Pub Date : 2026-02-06DOI: 10.1177/14614448251383854
Muira McCammon
In May 2010, the U.S. Public Affairs Office of the Joint Task Force of Guantánamo (JTF-GTMO) joined many other federal institutions in opening an official Twitter account (@JTFGTMO), but by May 2019, it was gone; the account, deactivated. This research builds upon the premise that carceral authority is exerted not only through speech itself but also erasure, which can decentralize the networked power of government spokespeople. This article importantly advances a method for procuring social media data by decentering corporate regimes of records management and focusing on the archival potential of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as a way of studying disconnective practices of the U.S. national security state. Drawing on a multimodal corpus of archived deleted tweets, internal administrative records, and a FOIA response letter, the article traces disconnection as a staged institutional process rather than a single act of withdrawal. This empirical approach garners an analysis of how the JTF-GTMO steadily attempted to sever much of its networked communication, initially through deletion of individually published messages and later through the total deactivation of its Twitter and Facebook accounts. The study ultimately contributes to ongoing research on national security, public memory, and platform power by proposing a counter-archival method that can be adapted across a number of jurisdictions.
{"title":"The extrajudicial digital: Disconnection as a legacy of institutional control","authors":"Muira McCammon","doi":"10.1177/14614448251383854","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251383854","url":null,"abstract":"In May 2010, the U.S. Public Affairs Office of the Joint Task Force of Guantánamo (JTF-GTMO) joined many other federal institutions in opening an official Twitter account (@JTFGTMO), but by May 2019, it was gone; the account, deactivated. This research builds upon the premise that carceral authority is exerted not only through speech itself but also erasure, which can decentralize the networked power of government spokespeople. This article importantly advances a method for procuring social media data by decentering corporate regimes of records management and focusing on the archival potential of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as a way of studying disconnective practices of the U.S. national security state. Drawing on a multimodal corpus of archived deleted tweets, internal administrative records, and a FOIA response letter, the article traces disconnection as a staged institutional process rather than a single act of withdrawal. This empirical approach garners an analysis of how the JTF-GTMO steadily attempted to sever much of its networked communication, initially through deletion of individually published messages and later through the total deactivation of its Twitter and Facebook accounts. The study ultimately contributes to ongoing research on national security, public memory, and platform power by proposing a counter-archival method that can be adapted across a number of jurisdictions.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146129373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413694
Rebecca Wald, Theo Araujo, Johanna MF van Oosten, Jessica T Piotrowski
News media can shape public perceptions of technology and meaningfully inform research on technology adoption. Yet, little is known about the news representations of a currently emerging technology: Virtual Assistants (VAs). By examining the Dutch news coverage (2011–2022; N = 2059) using the Analysis of Topic Model Networks, this study found that (1) news attention peaked in 2019 with a decline in the years thereafter (until 2022) and (2) discourse shifted from personal impact frames (niche interest) to societal impact frames (broader relevance). Findings inform media effect studies on VA adoption by illustrating what people might be learning about VAs.
{"title":"What does the news say about Siri, Alexa, and co.? A topic model network analysis of Dutch news messages about virtual assistants between 2011 and 2022","authors":"Rebecca Wald, Theo Araujo, Johanna MF van Oosten, Jessica T Piotrowski","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413694","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413694","url":null,"abstract":"News media can shape public perceptions of technology and meaningfully inform research on technology adoption. Yet, little is known about the news representations of a currently emerging technology: Virtual Assistants (VAs). By examining the Dutch news coverage (2011–2022; <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 2059) using the Analysis of Topic Model Networks, this study found that (1) news attention peaked in 2019 with a decline in the years thereafter (until 2022) and (2) discourse shifted from personal impact frames (niche interest) to societal impact frames (broader relevance). Findings inform media effect studies on VA adoption by illustrating what people might be learning about VAs.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1177/14614448251409210
Timothy Graham, Dominique Carlon
Repetitive online communication is often labelled a ‘bot problem’ by platforms, policymakers and users. However, repetitive posting does not exclusively indicate automation; humans also engage in bot-like posting for various purposes. We adopt the term ‘botting’ to describe repetitive posting enacted through manual, semi-automated, or fully automated means. While emerging research has linked manual botting practices to commercial or fame-seeking motivations, we extend this scholarship by examining botting on Reddit – a pseudonymous platform that lacks the affordances typically associated with monetisation or personal branding. Through a mixed-methods analysis, we examine a case study in which mass-scale, repetitive posting of the mushroom emoji emerged as ‘in-group’ behaviour within Reddit’s participatory culture, prompting a performative counterpublic response. Our findings challenge the binary between human and automated posting, and underscore the importance of situating research on AI-generated and automated content within the cultural and contextual frameworks that shape its production and reception.
