Digital Intimacy Under Constraint

Mobile communication technologies have transformed how many young adults mayinitiate relationships, manage identities, and navigate risk. Drawing on the theory of stigma and impression management, communication privacy management theory, and the social amplification of risk framework, this study explores how Vietnamese female domestically mobile students might experience and make sense of mobile dating, personal safety, and digital intimacy while living away from their families in an unfamiliar urban environment. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, the researcher conducted three rounds of semi-structured interviews with nine female undergraduate migrants who used location-based dating applications in secrecy. The findings show that the participants typically viewed mobile dating as a potential source of autonomy and engaged in extensive impression management to maintain a culturally acceptable student identity. To avoid anticipated stigma, they usually established privacy boundaries around their dating practices, which might inadvertently weaken access to their support networks and intensify feelings of vulnerability when facing digital harassment, cyberstalking, and uncertain offline encounters. Additionally, media narratives surrounding human trafficking and cyber-scams activity in Southeast Asia contributed to the participants’ perceptions of potential danger and usually transformed dating risks into fears of physical harm. The findings offer insights for universities and student-support services seeking to promote digital safety, risk literacy, and inclusive support systems for female migrant students navigating online relationships.