The experience of internet-mediated teenage pregnancy: Information on health and uncertainty

Abstract

The research1 herein has as its objective the integration of the Internet in analysing the experience of teenage pregnancy, particularly in relation to searches on health and care, and the feeling of uncertainty which is generated around said investigations. It is affirmed that cyberspace becomes an attractive reference of meaning for prescribing risks, and therefore certainties, due to its linking, close-at-hand, personalisable and anonymous nature. For this case, a phenomenological approach (Couldry et al. 2016) has been selected which integrates Internet technology-as well as other artefacts, actors and materiality-as a space from where and through which meaning is generated within the lived perceptual experience (Ihde, 2004) of Mexican women who have had a pregnancy during their teenage years. The study was carried out following a qualitative approach, between February and May 2019. 10 women were interviewed, all residents of the State of Mexico, who were pregnant between the ages of 14 and 19. The results indicate that the Internet is constantly used by the participants, and although this space of interaction is perceived as risky, feelings are shaped by a personalised selection of experiences, moving between various sources of information.