{"title":"On the Internet no-one knows you’re not a bot: ‘Botting’ on Reddit as participatory culture","authors":"Timothy Graham, Dominique Carlon","doi":"10.1177/14614448251409210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251409210","url":null,"abstract":"Repetitive online communication is often labelled a ‘bot problem’ by platforms, policymakers and users. However, repetitive posting does not exclusively indicate automation; humans also engage in bot-like posting for various purposes. We adopt the term ‘botting’ to describe repetitive posting enacted through manual, semi-automated, or fully automated means. While emerging research has linked manual botting practices to commercial or fame-seeking motivations, we extend this scholarship by examining botting on Reddit – a pseudonymous platform that lacks the affordances typically associated with monetisation or personal branding. Through a mixed-methods analysis, we examine a case study in which mass-scale, repetitive posting of the mushroom emoji emerged as ‘in-group’ behaviour within Reddit’s participatory culture, prompting a performative counterpublic response. Our findings challenge the binary between human and automated posting, and underscore the importance of situating research on AI-generated and automated content within the cultural and contextual frameworks that shape its production and reception.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1177/14614448251410967
Gunn Enli
This article examines the complex presence of smartphones during performances, focussing on how audiences, performers and managers navigate the tensions between digital connectivity and the need for immersive attention. Drawing on qualitative interviews with theatre professionals in Norway and ethnographic observations in Oslo, London and New York, the study demonstrates how social norms surrounding smartphone use are negotiated in different cultural contexts. The analysis highlights key tensions and dilemmas: audiences balance personal documentation with collective immersion, managers weigh promotional visibility against aesthetic disruption and performers experience interruptions that alter the sensory and affective dynamics of liveness. Extending Fischer-Lichte’s concept of the autopoietic feedback loop, the article proposes the concept of a ‘hybrid feedback loop’, in which audience responses circulate simultaneously through embodied co-presence and digitally mediated attention. This theoretical reframing captures how digital devices reconfigure the ecology of performance, reshaping how liveness is produced, perceived and policed in contemporary cultural institutions.
{"title":"‘Put it away! Put it away!’: Negotiating smartphone norms in performing arts","authors":"Gunn Enli","doi":"10.1177/14614448251410967","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251410967","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the complex presence of smartphones during performances, focussing on how audiences, performers and managers navigate the tensions between digital connectivity and the need for immersive attention. Drawing on qualitative interviews with theatre professionals in Norway and ethnographic observations in Oslo, London and New York, the study demonstrates how social norms surrounding smartphone use are negotiated in different cultural contexts. The analysis highlights key tensions and dilemmas: audiences balance personal documentation with collective immersion, managers weigh promotional visibility against aesthetic disruption and performers experience interruptions that alter the sensory and affective dynamics of liveness. Extending Fischer-Lichte’s concept of the autopoietic feedback loop, the article proposes the concept of a ‘hybrid feedback loop’, in which audience responses circulate simultaneously through embodied co-presence and digitally mediated attention. This theoretical reframing captures how digital devices reconfigure the ecology of performance, reshaping how liveness is produced, perceived and policed in contemporary cultural institutions.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413686
Emily A Haines, Emma F Thomas, Christina Stothard, David Kernot, Morgana Lizzio-Wilson, Irene Caminschi, Rohit Ram, Marian-Andrei Rizoiu
We examine a year of political debate in a modern town hall to understand the following: when does moral talk turn to talk about action? For which ideological groupings do specific moral foundations matter and in the context of which issues? We analysed 210,170 tweets about the Australian television programme Q&A – a panel show with synchronous live and online audiences. We examined the topics, prevalence of different moralities and how these moralities explain talk of collective action for different ideological groups. Across all issues and ideological groups, talk of action was most often associated with talk of authority but ideological differences between left- and right-leaning participants emerged. Among left-leaning people, action was motivated by a range of moral foundations, but among right-leaning people action was primarily motivated by authority. Our findings map the ideological diversity found within modern town halls and confirm the critical role of these settings in contemporary socio-political life.
