Providing the first comprehensive, accessible, and international introduction to cell phone culture and theory, this book is and clear and sophisticated overview of mobile telecommunications, putting the technology in historical and technical context. Interdisciplinary in its conceptual framework, Cell Phone Culture draws on a wide range of nationa

In this article we offer an analysis of a deeply problematic and troubling dual aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic: how disability is being understood within normative accounts of health and medicine to frame, interpret, and respond to its spread and implications; what are the terms of inclusion and exclusion in altered social life in the COVID crisis; and how people with disabilities fare. We find disturbing indications of disablism and oppressive biopolitics in the ‘enforcing of normalcy’ that frames and dominates COVID reconstruction of social life – a situation that we suggest needs urgent deciphering, critique, and intervention.

Background: Over the past 2 decades, online forums for mental health support have emerged as an important tool for improving mental health and well-being. There has been important research that analyzes the content of forum posts, studies on how and why individuals engage with forums, and how extensively forums are used. However, we still lack insights into key questions on how they are experienced from the perspective of their users, especially those in rural and remote settings.Objective: The aim of our study was to investigate the dynamics, benefits, and challenges of a generalized peer-to-peer mental health online forum from a user perspective; in particular, to better explore and understand user perspectives on connection, engagement, and support offered in such forums; information and advice they gained; and what issues they encountered. We studied experiences of the forums from the perspective of both people with lived experience of mental illness and people who care for people with mental illness.Methods: To understand the experience of forum users, we devised a qualitative study utilizing semistructured interviews with 17 participants (12 women and 5 men). Data were transcribed, and a thematic analysis was undertaken.Results: The study identified 3 key themes: participants experienced considerable social and geographical isolation, which the forums helped to address; participants sought out the forums to find a social connection that was lacking in their everyday lives; and participants used the forums to both find and provide information and practical advice.Conclusions: The study suggests that online peer support provides a critical, ongoing role in providing social connection for people with a lived experience of mental ill-health and their carers, especially for those living in rural and remote areas. Forums may offer a way for individuals to develop their own understanding of recovery through reflecting on the recovery experiences and peer support shown by others and individuals enacting peer support themselves. Key to the success of this online forum was the availability of appropriate moderation, professional support, and advice.

Children with disabilities, especially those from the Global North, often figure into public discourse as beneficiaries of the “digital revolution.” However, if children’s voices and experiences are generally under-considered in digital policy and rights debates, this is even more likely when it comes to disability. Against this background, this article looks at the global rights of children with disabilities in the digital age. We consider the state of digital inclusion and exclusion, as well as the intersection between children’s rights and disability rights. Moving forward, we suggest ways to reconceptualize digital and related rights inclusive of all children.

Widely and intensively used digital technologies have been an important feature of international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. One especially interesting class of such technologies are dedicated contact and tracing apps collecting proximity data via the Bluetooth technology. In this article, I consider the development, deployment and imagined uses of apps in two countries: Singapore, a pioneer in the field, with its TraceTogether app, and Australia, a country that adapted Singapore’s app, devising its own COVIDSafe, as key to its national public health strategy early in the crisis. What is especially interesting about these cases is the privacy concerns the apps raised, and how these are dealt with in each country, also the ways in which each nation reimagines its immediate social future and health approach via such an app.