Conexão constante, privacidade e ambivalências nas dinâmicas interacionais mediadas por smartphones

Abstract

This article proposes to reflect upon the strategies used by Brazilian youth to regulate their interactions mediated by smartphones. Based on an exploratory qualitative study, the thematic analysis examines the assessments made by participants of their constant use of devices, their permanently connected status, and their self-disclosure in mediated social interactions. In both the relational and informational dimensions, they point to the need to regulate the degree of involvement with the device itself and recognize certain implications of this regulation on their degree of involvement with other people and the information surrounding them. There is intense ambivalence as to how young people perceive their experience of being constantly connected, signaling the need for adjustments in the regulation of privacy and interactional dynamics triggered by singular uses and appropriations of smartphones in daily life.

Keywords

• entertainment
• privacy
• smartphones
• social interaction
• youth