Lecture 1 Youth Culture in a Digital World
3 types of culture:
- Based on geographical location.
- Based on your social status, that you wish to belong to. For
example, being healthy.
- Temporal, based on age and generation.
Youth culture is online and offline, that is why we are focusing on social
media.
Is social media disrupting or enriching traditional culture? Different types
of theories:
social presence theory
= the best type of
communication is face
to face. Social media
is not rich
communication. Social
media is disrupting
our traditional culture
and communication.
Social information processing theory = Everyone interprets messages
differently. Someone may really like your vacation photo, but someone
else may see it as “she's trying to look cool.” So, whether it's disruptive or
constructive depends on how someone interprets it.
Channel expansion theory = we will adapt to the new way of
communication. For example, the use of emotions in a conversation. You
will learn when to use certain emoticons.
How you use it:
Addition (online and offline use) or replacement (you don’t go out,
you just stay on your phone).
Passively or actively.
Four main reasons to use media:
1. Surveillance of the environment, to get information.
2. Affective need, to get more of a feeling about how others are
feeling, or if you want a warm feeling. You want to feel something.
3. Cultural transmission, how should I behave in a situation. What is
appropriate and what is not.
4. Entertainment, use media to relax and enjoy.
For social media there are also other reasons to use it:
- Self-promotion, maintain existing relationships, need for creativity,
escapism, expressing opinions.
,In adolescence, you have physical, social and identity changes.
- Developmental tasks approach, people in this stage are developing
tasks/ challenges. In each of these developmental stages there is
conflict. The basic idea of this approach is that there is a hierarchic
list of tasks, when you completed one, you go to the next.
In media, you look different to things when you get older.
- Risk and resilience approach, risk and protective factors (ecological
model, Bronfenbrenner, micro, exo, macro) explain differences in
outcomes between people. For example, why does one get criminal
by seeing a violent video and the other don’t.
Identity development during adolescence. The basic idea is that you have
an idea about who you are/ who you want to be. You act like this.
Identity dimensions:
- Personal. Extravert or introvert.
- Social identity. Gender, ethnic, national.
- Online identity. How do I represent myself on social media.
Self-image = how young people perceive themselves.
Self-esteem = the ability to appreciate this self-image.
Self-presentation theory from Goffman.
He sees behavior as a theater.
Difference between front stage and
backstage.
Anonymity online, you are anonym online and you feel like you can do/
say more.
Creativity online, you can discover who you are.
Asynchrony online, when do you want to post, or when do you want to
react.
, Controllability online, the ability to decide what information you want to
share.
Lecture 2 Youth Culture in a Digital World
Media use (Valkenburg & Oliver, 2019) = the intended (with purpose) or
incidental (not on purpose) use of media.
Media effect (Valkenburg & Oliver, 2019) = the deliberate and non-
deliberate short- and long-term changes in behavior that result from media
use.
Evergreen theories = popular theories that remain relevant and widely
cited over a long period, similar to how evergreen content is timeless and not
dependent on current trends.
The history of media effect theories
1920s/1930s
- We had the idea that media effect were very strong.
- They would affect people directly.
- Magic-bullet model/ hypodermic needle theory = the idea that,
whatever you were exposed to, you absorbed.
- Movies where extremely popular, there was a lot of propaganda
(persuasive effects).
There were women who wondered what their children are
exposed to, how this would affect them emotionally and
behavioral (Payne fund studies).
This resulted in the legacy of fear = fear of using social media,
because of the effects of media.
1940s/1950s
- The idea that there are limited effects of media.
- Results People’s Choice Study (1940s):
They found minimal conversion. People exposed to media,
they did not change their minds.
They found that media reinforces people their opinion. So,
their opinion got stronger.
- Results The Decatur Study (1945):
Communication is made in a two-step way.
1. Media affects/ informs opinion leaders. And
these leaders will inform other people. For
example, church.
2. Media affects people directly.
- Social comparison theory (1954) (evergreen
theory) = the idea that we determine our self-worth
by comparing with others. Upward and downward. It happens
subconscious.
1970s
- We return to the concept of powerful media effects.
- Spiral of Silence (1974) (evergreen theory) = the idea that an
individual’s willingness to express their opinion in general, is related
3 types of culture:
- Based on geographical location.
