Sometimes the biggest changes in society are the hardest to spot precisely because they are hiding in plain sight. So says the Economist in its latest special report on mobile telecommunications. “It could well be that way with wireless communications. Something that people think of as just another technology is beginning to show signs of changing lives, culture, politics, cities, jobs, even marriages dramatically. In particular, it will usher in a new version of a very old idea: nomadism.”

The report follows the recent release of AMTA’s collaboration with Australia’s leading social researchers on how the mobile phone has impacted on work/life balance. The three-year project found that the mobile phone is an indispensable part of the Australian life, with more than 90% of respondents reporting that their lives could not “proceed as normal” without their mobiles.

The report, part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant connecting researchers from the Australian National University, the University of New England and the University of New South Wales with AMTA can be found here.

The link to the Economist