Youth culture in a digital world
LE C T U R E N OT E S
Inhoud
Lecture 1 - Introduction into digital media in the lives of youth ............................................................. 1
Lecture 2: Media effects theories applied to youth .............................................................................. 3
Lecture 3: Using media literacy to fight disinformation: A mission impossible? ........................................ 7
Lecture 4: Online celebrity culture ..................................................................................................... 8
Lecture 5: Online gaming culture ..................................................................................................... 12
Lecture 6: Parenting and social media .............................................................................................. 14
Lecture 7: Social media and mental health........................................................................................ 17
Several possible research problems may account for inconsistent/weak findings................................... 18
Lecture 8: Smartphone policy.......................................................................................................... 20
Lecture 1 - Introduction into digital media in the lives of youth
Definitions
Culture → “A group distinctive way of life, including its beliefs and values, its custom and its art and
technologies”
- A groups culture can be determined by geographical, social or temporal characteristic or context
Youth culture → Shared beliefs, behaviors, practices and values of young people within a particular society
or subculture
- The ways in which young individuals express themselves, interact with one another, and
distinguish themselves from older generations
- Youth culture is dynamic and ca vary significantly across time and place, reflecting the cultural,
social and historical context in which it emerges
- Youth culture is not internationally generalizable. Like culture, the youth culture is determined by
the values in that culture or country and is different in different places in the world
- Examples: fashion and style, music, language, social activities, values & ideals and media &
technology
Social media → online websites or apps where people can share, follow each other and collaborate
Disrupting or enriching traditional culture?
Social presence theory
- ‘Sense of being together’ is lower in digital media
- Lose of the sense that someone is being there disrupts communication between these individuals
- With social media, you have the least sense that someone is being there in comparison to other
manners to communicate, like calling someone
- Social media is disrupting traditional communication
-
1
,Social information processing theory
- Communicators’ interpersonal needs prompts them to try their best
- There are different ways to interpret social cues and this depends on the receiver
- You need special skills to read social cues in social media correctly
- Social media is not just disrupting or enriching traditional communication, but it depends on the
receiver
Channel expansion theory
- With each new development, we develop skills to use it
- Users with experience will strive to develop necessary skills
- These skills make it possible to enrich the communication and the skills will become better over
time
How is it used?
- Social media effects are determined by the way people use social media
- Passively or actively
- Replacement or addition to traditional communication
Why use social media?
Uses & gratifications theory
- What purposes or functions does social media offer to the users?
- Lasswell
o Surveillance of the environment
o Affective need
o Transmission of social heritage
o Entertainment
- Self-promotion, maintain existing relationships, need for creativity, escapism, expressing opinions
- One size does not fit all:
o Information, social, entertainment, convenience/pass the time
Approaches in youth development
Development tasks approach
- Development tasks/challenges need to be fulfilled
- Hierarchic list of tasks, met through biological or social development → cumulative
- You can’t skip a tasks or stage
- Media effect depends on the age of the child/the stage they are in
Risk and resilience approach
- Differential life experiences among children
- Risk and protective factors explain differences between children → cumulative risk model
- Snowball effect, turn around models
- Risk and protective factors can be find on different levels of the Bronfenbrenner model
o Micro
▪ How parents monitor and regulate their children’s media use
▪ Tracking screentime, keeping media outside of the bedroom
2
, o Exo
▪ Is school offering classes on online safety and social media policies?
▪ Banning smartphone from the classroom
o Macro
▪ What doe we believe and value regarding social media?
▪ Dangerous or entertainment
Online and offline developments are interconnected, but not identical
- Overlap between these developments
- Anonymity: different, more extreme forms of behavior
- Creativity: playing around, discovering who you are
- Asynchrony: communication at your convenience, breaking time and space constraints
- Controllability: the ability to decide what information to share or omit
Identity development during adolescence
Identity → an identity, is at least in part, an explicit theory of oneself as a person
- Different parts of identity: personal, social, gender, ethnic
- Development during adolescence
- Should be constructed during adolescence through exploration online and offline
- Key components
o Self image: how young people perceive themselves
o Self-esteem: ability to appreciate this self image
Self presentation
- Goffman’s model: there is a front stage and backstage
o Frontstage: how do I want people to perceive me and how can I make them perceive me
this way. Considerable about what you say, do or wear
o Backstage: informal talk and a relaxed role. Not having to be considerable about what you
say, do or wear.
