Please refer to the definitive version of this article when citing:
Cohen, S.A. & Gössling, S. (2015). A darker side of hypermobility. Environment and Planning
A, 47, 1661-1679.
A darker side of hypermobility
Since the formulation of the mobilities paradigm, research has shown that movement is
increasingly at the heart of our social identities. This paper argues that mobility, and indeed,
hypermobility, constitutes to a growing extent who we are, while societal perspectives on
mobility increasingly dictate how we need to move in time and space in order to accrue network
capital. In this critical review, deeply embedded mechanisms of the social glamorization of
mobility are uncovered, and juxtaposed with what we call a ‘darker side’ of hypermobility,
including the physiological, psychological, emotional and social costs of mobility for
individuals and societies. The paper concludes that while aspects of glamorization in regard to
mobility are omnipresent in our lives, there exists an ominous silence with regard to its darker
side.
Keywords: glamorization, network capital, mobility consequences, transport, behaviour
change
1. Introduction
Elite forms of movement, such as for business, holidays or diplomatic journeys, are largely
shown in a positive light in contemporary societies. Although there is unevenness in the
portrayal of corporeal mobilities, with for instance growing fear over epidemiological threats
facilitated through global mobility, negative representations of flight from poverty and
persecution and the problematizing of irregular migration, mobility for business and pleasure
1
is typically glamorized and encouraged in more privileged societies. The glamorization of elite
mobility is part of broader processes of global capitalist consumption within conditions of
neoliberalism, wherein circulation and accumulation within networks is unevenly experienced
and materialized. Social capital is increasingly based on one’s power to be mobile and cultivate
global networks, or what Larsen, Axhausen and Urry (2006) refer to as ‘network capital’.
Network capital is understood here as interrelationships between social relations and social
support (Carrasco and Cid-Aguayo, 2012); that is, as a form of social capital that makes
“resources available through interpersonal ties” (Wellman and Frank 2001, page 273). As social
networks become more dispersed, “access to communication technologies and affordable and
well-connected transport”, for instance, are elements comprising network capital, as they make
ties in social networks more accessible (Larsen et al, 2006, page 280; Gössling and Stavrinidi
2015; Rettie 2008).
Both network capital and mobility are, however, not evenly distributed across societies
(Cresswell, 2010). The life-chances it affords are ‘heavily skewed’ also (Urry, 2012), with a
minor share of highly mobile individuals accounting for a major proportion of the overall
distances travelled (Gössling et al., 2009). This mobile elite is well connected to global
networks, and have been described as ‘hypermobile’, with these hypermobile lifestyles closely
but not exclusively linked to the practice of business travel (Frändberg and Vilhelmson, 2003).
For example, in Sweden, just 3% of the population undertake nearly a quarter of all international
journeys (Frändberg and Vilhelmson, 2003), whereas in France 5% of the population account
for as much as 50% of the overall distances covered (Gössling et al, 2009).
The high social status associated with frequent corporeal mobility in some more privileged
societies, specifically by air and road, is at least partly attributable to its glamorization in the
media and other forms of public discourse (Thurlow and Jaworski, 2006). The purpose of this
2
critical review is to further investigate the social mechanisms through which hypermobility is
glamorized in the contemporary world. We define ‘glamorization’ as the social processes by
which something is idealized and made desirable. Our aim is to show how network capital is
constructed through mobility, and the manifold mechanisms through which transport and
mobility have become signifiers of social status. By doing so, we reveal some of the
fundamental social processes through which hypermobility is made exciting and appealing. We
juxtapose this with an examination of the darker side of hypermobility, in terms of its
physiological, psychological, emotional and social consequences for individuals and society.
We argue that the glamorization of hypermobility has silenced the negative personal and social
costs of frequent travel. This juxtaposition of the darker sides of hypermobility with the
mechanisms of its glamorization is consequently a methodological inroad to make transparent
the one-sided mirror that frames hypermobility as desirable. The geographical lens in this paper
is largely Northern European, drawing on empirical examples, cases and literature on both
business and leisure travel from different places within that region.
2. Methodology
Our methodological approach to the literature is that of a critical review (Grant and Booth,
2009). We offer a synthesis of studies of business and leisure travel, transport, and network
capital, including a review of processes that glamorize mobility and, in juxtaposition, a
discussion of the negative consequences of corporeal mobility, in order to provide a
reinterpretation of frequent travel. Our approach follows others who “attempted to innovate
outside the frame offered by conventional systematic review methodology”, and have used
‘organic, creative and interpretive approaches to conducting reviews of complex literature’
(Dixon-Woods et al, 2006a, page 39). As the review does not offer the systematicity of a more
structured approach, its interpretative synthesis is subjectively biased, is not comprehensive,
and should be viewed as a starting point or ‘launch pad’ rather than an end in itself (Grant and
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Booth, 2009). The review is furthermore inflected by a desire to intervene in dominant
discourses that represent hypermobility as glamorous; it is consequently conditioned by our
values.
The most significant papers in this area, and further relevant papers, were identified iteratively
using the former papers’ reference lists. We furthermore drew on our own previous empirical
work on frequent flying and mobile lifestyles. Peer-reviewed journal articles were included
without further formal rules of quality assessment, and our synthesis is presented through a
narrative discussion that is inherently reductive of others’ arguments. A strength of this iterative
approach is that unlike conventional, rationalist models of systematic reviews, it allows us to
incorporate both qualitative and quantitative studies, draw on literature across the diffuse
boundaries of overlapping fields, and prioritize papers based on relevancy (Dixon-Woods et al,
2006b). Such an approach gives leverage in exploring complex questions that reflect the
“inherently contingent, intuitive and fuzzy realities of practice and experience” (Dixon-Woods
et al, 2006a, page 30). By bringing ideas together in new ways, this synthesis of evidence opens
up new possibilities for reinterpreting dominant representations of hypermobility.
