Uruguay has a highly aged population, which does not reach the three and a half million inhabitants. According to the last census, in 2011, the young population (between 14 and 29 years old) reaches 777,104 people, which represents 23% of the total population. In this population segment the 27.5% are between 14 and 17 years old; 29.1% are between 18 and 24 years old and 43.4% are between 25 and 29 years old and in very similar proportions of men and women, 51.1% and 49.9% respectively (CALVO, 2014, p.10). Within Uruguay, the regions with the highest percentage of young people are, in descending order, the departments of: Montevideo, Canelones, Maldonado, Salto and Paysandú (p.15). Of the total number of young people in Uruguay, 5.1% is considered as dispersed population, 5.5% live in areas with less than 2000 inhabitants and 4.7% in areas between 2000 and 5000 inhabitants. When we observe that same population, linked particularly to the issue of education, the percentage of young people from populations of less than 2,000 inhabitants that declares to be studying, is considerably lower than the populations of more than 5,000 people. This difference becomes more noticeable when considering the age group of young people from 20 to 29 years old.

Regarding access to communication technologies and the internet in young people it is necessary to consider it in the general panorama of digital expansion in the country. The whole of its population has a high internet and associated communication technologies access. According to data from the EUTIC survey ⁴ in 2019 the number of households with internet connection reached 88% and with fixed broadband 71%. In addition, the number of users of internet according to this work is of 87%, moreover, 9 out of 10 Uruguayans use the internet everyday. The preferred device for connection is the cell phone: 90% of those who connect to the internet on a daily basis, use it. (EUTIC, 2019).

Regarding the socioeconomic and generational level, the digital divide is low and continues to decline. According to the same survey, the internet access gap between households of quintiles 1 and 5 was reduced by half between 2010 and 2019: the gap between households with internet access by income quintile was 66% in 2010 and 29% in 2019. However, as the WIP survey claims (DODEL, AGUIRRE, 2018): “there continues to be a significant access gap in terms of educational and socioeconomic level, where households of high levels double in access to lower ones” (p.12).

Internet and radio are the most relevant media for Uruguayans regarding entertainment and free time. In young people between 18 and 29 years old, 42% use the radio in their free time and 59% the Internet. Furthermore, internet use in those under 30 years old is almost universal and reaches 98% ⁵ (DODEL, AGUIRRE, 2018, p.10-12).

It is necessary to point out that the available data from these studies and from official surveys⁶ show exclusively a panorama of the urban country, taking into account populations of more than 5000 inhabitants. Thus, both, the inequality of access and the quality of access regarding the rural context have not been measured with precision. These absences are part of a more general phenomenon, such as SUNKEL (2015) suggests:

Although the culture module commissioned by the OEI (Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture) has considered current youth cultural consumption, it is important to highlight the precariousness of statistics on culture. Because of the absence of time series in this data base, it is not possible to perform analysis neither of trends nor of disaggregations by some sociodemographic variables that make it possible to distinguish between adolescents and young people, or between urban from rural areas (p. 173).

The low production in quantitative and qualitative data, regarding the uses of ICTs in this sector of the population enables to question, then, about the way in which they are linked to these technologies in their specific contexts as well as investigating about the opportunities and obstacles that arise in their lives,to decipher the meanings attributed to them. This case study, attempted an approach to the experience of this population in their relationship with ICTs, from a sociocultural context and specific material.

The idea of fragmentation and diversity of youth identities requires a multiple approach (FEIXA, OLIART, 2016). The one we propose here is inscribed in the line of audience studies in their contexts of reception, since it is in the consumption and uses processes that young people constitute their identities and their forms of sociability (MORDUCHOWICZ, 2008 and 2012). In these practices, the new sensitivities, tensions and negotiations of meaning as well as the lifestyles as a key to differentiation and belonging are expressed.