- Goffman’s model also apply on social media
o Frontstage being social media and backstage being offline
o Frontstage social media post on Instagram and backstage communication via WhatsApp
Lecture 2: Media effects theories applied to youth
What are media effects
Media use → the intended or incidental use of media channels, devices, content/messages or all types of
platforms, tools or apps
Media effects → media effects are the deliberate and non-deliberate short- and long-term individual or
collective changes in cognition, emotions, attitudes, and behavior that result from media use
3
LE C T U R E N OT E S
Inhoud
Lecture 1 - Introduction into digital media in the lives of youth ............................................................. 1
Lecture 2: Media effects theories applied to youth .............................................................................. 3
Lecture 3: Using media literacy to fight disinformation: A mission impossible? ........................................ 7
Lecture 4: Online celebrity culture ..................................................................................................... 8
Lecture 5: Online gaming culture ..................................................................................................... 12
Lecture 6: Parenting and social media .............................................................................................. 14
Lecture 7: Social media and mental health........................................................................................ 17
Several possible research problems may account for inconsistent/weak findings................................... 18
Lecture 8: Smartphone policy.......................................................................................................... 20
Lecture 1 - Introduction into digital media in the lives of youth
Definitions
Culture → “A group distinctive way of life, including its beliefs and values, its custom and its art and
technologies”
- A groups culture can be determined by geographical, social or temporal characteristic or context
Youth culture → Shared beliefs, behaviors, practices and values of young people within a particular society
or subculture
- The ways in which young individuals express themselves, interact with one another, and
distinguish themselves from older generations
- Youth culture is dynamic and ca vary significantly across time and place, reflecting the cultural,
social and historical context in which it emerges
- Youth culture is not internationally generalizable. Like culture, the youth culture is determined by
the values in that culture or country and is different in different places in the world
- Examples: fashion and style, music, language, social activities, values & ideals and media &
technology
Social media → online websites or apps where people can share, follow each other and collaborate
Disrupting or enriching traditional culture?
Social presence theory
- ‘Sense of being together’ is lower in digital media
- Lose of the sense that someone is being there disrupts communication between these individuals
- With social media, you have the least sense that someone is being there in comparison to other
manners to communicate, like calling someone
- Social media is disrupting traditional communication
-
1
,Social information processing theory
- Communicators’ interpersonal needs prompts them to try their best
- There are different ways to interpret social cues and this depends on the receiver
- You need special skills to read social cues in social media correctly
- Social media is not just disrupting or enriching traditional communication, but it depends on the
receiver
Channel expansion theory
- With each new development, we develop skills to use it
- Users with experience will strive to develop necessary skills
- These skills make it possible to enrich the communication and the skills will become better over
time
How is it used?
- Social media effects are determined by the way people use social media
- Passively or actively
- Replacement or addition to traditional communication
Why use social media?
Uses & gratifications theory
- What purposes or functions does social media offer to the users?
- Lasswell
o Surveillance of the environment
o Affective need
o Transmission of social heritage
o Entertainment
- Self-promotion, maintain existing relationships, need for creativity, escapism, expressing opinions
- One size does not fit all:
o Information, social, entertainment, convenience/pass the time
Approaches in youth development
Development tasks approach
- Development tasks/challenges need to be fulfilled
- Hierarchic list of tasks, met through biological or social development → cumulative
- You can’t skip a tasks or stage
- Media effect depends on the age of the child/the stage they are in
Risk and resilience approach
- Differential life experiences among children
- Risk and protective factors explain differences between children → cumulative risk model
- Snowball effect, turn around models
- Risk and protective factors can be find on different levels of the Bronfenbrenner model
o Micro
▪ How parents monitor and regulate their children’s media use
▪ Tracking screentime, keeping media outside of the bedroom
2
, o Exo
▪ Is school offering classes on online safety and social media policies?
▪ Banning smartphone from the classroom
o Macro
▪ What doe we believe and value regarding social media?
▪ Dangerous or entertainment
Online and offline developments are interconnected, but not identical
- Overlap between these developments
- Anonymity: different, more extreme forms of behavior
- Creativity: playing around, discovering who you are
- Asynchrony: communication at your convenience, breaking time and space constraints
- Controllability: the ability to decide what information to share or omit
Identity development during adolescence
Identity → an identity, is at least in part, an explicit theory of oneself as a person
- Different parts of identity: personal, social, gender, ethnic
- Development during adolescence
- Should be constructed during adolescence through exploration online and offline
- Key components
o Self image: how young people perceive themselves
o Self-esteem: ability to appreciate this self image
Self presentation
- Goffman’s model: there is a front stage and backstage
o Frontstage: how do I want people to perceive me and how can I make them perceive me
this way. Considerable about what you say, do or wear
o Backstage: informal talk and a relaxed role. Not having to be considerable about what you
say, do or wear.
- Goffman’s model also apply on social media
o Frontstage being social media and backstage being offline
o Frontstage social media post on Instagram and backstage communication via WhatsApp
Lecture 2: Media effects theories applied to youth
What are media effects
Media use → the intended or incidental use of media channels, devices, content/messages or all types of
platforms, tools or apps
Media effects → media effects are the deliberate and non-deliberate short- and long-term individual or
collective changes in cognition, emotions, attitudes, and behavior that result from media use
3
