Aim/Purpose: In this paper, we analyze the phenomenon of “classroom WhatsApp groups”, in which a teacher and students from a particular classroom interact with one another, while specifically focusing on the student perspective of these interactions. Background: The instant messaging application WhatsApp enables quick, interactive multimedia communication in closed groups, as well as one-on-one interactions between selected group members. Yet, very little is known about the extent, nature, and purposes of these practices, the limitations and affordances, the type of discourse and conflicts that develop in these spaces, and the extent to which it affects teacher-student interactions outside of WhatsApp (e.g., the social climate in class, the teacher’s status, teacher-student and student-student relations), especially from the students’ perspective. Methodology: Our methodology combines questionnaires, personal interviews, and focus groups with Israeli secondary school students (N = 88). Contribution: The present study adds to the expanding body of empirical research on social media use in educational settings by specifically focusing on a heretofore underexposed aspect, namely, secondary school student-teacher communication in the popular instant messaging application WhatsApp. We report on findings from the student perspective and discuss the advantages and limitations of this form of communication sphere, and on the social functions of the different classroom WhatsApp groups in secondary school students’ everyday life. Findings: The combined findings reveal that classroom WhatsApp groups have become a central channel of communication for school-related topics. It is used primarily for organizational purposes (sending and receiving updates and managing learning activities), as well as a means for teachers to enforce discipline. Students mentioned many advantages of WhatsApp communication, such as easy access, the ability to create communities, the ability to safeguard personal privacy, and the communication format (written, mediated, personal, or group). However, they also recognized limitations (i.e., communication overload) and challenged teacher ability to monitor and affect student interactions in social media, even when they are present in these WhatsApp classroom groups. Finally, we report on the role of parallel, sans-teacher WhatsApp groups, which are characterized as back stage discourse arenas that accompany the front stage offline classroom activities and the “official” classroom WhatsApp group. Recommendations for Practitioners: The combined findings of this study indicate how WhatsApp-based, joint teacher-student groups can serve a variety of educational purposes, namely, organizational, instructional, and educational-disciplinary. In addition, and in spite of teachers concerns, students are aware of the challenges inherent to the use of WhatsApp for communication with their teachers. Some of the main characteristics that prevent teachers from using other ubiquitous digital communication media, such as Facebook or Twitter, are not relevant when it comes to WhatsApp. Both teachers and students view WhatsApp as a favored channel of communication because of the low exposure to personal information and minimal invasion of privacy. Future Research: The qualitative methodology of this paper limits the ability to generalize the current findings to other contexts and population groups. Future research should preferably explore the generalizability of our findings to larger sections of teenage populations. It should also explore similarities and differences with other age groups. Finally, the present study was set in a particular country (Israel). Local norms of cellphone use and of appropriate teacher-student interaction, as well as locally developed media domestication patterns, may differ from country to country and/or from one cultural group to another. Future research should then include and compare the current findings with data from different countries and cultures in order to complete the picture.

The cellular phone’s unique characteristics—its mobility, its portability, and the constant availability that it enables—challenge the feasibility of solitary spaces in individuals’ lives. These spaces—for example, cultural “timeouts,” leisure, and backpacking travel—necessitate a certain degree of cutting oneself off from one’s daily routine, which is threatened by the constant presence of one’s cell phone. This study examines the role of cell phones in young adults’ backpacking experience. Using questionnaires (n = 105) and in-depth interviews (n = 14) with “cellular backpackers” and “cell-free backpackers,” the study shows how an attempt is made to reduce availability and attain maximum control over the scope and timing of communication, using a variety of avoidance practices. Those practices derived from the personal narrative structure of the backpacking experience as an escapist, “dropping-off-the-radar” one, and as an attempt to preserve the trek as a space that is cut off and isolated from a technology-saturated environment. In addition, it was found that backpackers care a great deal about their parents’ position when making their decisions whether to take their phones with them and when to use them. In this regard, the article continues the discussion on the metaphor of the cell phone as a transitional object, applying this concept from childhood and adolescence to the twenties and thirties, the ages of most backpackers. On another level, the article addresses the mobile phone’s unique function as an antistatus symbol, in a way that contradicts its function in an ordinary context.

In this commentary, we raise seven methodological concerns regarding Twenge, Joiner, Rogers, and Martin (2018), among which are inaccurate research measurements, negligible correlations between the main variables, insufficient and inadequate statistical analyses, and problematic interpretation of the results. In fact, the negligible associations between screen activities and depression, their decrease when demographic variables are controlled, and their fading away to nil among boys challenge the article’s title and conclusions, according to which increases in depressive symptoms are attributed to increases in new-media screen use. This conclusion cannot be deduced from the reported results and could be misleading to the general public.