�Hallo hoe gaan dit, wat maak jy?�: Phatic communication, the mobile phone and coping strategies in a South African context
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Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This paper looks at the ways in which the mobile phone has become a means through
which phatic communication is being expressed. More specifically, the paper shows
how, in an impoverished community such as the Wesbank township in South Africa,
phatic communication and �maintaining a connected presence� are vital strategies of
social networking. In a context of severe and desperate impoverishment, loneliness,
chronic unemployment and boredom, the exchange of phatic communicational
gestures such as a text message or a short phone call forms one of the many coping
strategies that the residents in Wesbank employ to face up to the harsh conditions of
poverty and insecurity.
Description
Keywords
Mobile phones, Phatic communication, Conviviality, South Africa
Citation
Fie,V. CMDR (2015). �Hallo hoe gaan dit, wat maak jy?�: Phatic communication, the mobile phone and coping strategies in a South African context.