{"title":"Mapping the moral domain in a modern town hall: Moral foundations’ effects on collective action conditioned by ideology and issue","authors":"Emily A Haines, Emma F Thomas, Christina Stothard, David Kernot, Morgana Lizzio-Wilson, Irene Caminschi, Rohit Ram, Marian-Andrei Rizoiu","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413686","url":null,"abstract":"We examine a year of political debate in a modern town hall to understand the following: when does moral talk turn to talk about action? For which ideological groupings do specific moral foundations matter and in the context of which issues? We analysed 210,170 tweets about the Australian television programme <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Q&A</jats:italic> – a panel show with synchronous live and online audiences. We examined the topics, prevalence of different moralities and how these moralities explain talk of collective action for different ideological groups. Across all issues and ideological groups, talk of action was most often associated with talk of authority but ideological differences between left- and right-leaning participants emerged. Among left-leaning people, action was motivated by a range of moral foundations, but among right-leaning people action was primarily motivated by authority. Our findings map the ideological diversity found within modern town halls and confirm the critical role of these settings in contemporary socio-political life.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146122096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413708
Sara Kopelman
While GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format) have been studied as digital communication tools, their repositories – these databases of visual expressions – remain largely unexamined as sites that generate emotional expressions across different modes of communication. This research introduces the concept of “emotional transcoding,” examining how it operates in major repositories Giphy and Tenor through the conversion of paralinguistic vocal expressions – auditory reactions like “aww,” “duh,” and “wow” – into visual representations within silent GIF formats. Through multimodal analysis, this study documents the semiotic strategies involved in emotional transcoding, revealing systematic patterns for visually encoding auditory emotional expressions. Using qualitative content analysis of 1000 GIFs, this study identifies the visual techniques used in cross-modal conversion and analyzes the demographic patterns among performers who represent these expressions. The findings reveal how emotional transcoding operates through specific representational conventions and highlight questions about whose bodies become available as vehicles for emotional communication in digital platforms.
{"title":"The look of “Aww”: Emotional transcoding in GIF repositories on digital media platforms","authors":"Sara Kopelman","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413708","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413708","url":null,"abstract":"While GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format) have been studied as digital communication tools, their repositories – these databases of visual expressions – remain largely unexamined as sites that generate emotional expressions across different modes of communication. This research introduces the concept of “emotional transcoding,” examining how it operates in major repositories <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Giphy</jats:italic> and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Tenor</jats:italic> through the conversion of paralinguistic vocal expressions – auditory reactions like “aww,” “duh,” and “wow” – into visual representations within silent GIF formats. Through multimodal analysis, this study documents the semiotic strategies involved in emotional transcoding, revealing systematic patterns for visually encoding auditory emotional expressions. Using qualitative content analysis of 1000 GIFs, this study identifies the visual techniques used in cross-modal conversion and analyzes the demographic patterns among performers who represent these expressions. The findings reveal how emotional transcoding operates through specific representational conventions and highlight questions about whose bodies become available as vehicles for emotional communication in digital platforms.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146115765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413709
Veronica Valente, Rita Sepúlveda, Jorge Vieira
Dating apps employ gamified structures (e.g., swipes, likes, matches) that reshape dating scripts by blending game-like elements into social interactions. This study explores users’ conceptualization of gamification, its impact on experiences, and dating scripts. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews (17 cisgender women, 14 cisgender men) were conducted in Portugal. Participants were current and former users with different sexual orientations and a diverse age range (18–34 years old), and predominantly Portuguese. The thematic analysis presented how users likened their dating app interactions to games, identifying specific gamified features, and describing their adaptation and engagement in strategic practices to enhance appeal. Despite the uniform platform system and rules, traditional gender scripts endure and dictate a binary dynamic where men are seen as initiators and women as selectors. The findings reveal tensions between gamification’s homogenizing effect and enduring socio-cultural scripts, illustrating how platform design affordances and social norms structure dating experiences.
