In this paper, we focus on friendship as a significant interpersonal relationship that has not prominently figured in geographic discussions of mobile work. Taking friendship as our object of analysis, we explore how wellbeing becomes compromised for mobile workers and their friends. Responding to concerns outlined by our research participants during semi‐structured Skype interviews, we acknowledge mobile working practices transform friendships that exist outside sites of paid labour. To consider the complexity of these transformations, we address how spatial relations of proximity and distance demarcate physical and metaphorical issues of absence and presence. These issues can lead mobile workers to become reclusive and focused on self‐directed activities. This oscillating absence and presence transforms friendships and highlights the relational interplay of mobility and immobility in mobile work.

中文翻译：

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朋友断开连接：移动工作如何通过缺席和在场改变友谊

在本文中，我们将友谊视为一种重要的人际关系，这种关系在移动工作的地理讨论中并未得到显着体现。以友谊为我们的分析对象，我们探索移动员工及其朋友的福祉如何受到损害。在回应研究参与者在半结构化Skype访谈中概述的关注时，我们承认移动工作方式改变了有薪劳动场所之外的友谊。为了考虑这些转换的复杂性，我们解决了距离和距离的空间关系如何划分缺勤和存在的物理和隐喻问题。这些问题可能导致移动工作人员变得隐居，并专注于自我指导的活动。