3. The Glamorization of Hypermobility
There is general agreement that sections of some societies are increasingly mobile (cf Sheller
& Urry, 2006 on the mobility turn in the social sciences), and such contemporary forms of
living and dwelling have been termed ‘liquid modernity’ (Bauman, 2007). Liquid modernity is
characterised by social structures rapidly evolving and dissolving, and a near constant
transformation of selves in a psychological situation of insecurity, anxiety and pleasureorientation. This process is, according to Bauman, fuelled by individualism in a globalized
world shaped by global, hypermobile elites, who frequently change places of work, residence
and social networks. Mobility thus permeates, albeit unevenly through power asymmetries,
4
societies and collective psychologies, shaping individual and national identities founded in near
constant movement (Adey, 2010; Edensor, 2004). Mobility is a prerequisite for work, leisure
and relations, and increasingly defines one’s standing in society, as well as one’s ‘network
capital’ (Urry, 2012).
Highly mobile lifestyles involve a socialization process, which frames how we understand and
value mobility from early childhood (Frändberg, 2008; Lassen, 2006; Schwanen et al, 2012;
Sheller, 2004). Specifically, it has been argued that contemporary societies assign high social
value to the consumption of distance, to ‘being mobile’ (Riber Larsen and Guiver, 2013; Urry,
2007; 2012). Where mobility patterns turn into an object of admiration, they become a signifier
of social status and thus a social necessity, shaping what might be termed ‘liquid identities’,
which after Bauman (2007), are defined as social identities increasingly modelled and built on
mobilities (Gössling and Stavrinidi, 2015). Liquid identities are interwoven with privileged
access to resources, including technology use: smartphones are used to download maps and
timetables, to navigate, book accommodation, rent cars or buy air tickets. Social media make
mobile lives more visible to peers. Personalized cars reduce mental and corporeal insecurities
and anxieties (Gössling, 2013), creating spaces of man-machine co-existence to which drivers
become emotionally attached (Nilsson and Küller, 2000). Reward systems such as frequent
flyer programs recompense mobility with more mobility (Gössling and Nilsson, 2010). These
mobility patterns not only assign status and network capital to travel, but also engender
considerable inequalities by assigning anti-status to the less mobile. Such uneven politics of
mobility are both produced by social relations and are productive of them (Cresswell, 2010), as
for example Adey (2006) observes in the context of airports, where individuals are divided into
slow and fast-moving streams, performing ‘kinetic elites’ and ‘kinetic underclasses’.
In this paper, it is argued that these processes are reinforced by ubiquitous patterns of
5
glamorization of (hyper)mobility, involving a wide range of different mechanisms.
Contemporary patterns of ‘transport glamorization’ -- i.e. processes of idealising behaviour or
objects related to mobility -- have received scant attention in the literature. For instance, Grube
(2005) concluded that the prevention of drunk driving was difficult because of the broad social
glamorization of alcohol, while Barry (2007) investigated the glamorized femininity of flight
attendants, for decades represented by young, attractive, unmarried, white women; see also
Baum (2012), who traces representations of female flight attendants from the 1930s ‘golden
era’. Yet, the scattered nature of research into the glamorization of mobility indicates that
limited attention has been given to glamorization processes. These are omnipresent, however,
and are often more profound and subtle than the observation that airlines portray frequent flying
as desirable or that car manufacturers promote automobility centred lifestyles. For instance,
Banister et al. (2012, page 468) argue that approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
“would have to include … new unconventional instruments, such as bans on commercial
advertising and glamorisation of high CO2 vehicles and certain types of carbon intensive travel
[…]”. To pursue de-glamorization, for instance through social marketing (Hall, 2014), it would
thus be necessary to better understand the workings of mobility and transport glamorization
processes, and their relevance in creating network capital.
In light of this, the following sections explore mechanisms of glamorization, discussing objects
and aspects glamorized, as well as arenas of glamorization such as social media. We suggest
that mobility patterns are now vital and consequential venues of competition for social status,
agents of social connectedness, and identity formation. It is such a powerful mechanism because
in societies increasingly characterized by insecurity, anxiety, flow and dissolving structures, it
is our mobility patterns that paradoxically create the network capital to remain socially
connected (Gössling, Cohen and Hibbert, 2015).
6
3.1 Objects and aspects of glamorization
A discussion of glamorization processes requires a definition of the objects and aspects of
hypermobility that appear to be signifiers of network capital. In the past, network capital would
mostly have been signified by objects, such as large or powerful cars, private aircraft or yachts,
frequent business trips, often to long-haul destinations, or signifiers of frequent flyers, such as
often golden or otherwise ‘status-coloured’ frequent flyer high status cards attached to bags
(Thurlow and Jaworski, 2006). While such signifiers persist, contemporary glamorization of
(hyper)mobility in some more privileged societies, such as within Northern Europe, appears to
be framed around a considerably greater variety of expressions, which only to a limited degree
represent objects, rather than issues, aspects or ideas of admiration.
In the following conceptualisation, 13 such aspects are discussed sequentially, but not in order
of importance (see Table 1 for a summary list to facilitate navigation). The list is not exhaustive,
but appears to represent the first concerted effort in the extant literature to draw together
contemporary signifiers of network capital in mobility practices. Many aspects are interrelated,
and would often primarily apply to young, western travellers, though powerful mechanisms of
globalization of such perspectives across cultures are at work, in particular involving social
media (Gössling and Stavrinidi, 2015). As the representations and identities invested in
hypermobility and network capital for young, western travellers and the business elite are
overlapping, but by no means identical, we also elaborate on how these differences across the
upper strata of the hypermobile matter to the glamorization of (hyper)mobility.
Table 1: Aspects of mobility signifying network capital
a
Physical distance covered
b
Frequency of movement
c
Transport mode
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d
Cost and comfort of mobility
e
Frequent flyer miles collected
f
Speed and power of transportation
g
Geographical distribution of movement
h
Iconic places visited
i
Places lived
j
Barriers overcome & off-the-beaten track mobility
k
Mobility brand association
l
Novelty
m
Role model enforcement
a) Physical distance covered. Refers to the overall distance one has covered, measured in
miles or km, and usually on the basis of the number and length of flights one has made.
