I usually don’t really pay attention to studies focusing on uses regarding new technologies. Why? Because They’re terribly boring, cause they don’t learn me anything, cause I usually don’t like the way current sociologists and even more journalists try to sum up They’re “highly complicated” studies for the stupid mass, and cause They are usually not very interesting. Well for once I read this article talking about the study of Olivier Aïm (Celsa, Paris), Laurence Allard (Université Lille 3, Lille) and Joëlle Menrath (Discours & Pratiques), focusing on what owning a smartphone represents and what do the users do with their devices. This study was focused on young people, living in a Paris suburb, who were mostly using  Iphones and Blackberries. What those sociologists said is that people usually use only 5 – 6 apps, mostly social network’s apps, and they don’t use much their devices to browse the web. Also, they realized that smartphones are used during moments where We’re waiting or We’re bored. Owning a smartphone, for that people, was more a social status than a necessity, to “be cool” it is necessary to own a smartphone according  to them. More importantly, to have an Iphone or a BB is a necessity to “be cool”.  Finally, They realized that having an Iphone or a BB is different: people having an Iphone want apps and social networks and people having BB are heavy text messengers users. A the end, this study is interesting to me, cause it underlines what We already knew! Having a smartphone is now cool and almost necessary to “be in”. It is now an important element part of social identities. Alright, I’m ok with all that, but their analysis of the users behaviors toward them devices is a bit stupid to me: it is surely true regarding that type of population, but geeks and mass markets’ users don’t act that way, for sure! Geeks are heavy apps and browsers users, and they love and use different smartphones’ brands, and mass market users mostly use their smartphones to call people and eventually to play games!

Source: Le Monde