We have proposed a study aimed at understanding the consumption of communication technologies as a process which is closely linked to the production of meaning inserted in the subjects´ daily life, in a specific situation and avoiding generalizations.

This communication focuses on exposing and analyzing the results of the study of a group of rural Uruguayan youths made up of ten agrarian high school students from the Escuela Agraria de Montes⁸, six girls and four boys between the ages of 15 and 18, living in families whose subsistence depends on rural tasks.

The methodological design adopted a socio-anthropological perspective to rebuild the experience of the subjects and the practical and symbolic meanings in their lives. This methodological decision implies that the meanings that the new and old technologies have for these young people are linked to their social contexts, to the practices in their daily lives, to the imaginary about their condition of young people and about the future.

The selected technique has been the qualitative interview in a semi-structured format and with an ethnographic focus, that is, an interview with a previous guideline based on the in-depth interview (GUBER,1991, 2001). In addition to the interviews, observation techniques were used in different stages and circumstances of their school routine.

The interview guideline addressed three dimensions of exploration:

1. Spatial and temporal dimensions of everyday life: Here, we explore the representations and practices about ICTs in relation to to work and / or study routines, leisure and free time.

2. Dimension of sociability: individual and shared uses, social relationships and their ties with family, friends, and classmates.

3. Representations and imaginaries about ICTs and their potential as an instrument to improve their short, medium and long term living conditions.

These dimensions were operationally separated for the execution of the research, but they are deeply interconnected and they will be described in that way in the presentation of the results.

The meanings of the new communication technologies, the uses and practices in the rural youth interviewed are linked to a very different life situation from that of young people living in Montevideo, the capital of the country, and to the expectations and representations that these young people have about the future. As stated by VÁSQUEZ WIEDEMAN and VALLEJOS QUILODRÁN (2014) “the expectations of globalizing integration are constituted in imperatives and set the tone for a sustained uprooting in the permanent connectivity and hybridization” (p.93). So the fact of moving to the city is not considered an end in itself but a means for the achievement of accurately set objectives. The uses and meanings that ICTs acquire for this group of interviewees is fundamentally instrumental: they are a way of maintaining contact with the place of origin and to maintain affective ties linked to the home and friends, while nurturing nostalgia for a distant natural environment. Communication technologies work as extensions of the home, connecting the interior and the exterior, a relationship installed in the culture of daily life associated to what SILVERSTONE defines as transitional phenomena (SILVERSTONE 1996). For these young people the cell phone acquires the same meaning that WINOCUR (2008) develops in her research on this technology:

(…) It is essential for maintaining the imaginary cohesion of these safe spaces where our certainties live, because it allows us to exorcise the ghosts of otherness, when it covers us under the protector cloak of a permanent contact with our people (p.177).

However, VÁSQUEZ WIEDEMAN and VALLEJOS QUILODRÁN (2014) argue that:

(…) You can notice a change in the relational dynamics that characterized the symbolic field of rurality, which has defined, in Bourdieu's terms, the creation of a new habitus which, in this case, is expressed in the tendency towards uprooting and estrangement from its original features, all this understood as a symbolic property of the country p.94).

Thus, it is possible to observe a panorama where a certain tension reflected in the need to move away from the comfort zone, from the terroir, to begin to materialize the possibilities of a true personal development. Being far from their homes means the opportunity to face the type of challenges that only unknown territories can offer. The rural environment is seen by these young people as the land which is already conquered, the city, on the other hand, as the territory to be conquered. Is the latter the ideal setting to forge their independence and return to el pago⁹, to the place of origin, with the knowledge acquired to improve their families´ and their own reality. In this way, feelings of ambiguity are manifested (around an imminent uprooting motivated by the proximity of the emigration to the city), and on the other hand, the expectation of life improvement that this temporary change entails.

“I would like to work in the place where my grandparents worked so hard to have those hectares and make them produce, have animals, as they always had, you know. Maybe I can grow but I can keep that, more or less as usual, that, I would like very much. "(Monica, 18 years old, Canelones).

