The informational dimension in the regulation of the privacy context in social interactions mediated by cellular mobile devices¹

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to understand how users of cellular mobile devices perceive the privacy context in everyday situations and, from this perception, if and how they adjust their respective performances in mediated social interactions. To do so, we retrieve concepts about privacy, including psychosocial aspects of this phenomenon, and use the Privacy Process Model (PPM), an analytical model that allows the analysis of interactional behaviors through the regulation of privacy in four different dimensions: informational. social. psychological and physical. In our analysis, we used reports from university students from the Brazilian northeast region, users of cellular mobile devices, aiming to identify which strategies are usually used to regulate the privacy context, considering, in this case, theinformationaldimension – that is the dimension that covers the selection and appropriation of resources and applications present in these devices for the accomplishment of informational exchanges.

Keywords
Privacy; Social interactions; Privacy Process Model; Mobile devices; Young university students