ABSTRACT
This chapter describes older women’s relationships to mobile telephony and the relationships they conduct through mobile telephony, comparing them to available international empirical evidence. Age and life course stages can be understood as socially constructed aspects of social identity that are neither static nor immutable properties of individuals. Departing from naturalizing discourses, some studies have focused on how age and particularly ageing intersect with power relations: old age brings with it a loss of authority and status. Personal networks play a role in the adoption of new information and communication technology-related practices and in learning processes, both in terms of support and in terms of expectations put on older individuals. The evolution of one’s personal network of social support and the evolution of the expectations placed upon the older person by this network. Phones are used within specific media ecologies and, beyond individual preferences, the entire communication strategy is shaped by available telecommunication services and the pricing system.
