Playing by the rules: The management of WhatsApp surveillance among romantically involved mobile phone users at a South African University

Abstract

Even though there are high and growing levels of penetration of mobile telephony in South Africa, there is little research into how mobiles are used in romantic relationships to ‘keep tabs’ on partners and inter alia into how those involved in such relationships may be attempting to achieve and maintain privacy. Using the relational dialectical framework, I study how surveillance and privacy related power dynamics are played out in romantic relationships of a selected undergraduate student cohort at a South African University ( n = 182). The dialectical framework provides the appropriate empirical lens for investigating how romantic partners deal with the need to stay both private and public in the wake of instant messaging application WhatsApp. The study sought to understand how adolescents in these romantic relationships deal with mobile privacy conflicts that are brought on by perpetual contact through WhatsApp. Through a quantitative survey, purposive sampling with a confidence level of 95 per cent and 5 per cent margin of error was utilized in selecting the respondents. Exploratory factor and regression analysis shows that rules for managing WhatsApp communication are important for romantic relationship well-being (SD = 1.434), albeit not necessarily linked to relational satisfaction.