Domesticating WhatsApp: Family, friends, work, and study in everyday communication

Mora Matassi*, Pablo J. Boczkowski, Eugenia Mitchelstein

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

96 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article analyzes the domestication of WhatsApp among Argentine individuals going through young, middle, and late adulthood, drawing on 158 semi-structured interviews and a 700-person survey. Findings show variance in domestication processes related to the different life stages that users belong to. Young adults (18–34 years, in our sample) adopt WhatsApp as a taken-for-granted platform where sociability is mainly produced in groups with friends and enacted through an “always on” availability. Middle adults (35–59 years) appropriate this platform partly shaped by a constellation of work and care responsibilities. Late adults (60 years and older) find in WhatsApp a connection with younger generations in addition to age peers, while enacting less continuous modes of availability than those in other life stages. We propose that considering life stages in domestication processes contributes to unpacking broader dynamics of the social mediation of everyday life.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2183-2200
Number of pages18
JournalNew Media and Society
Volume21
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2019

Funding

We thank the editor, production editor, and reviewers for helping us develop this article through challenging and productive questions, suggestions and criticisms. Earlier versions of the manuscript were presented at the ?Qualitative Network Analysis? doctoral course taught by Professor Mario Small at the Department of Sociology in Harvard University during Spring 2018; at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Center for the Study of Media and Society, held at Universidad de San Andr?s in Argentina on October 2018; and at the ?Monday Lunch? seminar of the Media, Technology, and Society PhD program, held at Northwestern University on February 2019. We thank Mario Small and conference and seminar attendees for their most helpful feedback, in particular John Brooks, Gerardo Halpern, and Aaron Shaw. Last but not least, we wholeheartedly thank the research assistants whose collaboration was essential for this project: Victoria Andelsman, Tom?s Bombau, Sof?a Carcavallo, Paloma Etenberg, Rodrigo Gil Buetto, Camila Giuliano, Bel?n Guigue, Silvana Leiva, In?s Lovisolo, Mattia Panza, Jeanette Rodr?guez, Celeste Wagner, and Marina Weinstein. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Keywords

  • Domestication
  • Latin America
  • WhatsApp
  • everyday life
  • life course
  • life stages
  • social media

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Sociology and Political Science

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