"The concept of privacy has changed because we now live in the public sphere, in the era of social networks and technology," according to Ilaria Malagrinò, a philosopher and bioethics expert at Roma Tre University. She is currently at the University of Navarra for a three-month research stay within the Emotional Culture and Identity project of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS).

During this time, she will develop a study on the concepts of shame, stigma, modesty and privacy around the topic of intimacy. Her research consists of three stages: a philosophical and psychoanalytic approach, a sociological approach and finally an educational project for high school students.

One of the important issues she will focus on is the differentiation of intimacy and privacy, concepts that she believes are confused today. "Intimacy is currently understood as privacy; "today, importance is given to not sharing and disseminating data. "But, does data contain the whole person; does it contain intimacy?” she wonders and replies,“I do not think so."

According to Malagrinò, intimacy has changed a lot. She reminds us that, in the past, people lived in the private sphere and decided what to "show" others. For her, the opposite situation now occurs; "we live in the public sphere, in the era of social networks and new technologies and we decide what not to show."

As she notes, intimacy itself is no longer a feature of relationships with others; now, it seems related to the subject himself, who is capable of establishing relationships characterized by "narcissism." "The tendency to expose one’s body seems to make traditional categories, such as intimacy, obsolete," she pointed out.

Understanding new models

The specialist, who is a professor within the Department of Education at Roma Tre University, believes young people need more training in these issues. In her opinion, many of the difficulties they have when it comes to affectivity and sexuality are closely linked to how they view intimacy.

She notes that in her country, Italy, like so many others, they are having problems with abuse and non-consensual dissemination of content, including images of a sexual nature. The researcher believes that recording and spreading the abuse worsens the scourge of bullying.

In her research, she also studies narration on social networks— namely, "how young people speak and what they say about themselves, especially on Instagram" she detailed. The expert is committed to studying these new attitudes "to understand new models."