Control Freaks: How Online and Mobile Communication is Reshaping Social Contact

Authors

  • Naomi Susan Baron American University, Washington, DC

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/law.v4i7.6173

Abstract

The year was 1956. At the time, the word “computer” referred to a roomful of hardware. “Telephones” were bulky black devices, tethered to walls (and, at least in the US, exclusively owned by the phone company). But a new gadget appeared on the scene that was destined to revolutionize our perceptions of technology – and our ability to manipulate it.

The new contraption was a television remote control.

Author Biography

Naomi Susan Baron, American University, Washington, DC

Naomi S. Baron, PhD (Linguistics) is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Language and Foreign Studies at American University, in Washington, DC.

A former Guggenheim Fellow and Fulbright Fellow, she is the author of seven books. The most recent, Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World (Oxford 2008), was winner of the 2008 English-Speaking Union Duke of Edinburgh English Language Award.

In addition to her cross-cultural research on mobile phones, she is launching a study that compares reading done onscreen versus in hard copy.

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Published

2009-11-20

How to Cite

Baron, N. S. (2009). Control Freaks: How Online and Mobile Communication is Reshaping Social Contact. Language at Work - Bridging Theory and Practice, 4(7). https://doi.org/10.7146/law.v4i7.6173