Abstract
M.A. (Fundamental Communication)
Communication technologies like the mobile phone often present a double-edged sword in romantic relationships. While the mobile phone can enhance communication, it can simultaneously present a source of conflict. But through the use of a rule-based system, romantic partners can minimise conflict. This study investigated mobile phone usage rules that are negotiated by adolescents and young adults in their romantic relationships and also how these rules have been perceived to affect the romantic relationship. Of particular focus were rules that pertained specifically to the management of personal privacy boundaries by partners through the appendage of the mobile phone. The dialectic framework of Communication Privacy Management presented a nuanced lens from which to investigate the surveillance dimension of mobile phone appropriation in romantic relationships. The rise of peer-to-peer monitoring offered a unique point of departure that makes understanding the manifestation of this form surveillance in romantic relationships relevant.
Findings conducted from surveys and interviews indicate that the negotiation of rules for appropriate mobile phone rules is indeed crucial to not only minimising conflict in romantic relationships but also enhancing trust and respect in the dyad. So important were trust and harmony that partners are even willing to allow their implicit rules and understandings of privacy to be superseded by a pursuit for these relational qualities. In addition to this, partners preferred not to resolves relational arguments over the phone because of the impetuous and intrusive nature of the mobile phone persona. While some rules remained constant, the quantitative survey showed that rules were evolutionary in nature as the relationships grew. The subsequent qualitative interviews also confirmed this finding.