{"title":"Leveling up: How users perceive, understand, and experience gamified elements in dating apps and how it shapes their dating scripts","authors":"Veronica Valente, Rita Sepúlveda, Jorge Vieira","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413709","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413709","url":null,"abstract":"Dating apps employ gamified structures (e.g., swipes, likes, matches) that reshape dating scripts by blending game-like elements into social interactions. This study explores users’ conceptualization of gamification, its impact on experiences, and dating scripts. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews (17 cisgender women, 14 cisgender men) were conducted in Portugal. Participants were current and former users with different sexual orientations and a diverse age range (18–34 years old), and predominantly Portuguese. The thematic analysis presented how users likened their dating app interactions to games, identifying specific gamified features, and describing their adaptation and engagement in strategic practices to enhance appeal. Despite the uniform platform system and rules, traditional gender scripts endure and dictate a binary dynamic where men are seen as initiators and women as selectors. The findings reveal tensions between gamification’s homogenizing effect and enduring socio-cultural scripts, illustrating how platform design affordances and social norms structure dating experiences.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"280 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146115761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413710
Weiman Chen, Zhouyi Yao, Huilin Tan
In the digital age, philanthropy is increasingly mediated by platform microcelebrities who mobilize audiences for social good. This study examines the novel philanthropic model of YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson as a case of outsourced activism , characterized by a dual-outsourcing structure: audiences transfer charitable intent and contributions (via attention-as-currency) to Donaldson, who acts as a central agent and then outsources execution to NGOs and collaborators. Using a mixed-methods design combining a walkthrough, multimodal discourse analysis of 101 videos, and topic modeling of 11,208 comments, we demonstrate how sentimental and digital spectacles sustain this process as tools for activism. The mechanism forms a new connective practice, creating a network of moral delegation and affective investment among audiences, creators, sponsors, and NGOs. Yet, it raises ethical concerns, including depoliticizing social issues and reinforcing unequal power relations. The study advances theories of media activism, connective action, and digital philanthropy by identifying a replicable logic that redefines agency, accountability, and civic participation in platform societies.
