Abstract

OLMEDO-NERI, Raul Anthony. Communication in pandemic. Technological and symbolic implications in the experience of young university students. Universitas [online]. 2023, n.39, pp.139-160. ISSN 1390-8634.

Communication, its technological structures, and its symbolic values ​​have been dislocated by the digitization of everyday life as a consequence of the pandemic. This context impacted the university youth experience, so it is important to analyze the sociocultural changes regarding the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) of a group of university students, the connection time, the device used and their relationship with the domestic space during the pandemic in Mexico.

For this, a theoretical framework is articulated from Cultural Studies for analyzing the youth-technology relationship during the pandemic and identify its relevance within the contemporary youth experience.

The methodology used has a mixed approach with a group of Mexican university students of the Communication bachelor (N=29), where a form and a focus group were used to recover their experiences.

The results show that the pandemic abolished the borders between the intimate and the public, generating negotiation processes between family members on the use of devices and domestic spaces. In addition, university, family and social activities increased the connection time of students, but also resignified domestic spaces due to the overlapping of activities.

Finally, it is recognized that the bedroom of the participants becomes the strategic space for the youth experience in the pandemic because the university, family and socialization activities took place in the same space.

Keywords : Internet; ICT; mobile communication; cultural studies; youth; domestication; youth experience; everyday life..

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )