faculty_logo Prof. David Šmahel, Ph.D. Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University Institute for Research on Children, Youth and the Family Youth and social media I: Identity, relationships and online risks Youth Development inovace-logo 1. How much do youths use the internet and technology? 2. What youths do online? 3. Internet and developmental context. 4. Identity and online identity. 5. Intimacy and relationships on the internet. 6. Gains and risks – classification, examples. 7.Conclusions. Structure of the presentation faculty_logo EU Kids Online: Researching Kids in Europe Quantitative research – 2010: •See figure for 25 participating countries •Random stratified sample •1000 9-16 year olds per country •Interviews at home, face-to-face •Self-completion for sensitive questions •Data from child and parent Qualitative research – 2013: 9 countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom), interviews and focus groups, 57groups, 113 interviews: N = 380 children Internet in different age groups 2014 faculty_logo Výřez obrazovky (World Internet Project – Lupač, Chrobáková, Sládek, 2014) Internet and education in 2014 faculty_logo Výřez obrazovky (World Internet Project – Lupač, Chrobáková, Sládek, 2014) Hours online weekly in 2014 faculty_logo (World Internet Project – Lupač, Chrobáková, Sládek, 2014) Výřez obrazovky Výřez obrazovky Výřez obrazovky (Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig & Ólafsson, 2011): What youth do online? (Canada + USA) faculty_logo What youth do online? (the Czech Republic) faculty_logo What role has the Internet in adolescents’ development? •Identity development •Sexuality (will be mentioned in next lessons by Anna Sevcikova) •Intimacy and relationships •Well being and health issues •Ethic development Dark sides: risks of the internet use – cyberbullying, meeting strangers, addictive behavior on the Internet Internet and developmental context faculty_logo •Disembodied Users •Anonymity •Text-based Communication •Self-disclosure and Disinhibition •Use of Emoticons Differences? … :-), :-(, ;-), :-o, :-D, :D, :- P, =O, :-O; •Media-multitasking and Multitasking Characteristics of Digital Communication faculty_logo What is identity and virtual identity? Virtual identity faculty_logo “An identity is, at least in part, an explicit theory of oneself as a person” (Moshman, 2005,p. 89). According to this view, one’s identity is a sophisticated conception of the self, one which should help to answer questions such as “who am I?”, “where do I belong?”, and “where am I headed?” Identity in psychological context faculty_logo Online identity - two meanings: a)Set of data representing person (= virtual representation) b)Identity in psychological sense Virtual representation: is a “cluster” of digital data about a user in a virtual context and includes a name or more accurately, a nickname/ username, email address, online history, and status within that virtual setting. Individuals can have different digital representations in different online contexts (e.g. multiple email addresses such as teacher@university.cz and stampcollector@something.cz). Virtual identity: comprises the thoughts, ideas, visions, or fantasies that users attribute to their virtual representations. It is the transfer, perhaps unconsciously, of the thoughts, emotions, and other aspects of their self to their online selves (Smahel, 2003). Virtual identity is also comprised of personal and social aspects. What is virtual identity and representation faculty_logo Nicknames (usernames). In some online applications such as chat rooms, discussion forums, or textual online games, identity is often established through a nickname or username, which may convey information about users’ gender (e.g., prettygurl245), sexual identity (straitangel), etc. a/s/l code. In an effort to share basic facts about their identity in the Internet environment, young Internet users have come up with creative strategies. One such strategy that we found in our own research on online teen chat rooms is the “a/s/l” (age/sex/location) slot filler code (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2003). Photos and videos. Photographs and videos can be used for online self-presentation and are easy to uploaded in blogs, social networking profiles, and other similar user-generated sites.. Our study of 195 English blogs maintained by self-declared adolescents revealed that 60% of bloggers published their user pictures and younger bloggers were more likely to post pictures than older ones (Subrahmanyam, Garcia, Harsono, Li, & Lipana, 2009). Tools for Online Identity Construction faculty_logo Avatars. Within computer games (e.g., MMORPGs) and complex virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life), players’ online identities or personae are avatars, which are adjustable, motion-enabled graphical representations. Depending on the online space, avatars can assume a variety of forms, ranging from human-like to fantastical creatures, and are typically 3D and animated. Tools for Online Identity Construction faculty_logo Výřez obrazovky Theoretical view: Turkle, Kendall, Wallace … experimenting with identity, MAMA cycle (Moratorium Achievement …) X Empirical view: Greenfield, Subrahmanyam, Jochen, Valkenburg etc. …results from empirical data Virtual identity: theory x empirical research faculty_logo vtip-psi She really does not know you are a dog? I said it to her but she just answered: „You devil!“ Pretending: age comparison „Pretended to be a different kind of person on the internet from what I really am“ Source: (Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig & Ólafsson, 2011): Experimenting with identity in sense of pretending to be someone else seems to be very rare. à so how youths deal with identity issues online? Experimenting with identity faculty_logo What youths blog about? Experimenting versus self-presentation faculty_logo Does internet bring something new or it is just analogy to meetings in pubs? Online friendship faculty_logo Number of online friends „How many online friends who you have not met in person have you got?