While physical distance as measured in miles, km or hours of driving/flight time may
not always be the framework for comparison (Riber Larsen and Guiver, 2013), there
clearly
exist
sites
that
allow
for
such
comparisons.
As
an
example,
www.flightmemory.com offers a comparison of individual mobility on the basis of
miles/km or hours flown, as well as the number of flights made (see also following
aspect: Frequency of movement), or the world map “covered” (see also: Geographical
distribution of movement). TripAdvisor (2014), meanwhile, considering itself the
world’s largest travel site with 150 million reviews, automatically calculates the number
of miles/km travelled by its reviewers, as well as the ‘percentage of the world travelled’
on the basis of the reviewer’s home and the places rated.
b) Frequency of movement. Network capital is also characterized by how mobile one is
within a given period of time (Urry, 2012), and is expressed in different ways, including
through social media. For instance, users of Facebook were found to post travel
comments before, during and after trips, apparently in an attempt to communicate
8
frequency in movement (Gössling and Stavrinidi, 2015). Another example is frequent
flyer status cards displayed in public by business travellers, also representing frequency
in movement, in association with social status. Frequent flyers may thus be considered
as ‘superelites’ who consume both aeromobility and its semiotic context (Lash and Urry,
2004), at least in the highly structured social spaces represented by airports (Thurlow
and Jaworski, 2006).
c) Transport mode. Different transport modes appear to represent different degrees of
network capital, with air travel implying greater capital than car travel, and car travel
more than bus or train travel. For instance, the newfound ability to afford a plane ticket,
as opposed to relying on long-distance bus, is viewed outwardly in Brazil as proof of
upward social mobility (Freire-Medeiros and Name, 2013). While private aircraft may
be considered to represent the highest network capital among the business elite, there
are distinctions even here with regard to the model of aircraft one can afford.
d) Cost and comfort of mobility. These two aspects may be interrelated or constitute
separate aspects. ‘Cost’ represents the price paid for movement, with for instance first
class travel being considerably more expensive than travel in economy class, and related
to comfort benefits such as greater legroom in aircraft (Thurlow and Jaworski, 2006).
Cost is also a signifier of perceived distance (Riber Larsen and Guiver, 2013), and a
significant aspect of car admiration, with for instance topcarrating.com allowing a
ranking of cars by price. Even though no research appears to have been conducted
regarding these aspects, there appear to exist Veblen effects, wherein conspicuous goods
are consumed to signify social status (Bagwell and Bernheim, 1996) even with regard
to transport choice; that is, the consumption of specific luxury transport modes because
their high cost advertises wealth.
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e) Frequent flyer miles collected. The number of miles collected – including both status
and award miles – serve as an expression of mobility and thus network capital.
However, frequent flyer miles are also mechanisms rewarding mobility with additional
mobility, as well as tangible (additional bags, priority check-in) and intangible (social
status, recognition) benefits (Gössling and Nilsson, 2011; Thurlow and Jaworski, 2006).
Comparison of frequent flyer miles would be indirect: through the status one has
achieved, or in terms of missing miles to reach the next status class. As noted by
Gössling and Nilsson (2010), some airlines already have frequent flyer programmes for
children as an early socialization into hypermobility.
f) Speed and power of transportation. Speed is a feature of general importance in transport
discourses, mostly in the context of aggressive driving. Aggressive, fast driving is
glamorized in many movies, with current examples including Fast and Furious (six
movies from 2001-2013), Drive Angry (2011), Rush (2013), and Need for Speed (2014),
or documentaries including As the Gears Turn (2014). Aggressive driving can be a
projection of a superior self-image (Ruvio and Shoham, 2011), while admiration of race
pilots (Gössling, 2013) as well as aviators (Adey, 2010) is institutionalized and
nationalised. There is for instance considerable glamorization surrounding Formula One
auto racing, including transporting the cars and workforce for its Grand Prix events held
around the world.
Speed refers both to maximum velocities, as well as the averaged speeds at which one
can move (Schafer and Victor, 2000). Averaged speeds are represented in the transport
modes one is able to use. Examples include former supersonic aircraft Concorde, or
comparisons of car maximum speeds (e.g. topcarrating.com). In a few cases, for leisure
10
travellers, slow speeds may also be positively connoted, for instance when representing
attractions such as the Trans-Siberian Railways, which however may also be a signifier
of distance (see also Physical distance covered; Symbolic places visited). Speed is also
associated with power and its distribution, as noted by Cresswell (2010, page 21): “one
person’s speed is another person’s slowness”. Many modes of transport are measured,
compared or valued on the basis of their power, expressed in Joule, kilowatts,
horsepower, or thrust. For instance, websites such as autosnout.com provide lists of cars
ranked by horsepower as well as 0-60 mph acceleration times.
g) Geographical distribution of movement. This aspect refers to the number of countries
or continents visited. More distant places do not necessarily hold higher social value
(Riber Larsen and Guiver, 2013), but a global distribution of destinations visited appears
to have considerable importance, particularly for young, western travellers. A wide
range of Internet sites as well as social media now offer visualisations of travel. For
instance, TripAdvisor provides an overview of the places rated by its members on
personalized world maps, as does Facebook for places visited. Such practices contribute
to a glorification of the number of places visited, as destinations are ‘ticked off’ lists
and collected as ‘trophies’ (Burns and Bibbings, 2009; Gössling and Stavrinidi, 2015).
h) Iconic places visited. Some destinations in the world are considered ‘iconic’, and may
represent greater network capital. Even though no research appears to exist that
identifies the characteristics of iconic destinations, as notions of ‘the iconic’ also depend
on individual and cultural perceptions, considerable work has been presented on
destination image, indicating that some places indeed have greater perceived values than
others (e.g. Echtner and Ritchie, 2003; Hanlan and Kelly, 2005).
