Transient Non-Use: How People in Migration Experience Digital Disconnection

Paper Title

Transient Non-Use: How People in Migration Experience Digital Disconnection

Publication Info

• Topic area: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and migration-related ICT use and non-use.
• Keywords: ICT non-use, migration, digital disconnection, sociotechnical systems, surveillance, digital precarity, transitions theory, border crossing, human-computer interaction, design for disconnection.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Existing HCI research emphasizes ICT adoption and use among migrants but overlooks the dynamics of ICT non-use, including intentional avoidance and unintentional disconnection due to systemic barriers.
• Significance: Understanding ICT non-use is critical for designing systems that address the vulnerabilities and risks migrants face, such as surveillance, exploitation, and systemic exclusion, rather than treating non-use as a failure.
• Motivation and related work: Prior studies have explored ICT use for connection, navigation, and adaptation during migration, but limited research exists on non-use, especially in high-risk contexts like the US-Mexico border. Foundational typologies of non-use (e.g., Satchell and Dourish) highlight disengagement but lack application to migration-specific conditions. This paper addresses this gap by situating non-use within migration transitions and systemic power dynamics.

Solution

• Proposed approach: The study investigates ICT non-use among migrants through interviews, applying Ruthven’s transitions theory (understanding, negotiating, resolving) and Satchell and Dourish’s typology of non-use to analyze patterns and implications.
• Novelty:
  1. Extends the concept of non-use to migration contexts, showing how it functions as a protective strategy and response to systemic exclusion.
  2. Connects non-use to transition phases, highlighting how informational needs and risks evolve over time.
  3. Proposes design principles that treat non-use as a legitimate and predictable condition rather than a failure.
  4. Highlights the structural vulnerabilities of migration infrastructures that depend on continuous digital presence.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with 32 migrants in El Paso, Texas, between February and May 2025.
  • Used inductive open coding and thematic analysis to identify patterns of ICT non-use.
  • Analyzed non-use across three transition phases (understanding, negotiating, resolving) and six non-use types (displacement, disenchantment, disenfranchisement, lagging adoption, disinterest, active resistance).
  • Developed design principles based on observed practices of non-use.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Identified three main types of ICT non-use: device non-use (e.g., loss, theft, damage, confiscation), informational non-use (e.g., misinformation, language barriers, institutional opacity), and protective non-use (e.g., deleting data, avoiding visibility, limiting interactions).
  • Non-use was shaped by systemic barriers, power dynamics, and intentional strategies to manage safety and privacy.
  • Coping strategies included borrowing devices, logging out, and deleting sensitive data.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Provides a nuanced understanding of non-use as a rational and contextually shaped response, rather than a lack of access or literacy.
  • Expands HCI design frameworks to accommodate disconnection as a normal and predictable condition.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Data collected through interviews with migrants from diverse backgrounds (e.g., Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, Nigeria) who experienced migration across the US-Mexico border.
  • Interviews lasted 30–75 minutes and were analyzed for emergent themes of ICT non-use.
  • Findings were contextualized within migration-specific risks and systemic constraints.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited geographic scope (El Paso, Texas) and participant diversity may not capture all migration contexts.
  • Future work could explore non-use in other migration corridors and examine the long-term impacts of disconnection on resettlement and integration.

Summary

This paper investigates ICT non-use among migrants, revealing how systemic barriers, risks, and intentional strategies shape digital disconnection during migration. By situating non-use within Ruthven’s transition phases and Satchell and Dourish’s typology, the study highlights how non-use functions as both a protective strategy and a response to systemic exclusion. Findings emphasize the need for HCI systems that anticipate and accommodate disconnection, proposing design principles that prioritize resilience, recoverability, and access across periods of absence. This work contributes to HCI by reframing non-use as a meaningful and situated response to power and precarity, with implications for designing more inclusive and ethical sociotechnical systems.