NetTweens – The Internet and Body Image

Tiggemann, M., & Slater, A. (2014). NetTweens: The Internet and Body Image Concerns in Preteenage Girls. Journal Of Early Adolescence, 34(5), 606-620. DOI: 10.1177/0272431613501083

Over the years, there have been many studies that have shown a correlation between girls media exposure and their feelings about their own body image. Tiggermann and Slater conducted a study by sampling 189 young girls, aged 10 – 12 years old. They had each girl fill out a questionnaire about their media consumption. However, this study went further than many studies in the past, by focusing on girls internet access and social media connections.

The majority of girls in the sample (97.4%), had regular access to the Internet at home.

In the questionnaire, girls were asked if they have a profile on a social media network, as well as how long they spent on a social media network. The girls reported using Facebook the most often. Of the sample, 43% of girls had a Facebook profile and spent an average of 1.5 hours on the site per day. The study showed a strong relationship with body image insecurity and internet exposure. More specifically, the study showed the following: “Facebook users showed that they scored significantly higher on internalization, body surveillance, and dieting, and lower on body esteem.” (Page, ) These girls reported a genuine unhappiness with their bodies, a desire to look like the images they saw online, an overall and consistent focus on how they “looked”, dieting habits and tendencies, and lower confidence in their body.

Through reading this study, I learned that girls are getting exposed to social media sites at very young ages, and that exposure is leading to body image concerns. In the past, girls were exposed to magazines and TV shows, etc. However, now that many young girls have access to computers and social media sites, and are on them around an hour and a half daily, they are being exposed to constant media images that significantly affecting their confidence. Overall, girls on social media sites are showing a greater focus on their looks, a greater insecurity about their bodies, increased dieting and lower esteem. This article argues a great negative to social media for young girls. As they spend time looking at pictures of others, girls are becoming increasing self-conscious and focused on their own appearance. As a result, many are taking action through dieting.

 

 

 

Social Influences and Cyberbullying

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2013). Social influences on cyberbullying behaviors among middle and high school students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(5), 711-722.

Cyberbullying is a problem that is affecting an increasing number of our youth. However, it has not been clear what factors, besides the use of technology, have been contributing to the increase in the amount of cyberbullying taking place among our youth. Research has identified a number of real-world negative ramifications for both the targets and those who bully. “The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which peers, parents, and educators influence the cyberbullying behaviors of adolescents.” This study researched and analyzed a random sample of approximately 4,400 sixth through twelfth grade students (49% female; 63% nonwhite) from thirty-three schools in a large school district in the southern United States. The results of the study indicate that cyberbullying is associated with perceptions of peers behaving similarly, and the likelihood of adults to provide consequences and punishments. The study showed that youth who believed that a number of their friends were involved in bullying were more likely to have cyberbullying behaviors themselves. The study also showed that those who believed the adults in their life would punish them for cyberbullying were less likely to participate.

Through reading this study I was struck by how influenced youths are by their peers. A number of youths in the study went from being disturbed by cyberbullying and bullying in general, to exhibiting their own bullying behaviors in order to fit in and/or please their peers. In addition, I learned the importance of not only parent involvement, but of parents having consequences for bullying behavior. It was amazing to see how much student behaviors were influenced for the good, when they knew and believed they would be punished for such behavior. However, I also was wary of the motivation behind students lack of bullying. While it is important to stop bullying behavior, I also believe that it is important to then teach students how to develop care and empathy vs. teaching them not bullying out of fear. This study and the information from it help me to answer my guiding questions. Cyberbullying is not simply a result of students using social media, but it is a sign of their peer relationships and their parents involvement in their social media lives. Therefore, some of the negatives of social media aren’t only caused by social media use, but instead social media has become a platform to behave in bullying behavior to please peers.

Take a Visit to Instagram’s Headquarters

Instagram Headquarters. (2016, July). Menlo Park, CA. Field Experience.

In 2012, Instagram was bought out by Facebook and their Headquarters moved from San Francisco to join the Facebook operation in Menlo Park. However, Instragram has it’s own portion of the campus. Individuals or groups of students can take a field trip to the Instagram Headquarters. If you call the main line the company will connect you with individuals who will take you through the facilities. They will explain how things are run and take you through the areas that house the 7 different Instagram Teams:  Data & Analytics, Software Engineering, Design & User Experience, Technical Program Management, Sales & Marketing, Sales & Business Development, Communications & Public Policy. You can meet employees and get a feel for how the operation is run.

This would be beneficial for my guiding questions and research because Instagram is one of the most popular sites for youths on social media. It would be interesting to find out more information and if/how the company tailors what it does to meet the wants and desires of its more youthful customers. In researching Instragram it is amazing all the ways you can edit and filter your pictures. Those simple components make it very attractive to young people who take and post countless selfies and who are always trying to look their best on social media.

