Fie, Velghe2020-11-052020-11-052015Fie,V. CMDR (2015). �Hallo hoe gaan dit, wat maak jy?�: Phatic communication, the mobile phone and coping strategies in a South African context.2663-4848https://doi.org/10.14426/mm.v2i1.31https://hdl.handle.net/10566/5368This 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.enMobile phonesPhatic communicationConvivialitySouth AfricaArticle