Mobital lifestyle in student society; Understanding the Lived Experience of Students at Allameh Tabataba'i and Industrial Sharif Universities

This study was conducted with the aim understanding “mobile digital” lifestyle of students, which we have called “mobital”. Using grounded theory methodology and relying on episodic interviews with students from two top universities (Allameh Tabataba’i and Sharif) in three main educational groups (Humanities, Engineering and Basic Sciences), the data were coded with “Nvivo 10”. Contrary to those researches who only highlight the sense of gratification from the use of new ICT’s, the findings reveal that the lived experience of students exposed to mobital devices, is a “paradoxical mixture of satisfaction and dissatisfaction”. Although this experience tends to create “cognitive dissonance” and contradictory feelings towards mobital devices, students have found strategies to handle it. They try to maximize their interests and stay away from its damages with “choosing rationally” exercising more “self-control”. In brief, the findings suggest that the three elements of students, devices and society are jointly construct “mobital lifestyle”. This provides an important case for assessing validity of existing theories and gives us valuable information for future research on new media and students’ lifestyles.