{"title":"From clicktivism to outsourced activism: Spectacle, dual outsourcing, and the connective logic in platform philanthropy","authors":"Weiman Chen, Zhouyi Yao, Huilin Tan","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413710","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413710","url":null,"abstract":"In the digital age, philanthropy is increasingly mediated by platform microcelebrities who mobilize audiences for social good. This study examines the novel philanthropic model of YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson as a case of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">outsourced activism</jats:italic> , characterized by a dual-outsourcing structure: audiences transfer charitable intent and contributions (via attention-as-currency) to Donaldson, who acts as a central agent and then outsources execution to NGOs and collaborators. Using a mixed-methods design combining a walkthrough, multimodal discourse analysis of 101 videos, and topic modeling of 11,208 comments, we demonstrate how sentimental and digital spectacles sustain this process as tools for activism. The mechanism forms a new connective practice, creating a network of moral delegation and affective investment among audiences, creators, sponsors, and NGOs. Yet, it raises ethical concerns, including depoliticizing social issues and reinforcing unequal power relations. The study advances theories of media activism, connective action, and digital philanthropy by identifying a replicable logic that redefines agency, accountability, and civic participation in platform societies.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146115762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-03DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413691
David Walewijns, Michel Walrave, Wannes Heirman, Heidi Vandebosch
As virtual reality (VR) evolves as a narrative medium, its capacity to immerse users in realistic environments has attracted scholarly interest. This study investigates how users perceive realism in VR beyond sensory fidelity. Using 27 interviews and four focus groups with experts and non-experts (n = 77), we examine how realism in VR is conceptualized and experienced. Qualitative analysis identified 12 factors contributing to perceived realism, grouped into five overarching dimensions: immersion, presence, embodiment, involvement and external realism. Our findings indicate that realism is shaped not only by technological features such as graphical quality but also by factors such as emotional involvement, narrative consistency and perceived authenticity. The study advances theorizing on perceived realism by proposing a framework that integrates technological and experiential dimensions and offers a basis for developing scales to measure realism in VR. Current findings are also relevant for the responsible use of VR in persuasive contexts.
{"title":"Perceived realism in VR as a multifaceted concept: Insights from interviews and focus groups with experts and non-experts","authors":"David Walewijns, Michel Walrave, Wannes Heirman, Heidi Vandebosch","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413691","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413691","url":null,"abstract":"As virtual reality (VR) evolves as a narrative medium, its capacity to immerse users in realistic environments has attracted scholarly interest. This study investigates how users perceive realism in VR beyond sensory fidelity. Using 27 interviews and four focus groups with experts and non-experts (n = 77), we examine how realism in VR is conceptualized and experienced. Qualitative analysis identified 12 factors contributing to perceived realism, grouped into five overarching dimensions: immersion, presence, embodiment, involvement and external realism. Our findings indicate that realism is shaped not only by technological features such as graphical quality but also by factors such as emotional involvement, narrative consistency and perceived authenticity. The study advances theorizing on perceived realism by proposing a framework that integrates technological and experiential dimensions and offers a basis for developing scales to measure realism in VR. Current findings are also relevant for the responsible use of VR in persuasive contexts.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146115763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article reports findings from the first study to investigate smartphone sharing in intimate relationships in Australia. Efforts to strengthen cybersecurity have been hindered by a lack of knowledge about the prevalence and dynamics of smartphone sharing, resulting in blind spots in cybersecurity design and policy. Based on a survey of 967 Australian adults who use smartphones and have been in an intimate relationship, we found that 70% share access to their mobile phones with their intimate partners. This high rate of shared access indicates that one-user, one-device threat models are inadequate for promoting cybersecurity in realistic use conditions. Such models are particularly ill-suited to intimate relationship contexts where the parties are more likely to share devices than not. Our findings provide previously unavailable baseline information about mainstream smartphone-sharing practices. This evidence can be used to improve privacy protections for telecommunications users in Australia and elsewhere.
{"title":"Smartphone sharing with intimate partners in Australia: Characteristics and implications for cybersecurity","authors":"Molly Dragiewicz, Jeffrey Ackerman, Marianne Haaland","doi":"10.1177/14614448251414006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251414006","url":null,"abstract":"This article reports findings from the first study to investigate smartphone sharing in intimate relationships in Australia. Efforts to strengthen cybersecurity have been hindered by a lack of knowledge about the prevalence and dynamics of smartphone sharing, resulting in blind spots in cybersecurity design and policy. Based on a survey of 967 Australian adults who use smartphones and have been in an intimate relationship, we found that 70% share access to their mobile phones with their intimate partners. This high rate of shared access indicates that one-user, one-device threat models are inadequate for promoting cybersecurity in realistic use conditions. Such models are particularly ill-suited to intimate relationship contexts where the parties are more likely to share devices than not. Our findings provide previously unavailable baseline information about mainstream smartphone-sharing practices. This evidence can be used to improve privacy protections for telecommunications users in Australia and elsewhere.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146098406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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