“ 38% of Czech Internet users have such friends, corresponding to 21% from the whole population. No significant difference between men and women. χ 2 (15, N = 917) = 95.9, p = .000, phi = 0.323 Meeting strangers (from interviews with children) I was accessing the internet and YouTube when someone showed up wanting to talk to me. I felt scared and called my mother. I thought the person could stalk or harm me. I was afraid. My parents told me to ignore it, but it didn’t help. I still felt very bothered by the experience. (girl, 9, Portugal) In blogs and Tumblr, I was contacted by others, but their identity was not disclosed. I was scared and bothered by this contact. I was scared because I felt exposed. (girl, 16, Portugal) A stranger was asking me to meet up. I was scared and he kept contacting me as soon as he went online asking me to meet up. I did not speak to him and I blocked him. (boy, 9–10, Malta) Meeting strangers online faculty_logo Source: (Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig & Ólafsson, 2011) Meeting strangers online faculty_logo • •In the context of different culture, the internet can bring new patterns in the behavior of people. •For example a study from Mauricia revealed (Rambaree, 2008) that „dating“ is tabu for younger youth – parents do not allow it and sexual education does not exists • => the internet becomes the place of „virtual dating“, youths search for information about sex, share such information, speak about it etc. • •Developmental need versus risks online Online relationships – new patterns? faculty_logo • •The Internet have increased and widened adolescents’ contact with the people in their lives (both, offline friends and strangers) •The Internet allows them to accomplish the dual developmental tasks of autonomy from parents and establishing themselves within their peer groups from the relative comfort and safety of their home •Family - reversal of traditional family roles that may disrupt family relationships (?) Conclusions - online relationships faculty_logo Is it dangerous? What are online risks? Gains or risks faculty_logo Risks and opportunities – analytical model faculty_logo Výřez obrazovky Smahel, D. & Wright, M. F. (eds) (2014). Meaning of online problematic situations for children. Results of qualitative cross-cultural investigation in nine European countries. London: EU Kids Online, London School of Economics and Political Science. Problematic situations faculty_logo Smahel, D. & Wright, M. F. (eds) (2014). Meaning of online problematic situations for children. Results of qualitative cross-cultural investigation in nine European countries. London: EU Kids Online, London School of Economics and Political Science. What children perceive as problematic on the Internet? 1)Bullying, harassment and aggressive communication 2)Sexual content and communication 3)Meeting strangers 4)Privacy and the misuse of personal information online 5)Commercial content and communication 6)Health problems 7)Online addiction or excessive internet use 8)Technical problems (Smahel, Wright & Cernikova, 2014 – in review) Výřez obrazovky Problematic situations & development faculty_logo Výřez obrazovky (Smahel, Wright & Cernikova, 2014 – in review) Problematic situations & development faculty_logo Problematic situations & development faculty_logo (Smahel, Wright & Cernikova, 2014 – in review) Výřez obrazovky See www.eukidsonline.net for more information. From report: Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., Ólafsson, K. (2011). EU Kids Online Final Report. London: LSE. Bullying faculty_logo bullying-euko See www.eukidsonline.net for more information. From report: Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., Ólafsson, K. (2011). EU Kids Online Final Report. London: LSE. Sexual exposure faculty_logo sexual-euko Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., Ólafsson, K. (2011). EU Kids Online Final Report. London: LSE. Online risks versus internet usage faculty_logo risks-usage Problematic situations & development faculty_logo -Many areas of youth’s development are touched by online problematic situations, what confirms how closely are online and offline worlds interconnected (Subrahmanyam & Smahel, 2011) -Online situations can negatively influence youth’s health, relationships, moral, values and sexuality development, but as other research stated, youths with more offline problems tend to have more problems also online (Ybarra & Michelle, 2004) -Some areas are not spontaneously reflected by children (i.e. civic participation, future profession) -Broad variety of different problematic situations was revealed, but many of them have not only negative side, but children perceive them as positive in another context - - Conclusions & Discussion faculty_logo •Real versus virtual … everything is „real“ from our subjective point of view •What causes the internet in human development? Is there something new? •It rather seems: old themes in new environment(s) •Online and offline worlds of youths are interconnected •Internet as a tool for maintaining traditional developmental tasks – identity, relationships, sexual development etc. • BUT •New online environments can bring new challanges •What will be the future? (3D online worlds? …) • Thank you! For more information – see free access journal: Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace www.cyberpsychology.eu Or book: Subrahmanyam, K. & Šmahel, D. (2011). Digital Youth: The Role of Media in Development. Springer, New York. inovace-logo