Holding on through connection: Mobile bonds, pressure, and agency in transnational african youth migration

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of the mobile phone as a technology of connection in the migratory experience of young Africans heading to Spain. Based on a qualitative, phenomenologically inspired study, including interviews with young migrants in transit or settled, and with experts, it explores the communicative, emotional, and symbolic functions of the device. The findings show that the mobile phone serves as a tool for safety and agency, but also as a source of emotional dependency, transnational pressure, and symbolic overload. Four key areas of analysis emerge: its instrumental use during the journey and settlement; the construction of transnational ties; technological fragility as a form of vulnerability; and creative reappropriations of the device as a space for youth autonomy. Moving beyond technodeterminist views, the article offers a situated and critical perspective: the mobile phone is not a neutral artifact, but a relational infrastructure that encapsulates inequalities, strategies, and affective tensions inherent to contemporary migration.