The transitory nature of migration to the city in these youths, is part of the concept of "return migration" (VÁSQUEZ WIEDEMAN and VALLEJOS QUILODRÁN 2014; ILO 2012, p.96). In this kind of migration, the migratory action foresees a later return to the place of origin. It differs from “circular migration”, which is defined by a constant coming and going from their places of origin to their places of study and work (p.96).

The idea of changing their environment and moving to the city, appears in the narratives of these teenagers and it is full of ambiguity. They express both hope and concern associated with the difficulty that adapting to changes represents. Somehow, they transmit an idyllic conception of the countryside, linked to tranquility, to freedom, opposite to the chaotic rhythm of urban reality. Archetypal ideas are raised of both contexts, dichotomies that nurture different types of feelings that extend to their life projections and that are assembled with the way they use ICTs:

“I plan to use social networks, use my cell phone, call them. My mother likes me to call her every day because she cares about us, obviously, and I will be more connected to social networks, maybe, because I will be away from them. It is very difficult for me to think that I am going to be away from the country, it is my personal space where you can relax, think what you want, you are free, there´s silence, you do not hear anything, not a motor noise, it is not like in the city where you are always hearing noise, it is one of the difficult parts that I see, but I think I can adapt to it ” (Armando, 17 years old, Florida).

"The first months I think the telephone is going to be essential for me because I do not know how to locate in Montevideo, I am the worst, so I said "The first thing I'm going to do is recharge $ 1000 to the "coso" (the cellphone) and walk with the gps but taking that out, I think it's going to be the same or I'm going to have even less time to watch television, for example. (Mariela, 18 years old Canelones) "

In the case of Antonio (15 years old, Canelones), who does not have internet connectivity at home, the idea of a future and better access to internet is seen as beneficial. Inequality in terms of access to communication and information is perceived by this boy as a disadvantage. In comparison with his peers, the digital divide causes him some discomfort. For him, there is a clear relationship between a greater internet access and more encouraging opportunities.

The contact with the urban world is perceived as a way to social ascent as it allows university training. The use of screens is thus linked to learning, the educational field and the possibility of staying in continuity with their homes. However, in the discourse of the interviews, this positive assessment coexists with a more critical vision when considering the relationship with the community and family. The concepts of home and community are intertwined again with ideas of return, nostalgia for el pago and a fear of being uprooted. In this sense, SILVERSTONE (2004) elaborates a concept of community that allows us to understand these conflicting feelings and relationships:

In a moment a benevolent and neutral observation on village life (…) later, the core of a lament for the loss of everything that is perceived as good and true. We dream of the community. With the common elements and the shared realities that buttress it (p.157).

Connected to this relationship with the community is the idea of home as an area that transcends physical space, endowed with a psychic and emotional charge: “Home as a place of refuge. A place as facilitator as oppressive. A place with limits that must be defined and defended. A place of return. A place from which contemplate the world. Private. Personal. Interior. Known. Mine” (SILVERSTONE, 2004, pp. 144-145). But home is also the result of the dialectic between the inside and the outside, the public and the private, the conscious and the unconscious and the media are centrally involved agents in this dynamic (SILVERSTONE 2004).

Mass media and digital devices then, make it possible to carry part from the most intimate sphere to where we are, regardless of the reasons that have motivated the withdrawal of our original dwellings. SILVERSTONE (2004) wonders about it:

And when we cannot go home? And when we move, displaced by wars, politics or the desire for a better life? With media we can take a part of our home with us (…) The stories about home run like veins throughout the body of social media and those stories are no longer free from the media (p.149-150).

And emphatically he claims: “We still need the myths of the eternal return; and the media are one of their decisive sources” (p.155).