Social Media and Privacy

Madden, M., Lenhart, A., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., Duggan, M., Smith, A., & Beaton, M. (2013). Teens, social media, and privacy. Pew Research Center. Retrieved July 4, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/05/21/teens-social-media-and-privacy/

Teens, social media, and privacy is an incredibly helpful and interesting article full of facts regarding teens use of social media. The Pew Research Center conducted research on 802 teens across the US. The study involved a survey that addressed why teens use social media, what they post and how they feel about the privacy of what they post. The study was conducted in both 2006 and 2012, and compared the results. The study showed that teens share a considerable amount of personal information on social media platforms. The majority of teenage online users post photographs and videos of themselves, the name of their school, the city or town where they live, their email address, interests, relationship status and their email address. According to the study, 20% of teenage social media users, even post their cell phone numbers. Only 9% of the interviewed teens shared feelings of concern regarding their privacy online. However, a large percentage of teens shared this personal information and had settings ON that allowed their location to be tracked.

The information and statistics collected in this study helped me to understand that most teens are unaware of the dangers of social media and the importance of privacy. Without thinking, the majority of online teens posted all the information that one would need to find them. I believe this article is important in answering my guiding questions. One of the major downfalls to teens use of social media, is that many of them are compromising their privacy and possibly putting themselves in danger. It seems that many teens are simply unaware or naive to the dangers regarding the information they are posting. It seems that many teens need to be monitored and educated regarding their use of social media and the information that they display on those platforms and cites.

Social Media and Body Image Among Girls

Easun, A., Halliwell, E., & Harcourt, D. (2011). Body dissatisfaction: Can a short media literacy message reduce negative media exposure effects amongst adolescent girls?. British Journal Of Health Psychology, 16(2), 396-403.

We know that many young girls struggle with body image challenges, but how do social media and technology affect the body image of young girls? This study is an incredibly interesting topic to me personally, since I had an eating disorder in my adolescent years. The study is from the Journal of Health Psychology and the study comprised of 127 British girls between the ages of 10 and 13. The girls were assigned to different experimental conditions. A body image intervention video from Dove was shown to half of the girls immediately before they viewed ultra-thin models or control images. When the girls were shown ultra-thin model images without the intervention video, they ended up having a lower state of body satisfaction or self-esteem after the video. When girls were shown the intervention video before the images, it prevented a negative exposure effect. They were aware that the images they were seeing were not real in that they were modified to look how the producers wanted them to look. The study provided research that the knowledge of unrealistic nature of media images can have great and immediate benefits for young girls.

This study is important to answer my guiding questions because so often what is posted on Social Media is “perfect” pictures. Girls put on makeup and take hundreds of selfies in order to get a good one. What they post on Social Media is not who they are in real life. This is a downside of Social Media for girls. They are constantly looking at images of others girls and are able to then compare themselves and hold themselves to unrealistic expectations and standards, resulting in lower self-esteem.

Facebook Headquarters

Facebook Headquarters. (2016, July 11). Menlo Park, CA. Field Experience.

To further ones research and knowledge of Social Media, a trip to Facebook headquarters is definitely in order. I called the number on their website and set up a tour. As I drove past the “Facebook Like” sign at the entrance to one of the sites, there was around 5 people standing around taking pictures in front of the sign. My tour was with a newer site off of Facebook Way. The parking lot was enormous, with a series of buses exiting as I entered. Facebook has a busing system in place for employees that live farther away. As I walked inside I was intrigued by the interesting and modern architecture. Food frames line the stairs and it almost looks as if the inside is still a little under construction. However, I later found out that is simply the style. I checked in and signed a waiver of confidentiality. Everyone who enters the building signs this waiver, in order to ensure that everything going on and seen in the building remains confidential. As I walked up the stairs and into their office area, I almost felt like I was back in the college dorms. There were vending machines, funky pictures on the wall, bright rainbow colors and desks set up all over the building. I learned that most of the employee’s are in their 20’s, many straight out of college. There are very few actual conference rooms, as the layout of each office area is an open space. One of the goals of Facebook is that everything is out in the open. They want the employee’s to have nothing to hide and to be themselves and do their work in front of their coworkers. Desks were next to each other and there were no walls or dividers to give privacy. One of the employees told me that once he was hired, he gained access to all of Facebook’s information. There was nothing hidden from their employee’s. In addition, every friday Mark Zuckerberg meets with his employee’s for a Q & A session. Employee’s can bring up comments and concerns. On the rooftop, there was an entire park. The ground was dirt, with paths throughout. There were rooftop cafes, seating, gorgeous gardens and even binoculars to take in the breathtaking view of the Bay Area. It was obvious that Facebook highly values and takes care of their employees.

