Engl. transl.: Secondary school students’ strategies for using the smartphone

This study is part of a broader project "Digital Wellbeing - Schools" which involved from 2017 to 2019 the University of Milan-Bicocca, Fastweb and 18 secondary schools in the Milan area. The aim is to deepen the strategies of use of the smartphone by students. The researcher asked the students to take note of the estimates and actual smartphone use. The analysis of the data made it possible to identify an interesting difference between the estimated time and the time really spent online. A qualitative in-depth study was carried out considering some categories of use in different situations. For each of them, students were asked to reflect on the need to rethink their use of the smartphone, in order to find more benefit or solve specific problems. The elaborated data allow to confirm the need to promote strategies of use of new media that make young people autonomous rather than defend them. It is therefore fundamental to plan training courses aimed at the development of selfregulation as a fundamental process to reach an adequate state of well-being in the use of the media.

"From the students' considerations, it emerges that they are aware of being distracted in their studies by the use of smartphones, particularly social networks. The reasons that push students to spend time online are, on the one hand, to be always updated on everything and, on the other hand, the search for immediate pleasure, a key concept of hedonic theories. Social networks are also used with productive intentionality, with a positive valence ("I used it to ask or get help with homework, other times I used it to write to friends, even far away"). Some students report articulated uses in the middle of activities: "I use Youtube to listen to music while doing other activities, Whatsapp to compare myself with my mates about the homework in the classroom". with my classmates about homework in most cases. It is clear from the statements that when one realizes the profitable use it may make little sense to reduce the time spent online." (Garavaglia & Petti, 2020, p.48, translated).