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i) Places lived. Expressions of hypermobility not only include the number of countries or
destinations visited, but as well, and perhaps even more so, the number of and specificity
of the countries where one has lived. Positive valuations of dwelling in multiple
countries, and learning further languages while doing so, are underpinned by the
abstract idealisation of a cosmopolitan sensibility, behind which lurks the privileges of
wealth and citizenship of the globe’s mobile elite (Skrbis et al, 2004). This is related to
the phenomenon of long-haul, long-term independent travel (O’Reilly, 2006), or
volunteer-tourism (Wearing, 2001), often during gap years (Lyons et al, 2012; see also
Frändberg 2006; 2008). Subsequently, such travel patterns may turn into migration for
studies or work (Cohen et al, 2015; Hall, 2005). These movements are captured in social
media platforms, with for example Facebook now also offering to depict on a world
map the places where one has lived. Pairing places lived with lists of languages spoken
signifies not just the power to spend significant time abroad, but also access to
educational resources. Network capital, in conclusion, would also be expressed in global
patterns of dwelling, and other signifiers such as the number of passports one
accumulates (see Ong, 1999 on how some wealthy Chinese migrants are able to thrive
through acquiring multiple passports).
j) Barriers overcome & off-the-beaten-track mobility. Specific locations visited may hold
greater network capital than others due to barriers of access, for instance when these are
remote, expensive, or restricted in terms of political or legal entry regulation (e.g. de la
Barre, 2013). Visits to dangerous destinations (e.g. civil war, unrest, turmoil), or places
allowing for dangerous encounters (e.g. shark diving) can be perceived as incurring high
social status, particularly by young, western travellers. Social status can also be assigned
to motorcycle or train or bicycle travel over great distances or involving difficult tracks.
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k) Mobility brand association. Through brand association, network capital may be built,
as various brands have sought to associate specific values with their transport services
or products. Examples include, for instance, Mercedes’ current ‘Into Extremes Fascination of Speed’ exhibition (Mercedes, 2014), or Jaguar’s ‘British Villains – it’s
good to be bad’ (Jaguar, 2014) campaign. Links to mobility can also be subtler, as
exemplified by Kidzania theme parks (already existing in 15 countries), where children
‘mimic’ (Kidzania, 2014) adults, have jobs, and earn and spend money, for instance to
rent a car in an Avis rental office. Easyjet’s ‘Generation Easyjet’ campaign frames
mobility as an invitation to join a social network, and associates network capital with
the mind-set of being young, urban, highly mobile, and open to constantly explore new
places (Gössling et al., 2015).
l) Novelty. Novelty refers to specific transport modes that represent advances in
technology, such as Airbus’ A380 or Boeing’s Dreamliner, or space travel
(Virginatlantic.com). Being an early-adopter of such innovations, reflected for instance
by the raft of celebrities lining up for the first Virgin Galactic space flight, is illustrative
of how novel forms of mobility intertwine with markers of prestige.
m) Role model enforcement. Every society has role models who to a considerable degree
shape public opinion through their opinions or performances. An example from
Germany, the only large industrialized country in the world without a speed limit, may
illustrate this. In May 2014, German national soccer league coach Joachim ‘Jogi’ Löw
lost his driving licence for a six-month period after repeated reckless driving incidents
(Spiegel, 2014). The mass media (Bild 2014, authors’ translation) reported Löw as
saying during a related press conference that “I don’t think this is anything special.
These things happen. I am sure there are some people in this room who also lost their
13
driving licenses at some point”. Trivialization of illegal or reckless behaviour, either by
role models or insinuated by the media, affects public opinion of the social desirability
of speeding or aggressive driving, for instance as an expression of ‘maleness’ (Gössling,
2013).
3.2 From admiration to glamorization
From this non-exhaustive review, we conclude that the glamorization of mobility, and in
particular hypermobility, now involves a wide range of elements and dimensions, though in
virtually all cases with a focus on cars and aircraft. These representations of mobility partially
engage what we consider to be ‘old’ forms of admiration, which are often masculinized, such
as depictions of heroic race car drivers and astronauts, successful businessmen, or wider claims
invoking social and economic contributions, as exemplified by IATA’s (2014) current ‘100
years of connecting people, cultures, businesses, goods and ideas’ campaign. ‘Old’ forms of
glamorization emphasize to a larger degree ‘superelites’ (Urry, 2007), social contributions
made by mobility (e.g. IATA), or technological progress within nationalized contexts (e.g.
Jaguar’s 2014 campaign). In comparison, we argue that new forms of glamorization are
characterized by three key elements: i) they involve far larger populations than previously, in
an age of mass mobility; ii) employ different semiotics, i.e. in particular visualisations such as
maps; and iii) are characterized by subtle elements of competition, on the basis of opportunities
to compare personal corporeal mobilities.
Mass mobility in a globalized world
Increasingly mobile lifestyles have been discussed out of changing economic, cultural, social
and political relations (Coles et al, 2005; Green et al, 1999; Larsen et al, 2007; Lassen, 2006;
Shaw and Thomas, 2006). For instance, Frändberg (2008) shows how the mobility patterns of
young Swedes change over time, characterized by mobility increasing with age, sequential
14
relationships between migration and temporary mobility, and regularity and repetition in longdistance travel patterns, often involving long-distance social relationships. A general
conclusion from this line of research is that there are various drivers of individual mobility
patterns. Here we argue for a greater recognition of the role of ulterior travel motives underlying
these processes: this would specifically include ‘liquid’ identities, as well as mechanisms of
network capital generation in an age of social media dominance (Gössling and Stavrinidi,
2015), and ubiquitous communication of the desirability of mobility: We love flying (in flight
screen advertisement June 2014 shown by Thomas Cook). Notably, mobility patterns are aided
by a decline in the real cost of travel, witnessed by in particular the rapid growth in low-cost
travel (e.g. Nilsson, 2009).