Regarding aspects of interaction and social cohesion, our interviewees do not necessarily conceive technology as an advantage. For them, authentic communication is fostered through the direct dialogue with their neighbors. This is clear in expressions that transmit melancholy in relation to the idiosyncratic way of living in the rural world, when communication was not originally mediated by ICTs. Consequently, these technologies are associated with a sense of eventual threat that endangers the stability of the relationships of cordiality and closeness, typically linked to rural people. The democratization of access to technologies is projected, in the perception of these teenagers, as a panorama of depersonalization that goes against the uses and customs of their communities, at the same time, it has a disturbing effect due to its negative influence on the family environment:

"And, with technology, I see that customs are a bit lost in the country and the gurises¹⁰with technology look for other things, maybe they encouraged by other things, I don't know, that depends on you too”(Armando, 17 years old, Canelones). “Technology is going to be more and more present, there will not be a person who does not have a computer at home with internet connection. It will get worse every time because there will be less communication at home, instead of asking about your day? , they will be on their cell phones all day. (Deborah, 18 years old, Canelones).“It was very common to ask your neighbor for something and spend two or three hours talking to him, and even more, sometimes, and maybe you lose the day of work, but you spend the day with the neighbors, there in Gardel, we are almost all family. Lately we are losing that custom and it's all by whatsapp. You don´t have to lose that, that depends on people but I think that in two years, communication will be lost” (Mariela, 17 years old Canelones).

About her younger brother: “It is damaging him because at high school he is doing bad because he never leaves the cell phone. He arrives home and the first thing he grabs is the cell phone and he does not help at home, he does nothing, he is only with the cell phone, my parents call him and ask him to help at home "Juan, you have to leave that". (…) My stepfather is also with the cell phone. And my mom says to him "stop that, that's for the youngest" and they start arguing "(Juana, 17 years old, Canelones).

In this sense, Winocur and Sánchez Vilela (2016) refer to the notion of the symbolic violence that digital devices exert on the domestic habitus. Although the authors consider the computer, it is also possible to establish an analogy with the use of the cell phone:

(…) It constitutes the emblematic symbol of a new form of life which is necessary for the future and social advancement, at the same time, it represents the loss of a certain “way” of doing things (…) when it begins to mediate in family relationships, to change social practices and disturbing the established order” (p.136).

Thus, in the family routines mediated by ICTs, specifically the use of cell phones is presented through contradictory feelings. It is shown as a device that conflicts with certain familiar rhythms or routines, which are considered more desirable and, at the same time, it reveals its usefulness, with an intergenerational playful use, as an instrument of affective proximity, as evidenced by the following testimonies:

“It takes me away from the world. Because if I didn´t use the cell phone, maybe I could be sharing moments with my cousins or something like that, but since the perfect day for them is also with the cell phone, we prefer to be with it instead of drinking some mates or something like that, they are worse than me about the cell phone." (Daniela 18 years old).

"Do you know what game we play a lot? “El Preguntados” (Trivia Crack). I like it and I showed it to her one day [her grandmother] ... and she liked it too. And sometimes we compete against each other, we sit one in front of the other, she on her phone and I on mine. Sometimes I say “Hey grandma, Let´s play Trivia Crack " "Well, go ahead, she says, and we play until one of us wins ”(Mónica, 18 years old, Canelones).

The nature of the rural context is perceived as the preferred space as opposed to the online space. This is made explicit in the representations of leisure and free time, in which the new technologies, particularly cell phones, are perceived as distorting since they interfere to direct communication. Therefore, in the descriptions of a funny day, “being disconnected” is central. ICTs are conceived again with an instrumental role, either for arranging a meeting or identifying a location:

“For me, the best days would be like a family birthday party where we share beautiful moments with each other. When we are together like that, we don't turn the TV on , when I was a girl, my dad used to tell me: "no, there are visitors at home now and you can't turn it on ".My parents teach that and I thank them for teaching me that” (Mariela, 18 years old, Canelones).

“For me, a perfect day off would be to go to a Criolla ¹¹, spending my time with friends, doing what I like, participating in games with horses. (Antonio 15 years old, Canelones).