While visiting Facebook, I was struck by all of the money put into the facility. Then I was reminded, Facebook is a business. So many simply know Facebook as an App on the phone or a way to track pictures and what others are doing, we forget that it is an extremely successful business. At Facebook, there is a department working on advertisements. They have programs that use algorithms to track what their users are looking up and then work to create advertisements that reach each of their users as they search their feed. There are additional groups working on trending news and getting current news out there first, so that their users can have a “one stop shop” where they check their feed, get updates on their friends and search the news. Everything is done to bring in more consumers and revenue.

This experience helped me to remember that the goal of Facebook and other Social Media companies like LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. are to make money. They are businesses and they go to great lengths to capitalize on their users in order to make money. Therefore, they know what teens are looking for when they go on Facebook – likes, approval, attention, and they are working on getting more and more features to meet those needs. For example, when you see a picture on your Facebook feed, you can now love it, like it, cry about it and many other options. All they do and design, is to keep their users coming back and to generate even more users. This was an incredible experience that opened my eyes to the business side of Social Media.

Technology, Social Media and Relationships

Baker, C., & Carreño, P. (2016). Understanding the role of technology in adolescent dating and dating violence. Journal Of Child & Family Studies, 25(1), 308. doi:10.1007/s10826-015-0196-5

With increased access to technology and social media networks, teenage dating relationships are changing. The study presents findings from a series of focus groups. The group are comprised of 39 high school aged students from different schools in Hawaii. The study consisted of 8 focus groups that were sex-specific. The goals of the study were to develop awareness of how technology is used at different stages of a teen relationship, to describe teens experiences with technology and dating violence, and to examine gender differences in technology use, dating, and dating violence, with an average of 4 people per group. In order to be in the study, students had to have had a prior relationship in the past year that was problematic and they needed to be single at the time of the study.

For this study, the different focus groups gave the participants a platform to discuss the role of technology in their relationships. Texting and posting on a Social Media were the main ways that technology was involved in the relationship. One of the major findings was how, throughout the relationship, “…technology use was associated with causing jealousy between partners; monitoring and trying to isolate partners from others, which was often a result of jealousy; and one partner trying to regain control over his/her emotions by taking a technology “break” from the other partner.” (Page,  313). In addition, there were differences in why boys and girls used technology to communicate with the opposite sex. Boys noted that they used technology as a way to “hook up” with girls. On the other hand, girls stated that for them, technology as a way to “get to know” someone before taking it to the next level.This study shows that teenagers rely on technology to initiate and dissolve dating relationships. They also use technology to keep tabs on their partner – who they are talking to on Social Media, what they are talking about, and who they are spending time with. Social Media has provided them with more opportunities to monitor, stalk, and abuse their partners.

Personally, I was amazed at how much students purposefully used Social Media to produce feelings of jealousy in their partner. For both the boys and girls, they posted pictures, made comments and ignored their partner on text in order to make them jealous. Social Media, in many ways, became a game that they used to against one another. Through the study, it seemed that the main benefit of social media in dating relationships was initial conversation and communication. However, as the relationships developed, Social Media became more of a distraction and a way to monitor one another. This article is important to answering my guiding questions because it specifically focuses on Social Media and relationships, which is becoming an increasingly talk about issue.

 

 

The Nature and Prevalence of Cyber Victimization Among Elementary School Children

DePaolis, K., & Williford, A. (2015). The nature and prevalence of cyber victimization among elementary school children. Child & Youth Care Forum, 44(3), 377-393.

There are many studies that research social media and it’s affects on teenagers. However, few examine the affects of social media and gaming networks on elementary age children. This article comes from the academic journal Child & Youth Care Forum. The purpose of the study was to evaluate and examine the nature and prevalence of cyber victimization among a sample of elementary school students, 3^rd – 5^th graders. “Results of the present study suggest that a substantial number of 3rd through 5th grade students experience cyber victimization of some kind.” (Pg. 386).

When I think of cyber bullying and cyber victimization I thinking of two things: Teenagers and social media sites such as Facebook/Instagram/Twitter. It never dawned on me that cyber bulling can, and often does occur, through online gaming. The results of the study showed 67% (76 students) of those cyber bullied, experienced the bullying through online gaming. In addition, from the sample of 660 students, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th graders, across 6 different schools in the Midwest, 17% (114 students) reported some form of cyber bulling since the beginning of the school year. In addition, the study was taken in October and November in the school year. Therefore, it can be assumed that if 17.7% reported some form of cyber bullying since the beginning of the school year (around 3 months), that percentage would only increase as the year progressed. That is an incredibly large number of young students who are experiencing some for of cyber bulling. In addition, of those 114 students, only 46% reported the incident to someone for help or input.

This article helped me answer my content research questions by helping me determine that social media is most certainly affecting a number of Elementary age children. One of the cons of social media is cyber bullying. While and increasing number of kids are connecting and interacting online, cyber bullying is becoming a consistent challenge. In addition, as students are venturing onto social media sites at younger and younger ages, a large number of elementary students are being and will continue to be bullied through those interactions.