Semiotics
‘Old’ forms of glamorization of mobility have involved media such as TV and movies, as well
as advertisements launched in magazines, newspapers, radio, visual media, or through the
Internet. New forms of glamorization are to a larger degree based on social media and travel
sites built on user-generated content, such as TripAdvisor, which offer reference points to one’s
own travel activity. In particular, Facebook with more than 1 billion users (Facebook, 2014)
has become an important platform for the posting of one’s own mobility: A study by Gössling
and Stavrinidi (2015) concludes that social media fosters corporeal as well as imaginative
mobility, with presentations of liquid identities based on texts, pictures (often Selfies), photo
albums and ‘check-ins’, i.e. reference to one’s current corporeal position. Representations of
mobile identities include landscapes, landmarks, friends and selves. The study also found that
photographs shared in ‘timelines’ put people and selves in focus, while check-ins were
visualized in world maps, becoming indicators of a person’s ‘travelness’. Where children are
targeted in campaigns to foster mobile lifestyles, a wide range of different mechanisms may be
used, such as Emirates’ 2014 campaign to photograph children during the flight, and to supply
15
them with the photographs as memories.
Elements of competition
Finally, new forms of glamorization communicate individual mobility patterns, while involving
various elements of competition within peer groups. In Facebook, the competition for mobility
would invoke emotions such as feelings of superiority (and vice versa, inferiority), awe and
envy, implying the accumulation of network capital for the most mobile (Gössling and
Stavrinidi, 2015). For instance, world maps represent spaces of competition of distance
consumed, and Facebook discussions revolve around the number of places visited, with
encouragement to ‘add’ certain destinations to one’s list of ‘places to see’, and disappointment
where competitions of visiting ‘top’ destinations are lost. Emotions of admiration or envy
among those being less mobile indicate notions of lower social status, reconfirming notions of
liquid identities and lifestyles built on mobility. Notably, competition does not always involve
direct comparisons with other travellers; it can also be an imaginary comparison with significant
others (Hibbert et al, 2013), or constitute a personal reference point, for instance with regard to
the number of countries one has visited.
Overall, we conclude that there exist a wide range of aspects related to the measurement
of (hyper)mobility, and that there is a growing movement, albeit still framed by power
differentials, towards liquid identities built on hypermobile lifestyles, empowered by travel
sites and social media on the basis of comparison and resulting competition. Identity, social
capital, and network capital are to a greater extent than ever before related to mobility patterns.
4. The consequences of hypermobility
While societies appear to rampantly reproduce and develop the processes through which
mobility is glamorized, resulting typically in the accrual of network capital for individuals who
move fast, frequently and freely, little public attention is given to the negative personal and
16
social consequences of hypermobility. Although we recognize that the risks that the
hypermobile elite incur are shaped and mitigated based on preferential access to resources such
as healthcare, high income and quality housing, and are less consequential than the negative
effects of mobility faced for instance, by ‘low-skill’ labour migrants, we argue the costs of
hypermobility on individual lives and societies justifies increased attention, however, for at
least two reasons: 1) it is increasingly common; thus its ‘darker side’, though potentially
overshadowed by a cultural glamorization of mobility, may have resonance for more and more
people; 2) the social and cultural adherence of hypermobility is a significant barrier to
behavioural change in mobility consumption and hence environmental sustainability (Barr &
Prillwitz, 2014; Higham et al, 2013), and greater attention on its negative personal and societal
aspects may render counter-evidence that resists discourses that valorize mobility.
Research on frequent business travel has been the primary site of study into the negative
consequences of hypermobility. Far less evidence is available in the context of leisure travel,
where research has instead tended to focus on tourism’s positive implications for its consumers
(e.g. Filep and Pearce, 2013). This disparity likely stems from a false ‘required/voluntary’
dichotomy, whereby it is assumed that one will engage in leisure tourism only when benefits
are experienced, thereby rendering the question of a darker personal and social side moot. There
are, however, shoots of evidence demonstrating that ‘voluntary’ hypermobility through leisure
travel also has negative sides (e.g. Cohen, 2010). There is recent work examining both the
negative and positive implications of business travel (e.g. cosmopolitan identities, broadened
understanding of cultural differences, increased open-mindedness, enhanced professional
status) (see Gustafson, 2014; Beaverstock et al, 2009). While the benefits of frequent business
and leisure travel are well recognized, this paper instead aims to further ventilate their darker
sides.
17
It is therefore primarily within the context of corporeal travel for business, and where possible
drawing upon evidence from leisure travel, that we offer a non-exhaustive characterization of
the darker personal and social sides of hypermobility. Our analysis in terms of transport mode
largely centres on the ills of frequent aeromobility, despite the car still dominating personal
mobility at local and regional scales in more privileged nations (Frändberg and Vilhelmson,
2003). This skew derives from a relative neglect of the car in studies of business and leisure
travel, where focus has instead been placed on aeroplanes and international travel. We identify
and discuss the negative consequences of hypermobility by organizing them into three key
sides, which address costs at both the personal level and that of the broader societal context: 1)
physiological consequences; 2) psychological and emotional consequences; and 3) social
consequences. This division, however, is for heuristic purposes; we recognise that the sides are
not distinct and hence bleed into each other. Our critical review of the negative costs of frequent
travel subjectively weaves together a fragmented body of work that crosses the natural and
social sciences. We interpretively synthesize others’ arguments and empirics, and draw where
possible on our own previous empirical work on mobile lifestyles (see reference list), in order
to present a first attempt in the literature at a holistic conceptualisation of the darker sides of
hypermobility.
