“Det är normalt att sitta med sin telefon och inte normalt att sitta och glo” : En kvalitativ studie om smartphones roll och funktion i dagens samhälle med hänsyn till självpresentation och personlig sfär

This thesis presents studies and results for three questions regarding young women and their usage of smartphones related to their self-presentation and personal sphere in public spaces. Six young females signed up to participate after they were asked to be without their smartphone for approximately two hours in public spaces. The reason why we thought this would be beneficial was since this would give the participants the chance to reflect on their normal usage whilst in public. The participants were later, in the interview, questioned about their overall experience and were asked questions considering the different themes of the study. The results of the study show that the functions most used in a smartphone are communication and music. Results for self-presentation show that smartphones play a major part in young females lives and they use their smartphone in order to present themselves in a certain way. It was acknowledged that some individuals find it important to present themselves as not being lonely, and to achieve this they use their smartphone in order to seem like they are interacting with someone even in situations when they are not. Lastly results of the third theme show that young females use their smartphones in different ways in order to protect their personal sphere, by for example listening to music, holding their phone visible or by calling someone