From Moving About the City to Moving About the Home: Considering Bounded Spaces of Connected Mobility

Abstract

Findings from this survey of China and the United States support the proposition that bounded connected mobility, or use of mobile media while moving within locations, can be distinctively meaningful for how and why people use the technology. Among the results, we found that in China, connected mobility at home was associated with use of the technology for coordination, while between locations was associated with news. In the United States, connected mobility at home was associated with the use of the technology for passing time, and between locations was associated with personal relationships. The discussion interprets these and other findings in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and different lockdown conditions in China and the United States, as well as implications for scholarship on placemaking, mobilities, and mobile media and communication.