Digital Disconnection and Portuguese Youth: Motivations, Strategies, and Well-Being Outcomes

Patrícia Dias; Leonor Martinho; Ana Jorge

doi:10.17231/comsoc.44(2023).4466

Authors

Patrícia Dias Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7948-4439
Leonor Martinho Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3953-9649
Ana Jorge Centro de Investigação em Comunicação Aplicada, Cultura e Novas Tecnologias, Escola de Comunicação, Arquitetura, Artes e Tecnologias da Informação, Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4069-6212

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.44(2023).4466

Keywords:

digital, disconnection, youth, well-being, social media

Abstract

As most individuals become digital media users, many struggle to find balance in such use. This study adds to emergent research on how digital disconnection experiences reflect on well-being (Nguyen et al., 2021; Radtke et al., 2022; Vanden Abeele, 2021) by focusing on motivations and strategies to disconnect from digital media, as well as on outcomes for well-being. We set out to understand teenagers who have voluntarily chosen to disconnect in the post-lockdown period in 2021. Our qualitative study included 20 participants from Portugal between 15 and 18 years old. Among those who consciously chose to disconnect from digital media, motivations arose from realizing that digital media was not bringing enough benefits for the amount of time that they took from users. Specific forms of digital media stood out as particularly problematic for young people, especially social media, but also videogames and pornography. This realization seems to be strongly influenced by the media and is evident in the vocabulary and associations used by our respondents. Social pressure is felt both as causing anxiety when they are connected and when they are disconnected through fear of missing out. However, the group provides support when they engage in a progressive disconnection together.
Radical disconnection is rare, especially during the pandemic, and can appear as a solution to a dramatic problem in young people’s lives, but it can also be reverted. More often, participants attempted to self-regulate their use of digital when they acknowledged the advantages of those services as well as their drawbacks. This is not a linear process but rather filled with attempts and reversals as unexpected feelings such as boredom arise. When young people grow different leisure and social habits, they experience positive outcomes of disconnecting from the digital.

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Author Biographies

Patrícia Dias, Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal

Patrícia Dias holds a PhD in communication sciences. She is assistant professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and a researcher at Research Centre for Communication and Culture. Her main research interests are the use of digital media by children and also within organizational communication, marketing, and branding. She is the author of several publications about the social impact of digital media and the use of smartphones.

Leonor Martinho, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal

Leonor Martinho holds a master in communication sciences by Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Leonor is interested in digital disconnection and wellbeing. She collaborated with the Dis/Connect project.

Ana Jorge, Centro de Investigação em Comunicação Aplicada, Cultura e Novas Tecnologias, Escola de Comunicação, Arquitetura, Artes e Tecnologias da Informação, Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal

Ana Jorge is research coordinator at Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies, and associate professor at Universidade Lusófona. She holds a communication sciences PhD from the NOVA University of Lisbon. Ana has published extensively on children, youth and media, celebrity and influencer culture, digital culture, and communication. She has co-edited Digital Parenting (Nordicom, 2018) and Reckoning With Social Media (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

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