4.1 Physiological consequences
The potential physiological costs of hypermobility are manifold, with recent scientific evidence
adding to an evolving understanding of the various ways in which frequent travel can be
harmful. The most commonly discussed physical or biological impact is jet lag, which is a
disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm (Anderson, 2015). Jet lag affects sleep-wake and
gastro-intestinal patterns following high speed travel across many time zones, with significant
feelings of jet lag reported even six days after flying (Waterhouse and Edwards, 2004), affecting
18
mood, judgement and the ability to concentrate (Striker et al, 2000). Full adaptation of the
circadian rhythm following one transmeridian flight can take 11 days (Desir et al, 1981). This
interference with the body’s rhythms reflects a widespread disruption of many biological
processes, including gene expression that influences aging (Archer et al, 2014). Jet lag can even
switch off genes that are linked to the immune system, thereby raising the risk of having a heart
attack or stroke (Knapton, 2014). Long-term chronic jet lag among airline cabin crew is
associated with cognitive deficits including memory impairment (Cho et al, 2000).
For frequent flyers and occasional flyers alike, being in-flight increases the risk of developing
deep-vein thrombosis, exposes passengers to more germs, and can contribute to subtle
discomforts such as dry eyes and dehydrated skin (Anderson, 2015; Gustafson, 2014). One in
ten travellers on long-haul flights develop symptomless deep-vein thrombosis, from which
there is the potential to develop fatal blood clots (Scurr et al, 2001). Less publicized, but at the
extreme end of a darker side of hypermobility, are arguments that frequent business travellers
should be classified as ‘radiation workers’: flying 85,000 miles a year goes beyond the
regulatory limit for public exposure to radiation facilities (i.e. flying New York to Tokyo seven
times return, or New York to Seattle return every three weeks in a year), and radiation exposure
among commercial aircrew even exceeds that of nuclear power workers (Barish and Dilchert,
2010). With exposure to radiation at high altitude hundreds of times higher than at ground level,
the risk of initiating cancer is heightened. The impact is at its greatest on pregnant women, for
whom cosmic radiation exposure significantly increases the possibility of leukaemia forming
in unborn babies (Barish and Dilchert, 2010).
Whilst the health and safety concerns on arriving at new destinations are wide-ranging (e.g.
from diarrhoea to exposure to infectious diseases) (Espino et al, 2002), enough so that some
academic journals are devoted solely to travel medicine (i.e. Journal of Travel Medicine and
19
Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease), discussion of the impacts of hypermobility on
physical health rarely touch upon less acute, cumulative effects of travel behaviour. These
include, for instance, most often in the case of frequent business travellers, fewer opportunities
for physical exercise, worse eating habits than when at home and sometimes the overconsumption of alcohol (Gustafson, 2014).
Through reward programmes that grant access to lounges and priority boarding, and frequent
traveller schemes that expedite security screening for the ‘kinetic elite’ (Adey, 2006), airlines
and airports tease our imaginations with the notion that mobility can be smooth and seamless.
Rarely depicted is the accumulated physical tiredness that also goes together with frequent
travel. Business travel is often accompanied by early mornings, late evenings and intense
working days, and the majority of it, at a global level, is facilitated by flying (Beaverstock et
al, 2009). Increasingly, business travellers are forced to take economy class, exacerbating
physical and mental fatigue and the overall severity of the physical toll (Beaverstock et al,
2009). This ‘creeping tiredness’, repeated jet lag and accumulation of travel stress may turn
chronic (Black and Jamieson, 2007; Striker et al, 2000), and has been described as ‘frequent
traveller exhaustion’ (Ivancevich et al, 2003). Comparison of the performance impairment of
fatigue with that of alcohol intoxication shows that just 17 hours of sustained wakefulness is
equivalent to the impairment observed at blood alcohol concentrations above the legal level in
many industrialized countries (.05%): both are frequently related to accidents (Dawson & Reid,
1997). Of the 1.2 million fatal and 20-50 million non-fatal traffic accidents each year, alcohol
and drug abuse are involved in a large share of those accidents, ranging from less than 5% to
more than 50% in a study of 93 countries (WHO, 2009). How many of these accidents are
related to fatigue, high speed, or both, and may be linked to hypermobility, remains unknown.
4.2 Psychological and emotional consequences
20
Jet lag and travel stress not only impact travellers physiologically, but also psychologically and
emotionally. Although jet lag is normally reduced to its physical impacts, the geographical and
cultural displacement achieved through high-speed long-distance travel can lead to a more
holistic sense of ‘travel disorientation’ (Anderson, 2015). Disorientation can occur before
movement even begins, through the stress of anticipating, organizing and preparing for a trip.
In the context of business travel, this includes not just leaving the job in good order prior to
travel, and making necessary special arrangements with colleagues, but also the implication
that time spent travelling will rarely be offset through a reduced workload, and that there may
be anxieties associated with work continuing to accumulate (e.g. ‘inbox overload’) whilst away
(Beaverstock et al, 2009; Espino et. al, 2000; Ivancevich et al, 2003). In addition to work, home
and family arrangements, pre-trip travel stress includes the potential disorientation of readying
oneself to enter a different state of socio-spatial relations at the destination (Anderson, 2015;
DeFrank et al, 2000).
Transportation to the destination is a further source of stress and disorientation, as unexpected
travel delays due to weather, technical failures and additional security checks at airports
contribute to anxiety, frustration and fatigue (Ivancevich et al, 2003). Arriving to acutely felt
differences in temperature, humidity, altitude or pollution (Anderson, 2015), as well as different
smells, sounds and tastes, while potential sources of enjoyment and excitement, can also
contribute to a sense of confusion and uncertainty (Hottola, 2004). The affront on the senses
may be overwhelming, even resulting in ‘overload shock’ (Hottola, 2004). The demand to
effectively operate in unfamiliar environments and navigate cultural differences can be an
intensive one, particularly when business travel requires meeting rigid schedules (Welch et al,
2007). Anxieties over health, personal safety and security, ranging from the loss of data to
terrorism, add a further toll on already stressed travellers (Beaverstock et al, 2009; DeFrank et
21
al, 2000).
