The purpose of the current study was to investigate the experience of privacy, focusing on its functional role in personal well-being. A sample\ud(N = 180) comprised subjects between 18 and 50 years of age were asked to spontaneously provide accounts of their experiences with privacy\udand answer close-ended questions to acquire a description of a daily experience of privacy. The results showed the importance attributed to\udthe function of privacy related to the “defense from social threats”, and the twofold function of privacy related to an “achieved state of privacy”,\udin the terms of both “system maintenance” and “system development”. The results also shed light on the role of the environment in shaping\udone’s experience of privacy. Specifically, the participants recognized more easily the function of defense from threats related to seeking privacy\udwhile interacting in digital environments, whereas they seemed to benefit from positive functions related to an achieved state of privacy in\udphysical environments. The findings sustain the notion of privacy as a supportive condition for some psychological processes involved in the\udpositive human functioning and confirm previous studies conducted on the role of privacy in human well-being.
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