ABSTRACT
The findings also suggest that what appeared to be a matter of physical distance between the study participants and their friends could be a matter of social saturation of the physical surroundings. When their physical surrounding is socially saturated, participants’ use of the mobile phone does not seem to play a large role in developing and maintaining interpersonal solidarity. Perhaps in this situation, the presence of those who are physically proximal takes primacy. On the other hand, when their physical surrounding is not socially saturated, participants use the mobile phone in the development and maintenance of interpersonal solidarity both at close proximity and at a distance. In this situation, absence of certain friends needs to be revitalized with the mobile contact.
