In this part we probe how mobile communication technologies are affecting social groups and structures. Parts I and II were largely cross-sectional in their nature. Here, we seek to take a longitudinal perspective on the relationship between mobile technology and social structural processes. In a sense, the earlier essays focused on agency whereas these chapters place stress on structure.

In his usual broad and urbane approach to vital matters, Kenneth J. Gergen elaborates the concept of “absent presence” to tackle the major developments in communication technology of the twentieth century. He argues that increasingly such technologies transport a geographically distant, but engaging world of meaning into the immediate context of living. In certain respects, the expanding dimension of the absent presence has been destructive. The capacities of face-to-face communities to sustain values, coherence and solidarity are undermined. The ability of the individual to sustain a sense of centered identity or a compelling code of values is eroded. These processes have been intensified with the advent of the Internet. The entry of the mobile phone into cultural life, however, serves as a major exception. It stands as perhaps the most significant technological support of the face-to-face community. He concludes that there are also inherent potentials for the mobile phone to act as a bridging device across disparate enclaves of meaning. This intriguing argument places personal communication and information technologies in historical perspective while sharpening our understanding of how technology and sociality interpenetrate.