Published by Oxford University Press, The Digital Bind examines constant connectivity and the resulting reconfiguration of family, work, and friendship.

As mobile devices continue to evolve—from basic phones designed solely for calling to more sophisticated smartphones and wearable devices—what remains constant is that the portability of these devices creates new possibilities for social connectivity. By lowering our social dependence on place, mobiles open up the timing of our availability, enabling the technological reality of constant connectivity for much of the world’s population.

What has constant connectivity meant for social life? How have relationships adapted and changed as mobile devices become more complex?

About the author:

Jeffrey Boase is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Toronto. He spent a year at the Harvard Kennedy School on a predoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Digital Government and two years as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Social Psychology at The University of Tokyo.