The Influence of Technology on Privacy Boundary Management in Young Adults' Sexting Relationships

Abstract

Sexting (the sharing of sexual messages, images, and videos via communication technologies) emerged from the development of new communication technologies (CTs). As such, CTs are a vital component of sexting, and young adults continue to have more platforms to choose from to use for sexting. This chapter uses a relational approach to technological affordances and communication privacy management (CPM) theory to understand how technologies influence sexting among young adults. Empirical evidence is provided about how the affordances of a platform moderate the relationships between self-disclosure, partner trust, privacy, and risk. As such, an additional type of mediated dyadic privacy boundary is established where shared information can belong to one or both individuals and the medium used for sexting. Finally, the moderation results imply that the features of the platform matter in young adults' decisions to sext since the features can afford them more privacy, more trust, and less risk.

Sexting during social isolation: Predicting sexting-related privacy management during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Research has found that certain media platform affordances (e.g., visibility, spreadability, and message permanence) predict sexting-related privacy expectations (Van Ouytsel et al, 2017), challenges (Walrave et al, 2018), and privacy management strategies (Kahlow, 2020). Yet, there is not much research on the psychological predictors of sexting-related privacy management, that is, which psychological factors predict the employment of privacy protection strategies.…”

“…Lutz and Ranzini (2017) differentiated online privacy concerns into institutional (i.e., concerns about the trustworthiness of the platform or app) and social (i.e., concerns about the trustworthiness of the communication partner) privacy concerns. Both are associated with the perceived risk of sexting (Kahlow, 2020). Although Kahlow (2020) related social and institutional privacy concerns to the perceived risk of sexting, privacy concerns have not been related, in consequence, to sexting-related privacy management.…”

“…Both are associated with the perceived risk of sexting (Kahlow, 2020). Although Kahlow (2020) related social and institutional privacy concerns to the perceived risk of sexting, privacy concerns have not been related, in consequence, to sexting-related privacy management. On the basis of Communication Privacy Management theory (Petronio, 2015), we expected that individuals with high online privacy concerns would perceive more risk in different online situations and therefore also during sexting.…”

Linked by age: a study on social media privacy concerns among younger and older adults

“…One such variable that researchers have turned their attention to is age. While most studies on privacy concerns have focused on young adults (Hargittai and Marwick, 2016; Suh and Hargittai, 2015; Kahlow, 2020), there has been a growing interest in understanding how this phenomenon operates among older populations (Elueze and Quan-Haase, 2018; Quan-Haase and Ho, 2020; Zeissig et al ., 2017).…”