- Based on your social status, that you wish to belong to. For
example, being healthy.
- Temporal, based on age and generation.
Youth culture is online and offline, that is why we are focusing on social
media.
Is social media disrupting or enriching traditional culture? Different types
of theories:
social presence theory
= the best type of
communication is face
to face. Social media
is not rich
communication. Social
media is disrupting
our traditional culture
and communication.
Social information processing theory = Everyone interprets messages
differently. Someone may really like your vacation photo, but someone
else may see it as “she's trying to look cool.” So, whether it's disruptive or
constructive depends on how someone interprets it.
Channel expansion theory = we will adapt to the new way of
communication. For example, the use of emotions in a conversation. You
will learn when to use certain emoticons.
How you use it:
Addition (online and offline use) or replacement (you don’t go out,
you just stay on your phone).
Passively or actively.
Four main reasons to use media:
1. Surveillance of the environment, to get information.
2. Affective need, to get more of a feeling about how others are
feeling, or if you want a warm feeling. You want to feel something.
3. Cultural transmission, how should I behave in a situation. What is
appropriate and what is not.
4. Entertainment, use media to relax and enjoy.
For social media there are also other reasons to use it:
- Self-promotion, maintain existing relationships, need for creativity,
escapism, expressing opinions.
,In adolescence, you have physical, social and identity changes.
- Developmental tasks approach, people in this stage are developing
tasks/ challenges. In each of these developmental stages there is
conflict. The basic idea of this approach is that there is a hierarchic
list of tasks, when you completed one, you go to the next.
In media, you look different to things when you get older.
- Risk and resilience approach, risk and protective factors (ecological
model, Bronfenbrenner, micro, exo, macro) explain differences in
outcomes between people. For example, why does one get criminal
by seeing a violent video and the other don’t.
Identity development during adolescence. The basic idea is that you have
an idea about who you are/ who you want to be. You act like this.
Identity dimensions:
- Personal. Extravert or introvert.
- Social identity. Gender, ethnic, national.
- Online identity. How do I represent myself on social media.
Self-image = how young people perceive themselves.
Self-esteem = the ability to appreciate this self-image.
Self-presentation theory from Goffman.
He sees behavior as a theater.
Difference between front stage and
backstage.
Anonymity online, you are anonym online and you feel like you can do/
say more.
Creativity online, you can discover who you are.
Asynchrony online, when do you want to post, or when do you want to
react.
, Controllability online, the ability to decide what information you want to
share.
Lecture 2 Youth Culture in a Digital World
Media use (Valkenburg & Oliver, 2019) = the intended (with purpose) or
incidental (not on purpose) use of media.
Media effect (Valkenburg & Oliver, 2019) = the deliberate and non-
deliberate short- and long-term changes in behavior that result from media
use.
Evergreen theories = popular theories that remain relevant and widely
cited over a long period, similar to how evergreen content is timeless and not
dependent on current trends.
The history of media effect theories
1920s/1930s
- We had the idea that media effect were very strong.
- They would affect people directly.
- Magic-bullet model/ hypodermic needle theory = the idea that,
whatever you were exposed to, you absorbed.
- Movies where extremely popular, there was a lot of propaganda
(persuasive effects).
There were women who wondered what their children are
exposed to, how this would affect them emotionally and
behavioral (Payne fund studies).
This resulted in the legacy of fear = fear of using social media,
because of the effects of media.
1940s/1950s
- The idea that there are limited effects of media.
- Results People’s Choice Study (1940s):
They found minimal conversion. People exposed to media,
they did not change their minds.
They found that media reinforces people their opinion. So,
their opinion got stronger.
- Results The Decatur Study (1945):
Communication is made in a two-step way.
1. Media affects/ informs opinion leaders. And
these leaders will inform other people. For
example, church.
2. Media affects people directly.
- Social comparison theory (1954) (evergreen
theory) = the idea that we determine our self-worth
by comparing with others. Upward and downward. It happens
subconscious.
1970s
- We return to the concept of powerful media effects.
- Spiral of Silence (1974) (evergreen theory) = the idea that an
individual’s willingness to express their opinion in general, is related
