iPillowTalk: A Mixed-Methodological Exploration of How Married Couples Use and Experience Mobile Communication Technology to Communicate in Marriage

The evolution of how society communicates is continuously emerging. The landscape of personal communication forever changed with the introduction of the mobile phone in 1973 (Teixeira, 2010). Ever-growing in popularity and usage is mobile communication technology (MCT), specifically text-based mobile communication (mobiText). To understand how married couples use and experience this form of communication in their marriage, a mixed-methodological approach was used to address two overarching research questions. The first question, how do married couples utilize mobile communication technology (MCT) in their relationship? was addressed through a qualitative emergent theme analysis. An interpretation of Fairclough's (1989) Critical Discourse Analysis, Discourse, common sense, and ideology was used to answer the second research question: Through the utilization of MCT, how, if at all, is a power structure present within the dyad? If a power structure exists, how is it expressed? If a power structure exists, what are the consequences of that structure?.;Qualitative theme analysis uncovered that married couples utilize MCT for five purposes: Share Experiences, Logistics, 'It's Easy,' Location Device, and Voice Disagreement. Critical Discourse Analysis allowed for the discovery that a power structure does exist in the marital relationship and is expressed by way of commanding and suggestive behavior of MCT, and mobiText use suggested a 'third spouse' in the relationship.