Date of Award
Fall 2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Department
Sociology
Director of Thesis
Laura Brashears
Second Reader
Garrett Pierman
Abstract
The field of technology ethics has seen increasing growth and interest over the years. Many have begun to consider the impacts of technology’s use and whether it is being employed in a healthy manner by users. However, there has been limited investigation into whether the ways in which technology use varies across cultures. This study begins to address this gap by researching Italian and American device usage in fast food settings. Non-participant naturalistic observations were used to record data for 89 Italian and 88 American customers of fast food restaurants. Analysis of the collected data indicates that Americans use their phone at much higher and more disruptive levels than Italians. These findings suggest the necessity of examining cross-cultural uses of technology to better understand the infiltration of cultural differences into mobile phone behaviors, healthy and unhealthy methods of device use, and implications for our technology practices.
First Page
1
Last Page
42
Recommended Citation
Jenkins, O'Malley, "Devices and Dining: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Mobile Device Use in Italian and American Restaurants" (2024). Senior Theses. 715.
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/senior_theses/715
Rights
© 2024, O'Malley Jenkins
- Usage
- Downloads: 17
- Abstract Views: 9
Included in
Applied Ethics Commons, Digital Communications and Networking Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Food Studies Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons