This article examines the entanglement between refugees’ Internet use and their present living conditions of re-settlement in Sweden and Germany. It seeks to provide a new perspective by applying the operational concept of “expectation” as developed by Niklas Luhmann.

Expectations emerge in the interplay between the user and the materiality as well as functionality of media technologies that are embedded in concrete living conditions. Based on in-depth interviews, it becomes obvious that using media technologies in order to manage one’s life situation is a learning process influenced by social and cognitive conditions, whereby the responsibility of the individual is decisive for a successful outcome.