In recent years, mobile media applications have become a significant resource for crisis communication and communal coping during natural disasters and wars. Drawing on communal coping and media affordance research, we examined the roles that a WhatsApp group plays for mothers living in an ongoing conflict area. We examined, through in-depth interviews, a local WhatsApp group operating in a community adjacent to the Israel–Gaza border. Findings revealed the unique emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies people use when facing ongoing threats. Four affordances—immediacy, reachability, mobility, and multimediality—contributed to WhatsApp’s role as a shared and ubiquitous coping resource. This study demonstrates the ways in which instant messaging communication affordances contribute to communal coping strategies in ongoing conflict areas.

近年来，移动媒体应用程序已成为自然灾害和战争期间危机沟通和社区应对的重要资源。利用公共应对和媒体可供性研究，我们研究了 WhatsApp 小组为生活在持续冲突地区的母亲所扮演的角色。我们通过深入访谈调查了一个在以色列-加沙边境附近社区运营的当地 WhatsApp 小组。调查结果揭示了人们在面临持续威胁时使用的独特的以情感为中心和以问题为中心的应对策略。四种可供性——即时性、可达性、移动性和多媒体性——促成了 WhatsApp 作为共享和无处不在的应对资源的角色。