the primary engagement of listening to the performed music.
However, when smartphone use becomes visually dominant or prolonged, often in settings with mixed audiences, it generates friction and resonance loss, triggering moral reactions and micro-level power dynamics. The results also reveal generational differences, where younger participants tend to interpret digital documentation as an extension of one's own participation, while older participants either showcase conflicted feelings toward the practice or associate proper concert conduct with an undivided bodily attention free from digital elements. The study concludes that mobile phone use in concert settings reflects an ongoing civilizing process in which new digital practices are gradually incorporated into already existing social norms. Rather than indicating a breakdown of social order, conflicts surrounding smartphone use reveal how etiquette, presence and mutual consideration are continuously, through time, renegotiated through our everyday micro-interactions. The study demonstrates the value of microinteractionistic approaches for media and communications studies by highlighting how digital technologies transform social interaction in otherwise analog public spaces. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Denna studie undersöker hur mobilanvändning förhandlas icke-verbalt i livekonsertsammanhang och hur digitala teknologier omformulerar normer för närvaro, uppmärksamhet och social ordning i fysiska offentliga rum. Trots mobiltelefonens synlighet i samtidens vardagsliv har tidigare forskning inom medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap främst fokuserat på digitala plattformar och medierat innehåll, snarare än på hur digitala verktyg integreras i offentliga miljöer. Studien adresserar forskningsluckan genom ett mikrointeraktionistiskt perspektiv på mobilanvändning i en övrigt analog miljö.
Det empiriska materialet består av sex livekonserter med varierade genre- och publikgrupper, kompletterat med intervjuer genomförda i kontexten. Resultaten... (More) - Denna studie undersöker hur mobilanvändning förhandlas icke-verbalt i livekonsertsammanhang och hur digitala teknologier omformulerar normer för närvaro, uppmärksamhet och social ordning i fysiska offentliga rum. Trots mobiltelefonens synlighet i samtidens vardagsliv har tidigare forskning inom medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap främst fokuserat på digitala plattformar och medierat innehåll, snarare än på hur digitala verktyg integreras i offentliga miljöer. Studien adresserar forskningsluckan genom ett mikrointeraktionistiskt perspektiv på mobilanvändning i en övrigt analog miljö.
Det empiriska materialet består av sex livekonserter med varierade genre- och publikgrupper, kompletterat med intervjuer genomförda i kontexten. Resultaten visar att mobilanvändning inte enbart är en individuell praktik utan en socialt förhandlad företeelse som formas genom våra mikrointeraktioner såsom blickar, kroppsliga justeringar, leenden och tysta sanktioner. När mobilanvändningen regleras utgör den ett funktionellt sido-engagemang som samexisterar med det primära engagemanget, att uppleva musiken. När den däremot blir visuellt dominerande eller utdragen skapar den friktion och resonansförlust, vilket tenderar att utlösa moraliska reaktioner och maktdynamiker på en mikrointeraktionsnivå. Resultaten visar även generationsskillnader: yngre deltagare tolkar digital dokumentation som en förlängning av engagemang, medan äldre publikmedlemmar antingen förhåller sig ambivalenta till mobiltelefonens närvaro eller rent av förkastar den.
Studien drar slutsatsen att mobilanvändning i konsertsammanhang speglar en pågående civilisationsprocess där nya digitala praktiker gradvis införlivas i redan existerande sociala normsystem. Snarare än att indikera en direkt upplösning av en social ordning, synliggör icke-verbala konflikter kring mobiltelefonen i konsertsammanhangen hur etikett, närvaro och ömsesidig hänsyn kontinuerligt omförhandlas genom mikrointeraktioner. Studien synliggör värdet av mikrointeraktionistiska ansatser inom medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap genom att belysa hur digitala teknologier omformar social interaktion i annars analoga rum. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9221809
- author
- von Vultée Widtfelt, Elin LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MKVK04 20252
- year
- 2026
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Mobiltelefon, mobilanvändning, mikrointeraktioner, social ordning, resonans, närvaro, digitala verktyg, konserter, publik
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9221809
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-20 15:39:35
- date last changed
- 2026-04-20 15:39:35
@misc{9221809,
abstract = {{This study examines how smartphone use is negotiated in live concert settings and how digital technologies reshape norms of presence, attention, and social order in physical public spaces. While smartphones are highly visible in contemporary everyday life, previous research within media and communication studies has primarily focused on digital platforms, technological affordances, or mediated content, rather than on how digital devices are integrated into situated, face-to-face interactions. This study addresses this gap by adopting a micro-interactionist perspective on smartphone use in an otherwise analog social setting. The empirical material consists of six live concerts with varying genres and audiences, accompanied by interviews in the field. The findings show that smartphone use is not merely an individual behaviour but a socially negotiated practice shaped through our micro-interactions such as glancing and gazing, bodily adjustments, smiles, sighs and silent sanctions. Mobile phone use, when regulated by the norm, functions as a form of side involvement that coexists within the primary engagement of listening to the performed music.
However, when smartphone use becomes visually dominant or prolonged, often in settings with mixed audiences, it generates friction and resonance loss, triggering moral reactions and micro-level power dynamics. The results also reveal generational differences, where younger participants tend to interpret digital documentation as an extension of one's own participation, while older participants either showcase conflicted feelings toward the practice or associate proper concert conduct with an undivided bodily attention free from digital elements. The study concludes that mobile phone use in concert settings reflects an ongoing civilizing process in which new digital practices are gradually incorporated into already existing social norms. Rather than indicating a breakdown of social order, conflicts surrounding smartphone use reveal how etiquette, presence and mutual consideration are continuously, through time, renegotiated through our everyday micro-interactions. The study demonstrates the value of microinteractionistic approaches for media and communications studies by highlighting how digital technologies transform social interaction in otherwise analog public spaces.}},
author = {{von Vultée Widtfelt, Elin}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Tyst förhandling i högljutt rum - En studie av mikrointeraktioner och sociala normer kring mobiltelefonens närvaro i konsertmiljön}},
year = {{2026}},
}