Hypermobility is frequently an isolating and lonely experience. Although taking a trip often
opens new opportunities for making fresh social connections (Bergström, 2010), and renewing
past bonds, both Adler and Adler’s (1999) study of transient resort workers and Cohen’s (2011)
work on backpackers who travelled on and off for years, illustrates how new friendships and
romantic relationships forged through mobility have a tendency to be situational, expendable
and short-lived. Mobile lifestyles left many of the participants in these studies searching for
more enduring relationships. Mobility in such cases cuts both ways, leading also to distress
when returning ‘home’, with similarities to returning military service members who have been
deployed for long periods of time (Beder, Coe and Sommer, 2011). A lack of co-presence with
friends and family can lead to divergent interests and worldviews, encouraging a sense of
isolation that in severe cases may even engender depression among returnees (Pocock and
McIntosh, 2011). This sense of alienation often pushes young, western travellers back into
searching for social cohesion through mobile lifestyles (Cohen, 2011), ironically caging people
within the very same corporeal mobilities through which they sought ideals of freedom.
Isolation is also documented amongst business travellers; not just for those who travel, but also
those ‘left behind’ (Gustafson, 2014). Espino et al (2002) report that travelling staff felt both a
sense of isolation and guilt at leaving behind their spouse and children, while at the same time
spouses felt resentment and anger; frequent trips of long duration led to an emotional distancing
between partners.
Hypermobility not only foments emotional and psychological strains in social cohesion, but
also in how one relates to place and perceives personal identity (Cohen et al, 2015). Although
frequent travellers are well connected to global networks, this is typically at the expense of
22
local place-bounded identities (Frändberg and Vilhelmson, 2003). This is not assuming a
deterritorialization of place-identity whereby ‘home’ is found in motion, but rather a weakening
of ties at local and community scales. The counter side of this corporeal absence at those scales
is increased presence ‘away’, often in diverse socio-spatial environments. Sustained and
repeated exposure to different cultural practices, while associated with the development of
cosmopolitan sensibilities and global citizenry (Hannerz, 2002), may also lead to a sense of
identity confusion: indeed, Cohen’s (2010) work on backpackers who travelled for years on
end revealed several who had developed a sense of being metaphorically ‘lost’.
In more extreme cases, mobility can engender psychological disorders and mental illness.
Studies from consular psychiatry have examined how ‘pathological tourism’ fosters ‘mad
[leisure] travellers’ who have severely disrupted conceptions of personal identity (Airault,
2000; Hacking, 1998). Liese et al (1997) found in a study of the medical insurance claims of
10,000 World Bank staff a nearly three-fold increase in psychological claims by business
travellers (4,000 of those staff) as opposed to non-travellers. The findings suggest that
hypermobility can contribute to a significantly higher risk of developing psychological
disorders.
4.3 Social consequences
Many of the above aspects concerning the darker physiological, emotional and psychological
sides of hypermobility have already illustrated connections to social consequences. But the
costs at kinship, friendship and community levels entail at least several further dimensions. As
Bergström (2010) observes, despite advances in communication technologies, increasing travel
indicates decreasing time for co-present social life at home and locally. At home, consequences
include a negative impact on children’s behaviour due to the emotional upset of a parent away
23
frequently or for extended periods (Johnson et al, 2013). This reduced ability to participate fully
in family life is often exasperated by the limited time in between trips being largely spent
recovering from fatigue (Black and Jamieson, 2007). Repeated absence from key family
milestones and events, such as birthdays, can lead to a loss of family role (Black and Jamieson,
2007). These effects remain highly gendered, given that jobs requiring frequent travel have
been a traditionally male sphere (Bergström Casinowsky, 2013). For instance, 77% of US
citizens on business trips in 2002 were male (Aguilera, 2008). Black and Jamieson (2007)
observe that frequent business travel by one parent could prevent the other, who is nearly always
female, from entering the labour market because of domestic commitments.
Domestic responsibility in light of hypermobility is gendered in other persisting ways. Among
male frequent business travellers, Black and Jamieson (2007) found ‘stay at home’ wives to be
the norm, with women in these cases shouldering the bulk of domestic work as the men held
far less household and childcare duties. Frequent female business travellers and mothers,
however, applied considerable pressure on themselves, and perceived pressure from their
partners and others, to also fulfil the role of mother when away (Black and Jamieson, 2007; see
also Bergström Casinowsky, 2013). Thus the allocation of home-based responsibilities when
one partner is hypermobile is highly unequal across gender lines.
Reduced time for home-based social life and responsibilities not only affects kinship relations,
but also friendships and community. Large amounts of time spent away make it difficult to
participate regularly in local cultural activities and organizations, team-sports and in voluntary
community work (Høyer and Naess, 2001). Gustafson (2014) found frequent business travellers
tended to sacrifice local collective activities and instead prioritize their immediate families
when returning from trips. This supports Bergström’s (2010, page 382) observation that
frequent business travellers develop strategies for economizing on time, “discarding
24
relationships with more peripheral acquaintances and focusing on the family and closest friends
instead”. Whether conscious or not, such tactics reduce the scale and intensity of the traveller’s
local social network (Bergström, 2010), and thus have the potential to undermine social
cohesion in communities where hypermobility is prevalent (Putnam, 2000).
Although a darker dimension of hypermobility is typically a scaling back of one’s local and
community social networks, these spatially closer contacts may be supplanted by new
relationships forged in multiple places, and cultivated through physical visits and
communication technologies. As mobility often begets mobility, a further consequence of
frequent travel is that it can tip into a migration decision (Cohen, 2011), leading people to
migrate intra-nationally or to other countries or continents. An implication of migration is that
social relations become further spread out (Larsen et al, 2007), and much additional mobility is
often needed through visiting friends and relatives travel to maintain these relations (Janta et
al, 2015). The nature of kinship and friendship differs, however, in that the latter lack the
institutional framework of the family and are hence more vulnerable to erosion through a lack
of face-to-face contact (Hardimon, 1994; Litwak and Szelenyi, 1969). Friendships are thus
more susceptible to becoming weakened through mobility decisions, despite virtual
interactions. Where families do become spread out, despite the considerable efforts often made
by migrants to foster transnational families and intimacies, the costs can be high to maintain
these kinship relations, both in terms of time and money (Larsen et al, 2007); there is also a
reduction in one’s ability to give and receive care at a distance (Janta et al, 2015).
