“At home, I have to be careful what I say”: Navigating family and peer relationships through mobile communication in urban Bangladesh

Mobile communication is embedded in adolescents’ family and peer relationships, yet how these intersecting relationships shape disclosure, trust, monitoring, and reputational concerns remains insufficiently understood in urban Bangladesh. This qualitative study draws on in-depth interviews with 18 adolescents aged 16–18 in Barishal City Corporation and uses reflexive thematic analysis. Three interrelated themes emerged: caring families and the limits of emotional openness; peer intimacy and managed connectivity across home and friendship; and gendered trust, visibility, and reputational risk. Participants described family care alongside selective withholding, while mobile communication supported peer connection and emotional expression within ongoing family life. Expected responses, audience boundaries, possible exposure, and gendered judgment shaped communication decisions. Female adolescents more explicitly connected visibility with moral labeling, while boys also described monitoring and unwanted exposure. The study shows how familiar mobile communication practices acquire situated meanings within intersecting family and peer relationships shaped by trust, visibility, responsiveness, and reputation.