When (over)use becomes risk: smartphone practices and digital vulnerability among young people

Over the past years, sociological research has extensively investigated the use of digital devices and its implications, highlighting both problematic and positive aspects (Busch and McCarty, 2021). While identifying the determinants of problematic digital use has proven complex, age consistently emerges as one of the most relevant explanatory factors (Van Deursen et al., 2015). Building on this literature, the present study focuses on both ascriptive and acquired characteristics to examine which individual-level variables contribute to differentiated profiles of problematic smartphone use, while considering differences in digital skill levels and competencies in the use of digital devices (Gui and Argentin, 2011). This study investigates the relationship between problematic smartphone use (Giancola and Salmieri, 2020; 2024) and direct exposure to digital risks among individuals aged 17 to 31. It is based on an original survey designed to explore digital habits, perceptions, and forms of vulnerability associated with mobile device use. The analytical framework combines intensity of use - measured as hours spent on the mobile phone - with two composite indices: one capturing problematic use and the other measuring experiential exposure to the negative consequences of digital life. A multivariate approach is adopted to identify differentiated vulnerability profiles. The core hypothesis is that intensity of use, perceived problematic use, and directly experienced digital risks are interrelated dimensions of digital vulnerability. To disentangle this complex interplay, the analysis follows four steps: (1) the construction of an index of intensity of use, an index of problematic smartphone use, and an index of digital social risk; (2) the examination of these indices across individual characteristics of respondents; (3) the investigation of their interrelationships through bivariate and trivariate analyses; and (4) the estimation of regression models to identify the determinants of problematic smartphone use and to clarify the interactions between use intensity, perceived problems, and experienced risks. Overall, the study contributes to the literature by moving beyond an individual-pathology perspective on problematic smartphone use and by conceptualizing digital vulnerability as a relational and structural phenomenon emerging from the interaction between behavioural patterns, social positioning, and experiential exposure within contemporary digital environments.