Imprisonment of Being-There to Technique: Narratives of Suffering due to the Use of Smartphone
phenomenological research; phenomenological hermeneutical psychology; smartphones; Martin Heidegger; mobile devices
This is a study inspired by Heideggerian hermeneutical phenomenology and aimed to
understand the meaning of the experience of suffering in young people and adults due to the
use of smartphones. The suffering that we seek to understand here was the one that crosses the
existence of Dasein. We have the participation of two collaborators. Due to Covid-19 pandemic,
the interviews were carried out remotely. The narratives were interpreted from the hermeneutic
circularity, proposed by Martin Heidegger, considering and counting on the researcher's
affectation throughout the process of this research. As a result, we could observe that the way
of using the smartphone reveals the way of being of Dasein, in its character of correspondence
and openness to the world. Our collaborators revealed how the relationship with their
smartphones has been harming their existence, feeling trapped in this relationship, experiencing
existential dilemmas for which they cannot always find a way out, as they are ruled by
impersonality. In addition, in the relationship with their smartphones, they showed ways of
responding to the requests of the world that characterize not only an abandonment of themselves
and their projects of property, but also difficulty in dealing with the debt of their inexorable
freedom. The realization of this research promoted reflections about the ways in which we are
using mobile communication devices and the impacts on our ways of relating to the world and
to the people who are part of it. We hope that the findings of this research broaden the
understanding of suffering due to the use of smartphones and stimulate the realization of new
studies that can contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon of our existence.