Mobile phones as fashion statements: evidence from student surveys in the US and Japan

Motivated by new theoretical perspectives that emphasize communication technology as a symbolic tool and physical extension of the human body and persona (Apparatgeist theory and Machines That Become Us), this article explores how fashion, as a symbolic form of communication, is related to self-reports of mobile phone behaviors across diverse cultures. A survey of college students in the United States and Japan was conducted to demonstrate empirically the relationship between fashion attentiveness and the acquisition, use, and replacement of the mobile phone. The results suggested that young people use the mobile phone as a way of expressing their sense of self and perceive others through a ‘fashion’ lens. Hence it may be useful to investigate further how fashion considerations could guide both the rapidly growing area of mobile phone behavior, as well as human communication behavior more generally.