I–Thou dialogical encounters in adolescents’ WhatsApp virtual communities

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The use of WhatsApp as a means of communication is widespread amongst today’s youth, many of whom spent hours in virtual space, in particular during the evenings and nighttime in the privacy of their own homes. This article seeks to contribute to the discussion of the dialogical language and “conversations” conducted in virtual-space encounters and the way in which young people perceive this space, its affect on them, and their interrelations within it. It presents the findings of a study based on a community of philosophical inquiry in which young adults students discussed the “I” and “Thou” (the other) and the interaction between them in a WhatsApp community. The results evince that the youth related to the virtual space in very similar fashion to Buber’s “I–Thou” concept, the language they employed to describe what happened in it enabling an expansion of the conceptualization and research language to an “I-Space-Thou” model.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19-27
Number of pages9
JournalAI and Society
Volume34
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 Mar 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer-Verlag London.

Keywords

  • Dialogical philosophy
  • I–Thou
  • Martin Buber
  • Philosophy with children/young adults
  • Philosophy with learners
  • WhatsApp

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Philosophy
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Artificial Intelligence

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'I–Thou dialogical encounters in adolescents’ WhatsApp virtual communities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this