“Getting up at home, going out with my parents for a walk, to be with my friends, drinking mate, visiting my grandmother. When we are talking, I do not use the cell phone, but when we stop, I start answering whatsapp messages or I enter the networks, Facebook or Instagram. But sometimes, I run out of internet and it is ok". (Veronica 17 years old, Florida).

Regarding the audiovisual culture of rural youth, radio and television have a central place. The first one accompanies rural tasks, it is the medium through which news of local interest circulate, those that refer to traditional events and festivals. In the lives of these teenagers, the radio is always present during the families' working routines and it appears exclusively in those moments. Radio listening is an inherited practice which reflects family tradition and it is also perceived as a shared activity:

“When we work in the greenhouse, the radio is common, we turn it on to make bochinche¹², because it's like we feel lonely there and we turn on Tala radio to make a mess. (…) The people on that radio show change your mood. Ah! and something that´s very important for dad, at six in the morning he always listens to the program about rural issues. They talk about producers , sales and there´s always someone to talk about some topic and dad always explains to me what I don't understand. What I like the most is a program at 11 am on radio Tala, which is a bit silly, and dad also likes it and we comment on what they say, we don´t just listen to the radio, we also talk about what they say, right? (Mariela, 18 years, Canelones).

"In the morning we listen to Radio Continental, the one my father listens to, and we listen to it too. And in the afternoon it's 1600 AM. And there are programs that play folk music and talk about the dates of the Criollas and they also inform you about some news” (Antonio, 15 years old, Florida).

Regarding the use of television, half of the interviewees have access to cable TV at their homes. During the week they are at the Agrarian School, where they watch soap operas episodes on the computer. However, watching television continues to be for them mostly a social and family activity. In the following testimony the rituality shared around watching an episode of Game of Thrones is evident:

“You could say that the first episode takes a lot of preparation, it´s like a ritual (…) and we all sit down and turn the TV on a few minutes before so as not to miss anything. The ritual, as we call with my father, starts at ten, practically at nine, the world is paralyzed. I prepare the table to eat something, a pizza, I shut the doors to prevent the light from entering so you can watch the TV perfectly, we order a pizza and obviously pizza is always late, which is magical. If the episode starts at ten, the pizza arrives a quarter past ten, it's magical. And the ritual would be that I take a beer with my father and we wait for nothing to interrupt it. (Federico, 17 years, Canelones).

The almost liturgical character that Federico gives at the time of sharing his favorite series, embodies Silverstone´s idea about (2004) the importance of the media within the family. Its relevance then resides in the "power that they supposedly have over us at home. They can both destroy and protect the sanctuary” (p153). In the same direction of considering the relevance of the domestic and home environment (SÁNCHEZ VILELA, 2016) there are stories in which the moments of watching films are perceived as an opportunity to share with the family:

“We watch a lot of TV and cowboy movies and stuff like that. In holidays, around six o'clock in the afternoon, we drink mate, mom cooks something, a snack or something like that, we sit in the dining room and begin to watch a cowboy movie or a funny one on TV " (Deborah, 18, Florida).

“And my mother watches a soap opera and sometimes we watch it together. We don´t like the same kind of soap operas but we watch them anyway. Now, we are watching Kosem, the Sultana or something like that, and then a Uruguayan program called In Focus which my father and I consider interesting. The tv host explains a lot, you learn, you see new places, you know stories too. And then some movie that we both like, we try to get some, we have similar tastes, almost always action, or an old one, like Cantinflas but that kind of movies are not very usual nowadays”. (Alex, 17 years old. Florida).

