This paper analyses the shifting identity of the mobile phone in the light of research carried out in 1996 on a representative
population sample from five major European countries: Italy, UK, France, Germany and Spain. A total of 6609 people were interviewed by
means of a telephone survey. The mobile phone emerged as a charismatic technology compared to other mobile technologies (laptop and
car phone) and as a leading technology that, in just a few years, has appropriated 11% of total telephone traffic. It has ‘‘dragged’’ its
widespread presence and amount of use from the workplace to the domestic sphere, although in Italy, where it has had greatest success, its
widespread use has been detached from its use in the workplace. Another emerging result is that the use of the mobile phone is not
correlated to strong residential mobility in individuals.