Overall, our critical review of the physiological, psychological, emotional and social
consequences of hypermobility has rendered some key insights on the impacts of excessive
travel. While there is evidence of the impact of chronic jetlag and frequent radiation exposure
on airline cabin crew, the implications of these physiological effects on business and leisure
25
travellers has largely been ignored. This is paralleled by a relative neglect of the cumulative
effects of hypermobile practices in terms of physical and mental tiredness, wherein the
relationship between frequent traveller exhaustion and accidents remains unknown. There is
also little knowledge on how hypermobility may intersect with the development of
psychological disorders, despite fragmented evidence suggesting a relationship. Furthermore,
valuable empirics exist on the unequal negative social consequences of business travel in terms
of gender dimensions (e.g. Bergström Casinowsky, 2013), but work in this area has not been
extended to frequent leisure travel, nor been sufficiently explored along gender lines with
regards to physiological costs.
Finally, our analysis has shown how loneliness and isolation occurs through both frequent
business and leisure travel, but has given a wider view beyond hypermobile subjects in
illustrating how this loneliness also manifests at ‘home’, both for returning travellers and those
‘left behind’. The implications of hypermobility were shown to not only impact personal
identity, but also person-person (at both kinship and friendship levels), person-place and
person-community relations. This is highly significant in terms of social cohesion as both
frequent leisure and business travellers can experience a reduction in scale and intensity of their
local social networks. Through these social processes network capital becomes ever more
crucial as a resource for gaining social support.
5. Conclusions
By juxtaposing the physiological, psychological, emotional, and social consequences of
hypermobility with the mechanisms underpinning its glamorization in societies, we have
thrown these two extreme sides of hypermobility into bold relief. We recognise these sides are
not binary, and that reported darker elements of hypermobility may be perceived brightly by
26
some individuals, vice versa and all shades in between (cf. Anderson and Erskine, 2014 on how
some hypermobile travellers experience ‘tropophilia’, or a love of mobility and change in
person-place relations). We have demonstrated, however, that the brighter side of
hypermobility is persistently glamorized in contemporary discourse, with the darker sides
largely overlooked and ignored, and even made invisible by the social mechanisms through
which mobility is linked to network capital.
A wide range of objects and aspects of hypermobility signify network capital. Physical distance
covered, the frequency of movement, numbers of places lived in or iconic sites visited, their
remoteness and the speed and mode of transport through which such practices take place, are
all ways through which network capital is articulated. Through social media, brand association,
frequent flyer programmes, early-adoption of mobility technologies, and role model
enforcement, with elements of comparison and competition, hypermobility is performed,
mobile identities are constituted and frequent travel is adorned by societies. These powerful
discourses shape our understanding of mobility, assigning status and network capital to travel,
and ascribing anti-status or reduced capital to the less mobile. Even when darker sides of
hypermobility are touched upon, they may be framed in ways that glamorize. An example may
be jet lag, a phenomenon commonly affecting large numbers of long-distance travellers. When
mentioned to explain one’s tiredness, ‘jet lag’ also invokes the semiotics of speed, distance and
freedom to travel, becoming a signifier of ‘travelness’ and a representation of network capital.
We postulate that glamorization processes are powerful over and beyond positive framings of
mobility in that darker sides of mobility are covered up, or even become instruments in
expressing one’s travelness.
This paper has attempted to throw light on the darker sides of hypermobility, in a first
interdisciplinary attempt in the literature at a holistic conceptualisation of the negative
27
consequences of frequent leisure and business travel. Such an understanding is crucial as people
increasingly lead lives that are more geographically spread and dependent on network capital
(Larsen et al, 2006). Our critical review and original interpretive synthesis is aimed as a
corrective to an imbalanced societal discourse that privileges moving fast, frequently and freely.
We have demonstrated that the costs of hypermobility can be substantial, with significant
consequences for those travelling, their families and their communities. The present paper has
identified and drawn together these darker sides of hypermobility, with limited scope here for
their quantification. Further research should for example quantify the public health costs
associated with hypermobility. This paper has additionally only touched upon gender issues,
and the linkages between the darker sides of hypermobility and those of migration; in the latter
there is already substantial evidence on the personal and societal consequences of migration
(e.g. Grove and Zwi, 2006; Nowok et al, 2013). A full comparative analysis of the consequences
of hypermobility and migration is necessary, particularly in terms of health issues. A dedicated
analysis of gender dimensions in both the glamorization of hypermobility and in its negative
consequences is also warranted, but was outside the scope of the present paper.
Our focus here has been on the broader consequences of hypermobility for individuals and
society. With parallels for instance to the unsustainability of post-war suburbanization and
urban sprawl in the United States (e.g. Goetz, 2013), cultures of hypermobility likewise impact
spatial characteristics. Hypermobility thus also has important implications for defining social
space and impacting social and environmental sustainability, with these extending from local
to global scales. Hypermobility engenders a rescaling of social interaction: it affects kinship,
friendship and local community relationships, contributing to a stretching out of relations
(Larsen et al, 2007), which our review reveals is often experienced as a negative consequence.
As network capital becomes an increasingly important social resource, it is therefore not only
a form of capital from which some are socially excluded, but also a powerful determinant of
28
how space and sociality are reconfigured. Crucially, as our review has shown, such
reconfigurations also have a darker side.
Our rendering of evidence on the personal costs of hypermobility, and the mechanisms through
which network capital is produced, therefore also lends itself as counter-evidence that can be
deployed for a normative agenda. We have provided evidence that can be used to resist
discourses that make hypermobility fashionable. Only when these discourses are better
understood will it become possible to break the intricate bonds between high mobility and social
capital, and to ultimately change transport behaviour.
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