ABSTRACT
Before reviewing some of the key consequences of mobile communication technology, a brief discussion of how they fit within the media effects paradigm is in order. At the risk of oversimplification, we understand the media effects paradigm as a framework for understanding how mass media content influences attitudes and behavior of audience members. To be fair, it is important to acknowledge that the media effects tradition has grown substantially beyond its roots with a fundamental focus on exposure to media content. In fact, several chapters in this volume highlight how the media effects paradigm has broadened to account for characteristics of audience members, their use of the media, and processes of media production and consumption. For example, McLeod, Kosicki, and McLeod (2002) explained that “understanding political communication effects, because of their dependence on sociopolitical environments, requires examination in broader spatial and temporal contexts than that required by other types of media effects” (p. 216). They argued for expanding the media effects tradition to include consideration of normative expectations, institutional performance, constraints and conventions of the media, and effects on key political actors as well as individual audience members. Like these authors, we also suggest adjustments to the media effects paradigm in order for it to serve as an effective lens for examining the implications of a particular media environment-mobile telephony.
