What is Life-Path Diagram

This chapter seeks opportunities to use mobile technology to improve human mobility. To this end, the chapter reports a diary study of university students’ use of mobile telephones for rendezvousing—arranging, and traveling to, informal meetings with friends and family. This diary study reveals, and suggests explanations for, a number of deficits in user performance: (1) rendezvousers occasionally become highly stressed and lose valuable opportunities; (2) outcomes are worse when rendezvousing at unfamiliar locations; (3) 31 to 45 year olds report more personal sacrifices than 18 to 30 year olds; and (4) when mobile phones are used on the move, the experience of communication is slightly worse than when phones are used prior to departure. Ways of using mobile technology to make good these deficits are suggested.