When analyzing the access-use-appropriation process of ICTs, authors such as Camacho (2001) move away from a linear approach and propose to consider it as a virtuous circle in which the users appropriate the Internet socially, by incorporating its use into their daily activities and when they are able to distinguish when technological tools, combined with other instruments, become relevant for solving everyday problems and when they do not. We are talking about a strategic kind of process rather than an automated one, a conscious and to some extent, planned process. The type of use to which the author refers, is also appreciable in the narratives of our interviewees, in the sense of adaptation to the circumstance:

"When I'm working I don't use a cell phone but if I have to communicate with my father, who is my helping hand, or if I have any problem in the country, I use it, yeah and to take photos to record the contrast of a dead animal, you take a photo, you identify the animal well so that the date and time remain and then I pass it through whatsapp, to the owner of the establishment, and you put the number of the caravan and that. Or, there are people who sometimes cut your fences to take you cattle and you have to take photos of it, identify it so that they see that you found it cut, is the proof of the crime, everything is recorded” (Armando, 17 years old, Florida).

"Sometimes we use the cell phone to communicate because if we have to go out, because my father is a rural worker, to communicate, to see if we are fine, because there are 2000 hectares where we are, divided into many parts, on windy days, my father does not like wind, then he asks me if I'm okay, or if we found a dead or sick animal, we pass a photo, or we warn each other, or we pass the number of caravan to see which animal died ”. (Tamara, 16 years old, Florida).

“On weekends, we divide up the tasks, if one has to monitor the sheep at lambing season, one does that, the other feeds the animals, we share the tasks, it's easier. I carry the cell phone just in case, if there are any complications, I contact my father. (Deborah, 18, Florida).

Thus, the cell phone is inserted into the dynamics of daily life to certain practical and utilitarian actions, but also as tool that enlivens the rural work:

“I arrive on Fridays, I change my clothes and go out to (…), take care of the animals, I wire the fences if I have to (...) And with the cell phone I listen to music, some good folklore, that inspires me more to do things, or when I ride a horse I listen to some folklore, some music haha (Monica, 18 years old, Canelones).

Regarding study routines, these teenagers recognize the advantage granted by ICTs, specifically the computer or cell phone with access to internet, in order to obtain information quickly. However, the kind of reflections that emerge in their stories reveal a relationship of ambiguity and tension between these technologies and what they consider the acquisition of deep learning. For most of them, the computer is somewhat undervalued, when compared to books, establishing a binary relationship of opposition rather than of complementarity. Unlike its technological counterpart, books are conceived as objects whose approach and mastery imply intellectual effort, concentration, and dedication, processes that for these students are associated with the idea of knowledge retention and reliability.

A constant assertion in these rural youths´ stories is that the facility provided by the computer with internet access, does not necessarily favor real learning. At a general level, they show a preference for traditional teaching methodologies associated with effort and perseverance, both values, traditionally and historically associated with the time when computers use was not extended. In contrast, the notion of the book as the object par excellence, of greater reliability and that encourages focus on the task is presented, as opposed to computer navigation, which encourages dispersal.

There is also a certain amount of nostalgia related to the way they used to learn during their childhood, where, for example, the technique of dictation from the teacher arises, who is regarded as an irreplaceable guide and mediator in the teaching and learning processes:

“At school, the teacher would bring me the books, make me read and study and make summaries, but, it was better because we have lost a lot with the computer issue, we get used to the easiest and the things connected to books are lost , like libraries that are less used, a lot has changed. " (Monica, 18 years old, Canelones).

“(…) I learned much more with the style of my teacher Ramón than my sister who is studying with the computer, with the tablets, because when I was in fourth grade you would dictate something to me and I would write it well buy for my sister it is hard to write”(Mariela, 18 years old, Canelones).

"(...) In the past we used books more and you had to reflect more too because

when you were looking for something in a book you had to reason it to understand it. For me books are better, because they help you to reason, to understand because even though the computer helps you, it is also bad for you because at the end you don´t understand, the only thing you do is to copy ”(Tamara, 16, Florida).

These testimonies reflect that access to ICTs is not related to deep learning, which is not possible to acquire without the mediating presence of the teacher.