walking the tightrope between online and offline life what adolescents learn about cmc through...

Walking the Tightrope Between Online and Offline Life:

What Adolescents Learn About CMC Through Interactions

in Social Media

Nadia Naffi Concordia University Ann-Louise Davidson Concordia University

Adolescents and Social Media

The study Research question Participants Methodology

The Results

0

25

50

75

100

US Youth

Adolescents and Social Media

Online Desktop or

Laptop

Gaming Console

Smartphone Tablet Computer

US Youth

92 87 81 73 58

(Lenhart, 2015)

Adolescents and Social Media

Social Media Platforms

0

20

40

60

80

Facebook Instagram Snapchat Twitter Google+ Vine

US Youth

71 41 33 33 2452

(Lenhart, 2015)

0

25

50

75

100

Adolescents and Social Media

Access to the Internet outside of school from desktops and a variety of mobile devices

Prefer Youtube

Prefer Facebook

Prefer Google

(Steeves, 2014)

Canadian Youth

Prefer Twitter

Prefer Instagram

99 57 31 24 1075

Adolescents and Social MediaEngage in interactions that go beyond physical boundaries and move across cultures, spiritualities, and intellectualities Communicate with those who think differently Use different forms of digital media to access information from a plurality of sources, and broaden and diversify their perspectives Write themselves into being and control their image in cyberspace Thrive to become part of a community, to create, to curate and to share (Gen C) Provide and receive feedback about their social behaviour and personalityDevelop emotional support, social connectedness and well-being

The Study- Research Question

How do adolescents explain their behaviors in social media, and their consequences on their offline life?

Investigate adolescents’ thinking behind their choices and their interactions in human-computer-human interactions (HCHI)Develop an understanding of the relationship between adolescents’ online life, which happens through computer-mediated communication (CMC) in social media, and their offline life.

The Study- Participants

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Female Male

The Study- Participants

0

1

2

3

4

14 15 16 17 18 Years Old

The Study- Participants

Applications used by the group of

participants

Most used devices by the group of

participants

The Study- Participants

FamilyFriends

Other

The Study- MethodologyQualitative interpretive study

1. Semi-structured interview (narration of interactions in human-computer-human interactions (HCHI) and experiences in social media)

2. Structured interview using construct analysis (focus on the characterization of the experiences)

The Study-Methodology-Triadic Elicitation

Facebook

Hotmail

Skype Facetime

WhatsApp Twitter

SnapChat

Instagram

The Study-Methodology-Semantic Differentiation Scale

Elements

Constructs

1 5Emergent Distinct

The Results- Some Quotes“For example, I post my picture, I

receive 35 likes, I check my friend’s picture, she has 70 likes, so I start screaming, why did she receive all

these likes? In fact, it’s not because she is more beautiful than I am, it’s simply because they like her more than they like me. So

now, this is transformed into a competition between all of us. It’s like in real life, if someone gets a better grade

than I do, it’s a competition”

“There are rules. You only post a picture on Instagram if you feel you look good

in it. It has to be Instagram worthy. You never put a bad picture on Instagram ‘cause Instagram is how the person is. (…) You only use

Instagram when you capture a great moment or a picture that looks nice in my opinion because it’s an application where you would view the photos to see

what someone’s appearance is like, whereas Twitter and Snapchat are personality applications where you would see the persons day-to-

day views or funny stories and pictures that are just for fun.”

“Without social media, I would disappear, no one would remember

me anymore”

“The use of social network applications came in

phases. While I usually use some applications, I am planning on developing my professional network in a close future and I would reuse the skills I developed in “less serious” social networks to

connect with other professionals and potential employers.”

The Results-Construct Analysis

15 years old 18 years old

The Results-Construct Analysis-15 Years Old

The Results-Construct Analysis-18 Years Old

The ConclusionRQ: How do adolescents explain their behaviors in social media, and their consequences on their offline life?

Participants realized that there were a thin line between their online interactions and their offline activities. The use of social media was paramount to participants’ lives for two reasons: 1) the need to connect with friends and 2) the need to exist.Participants learned to [exist] in CMC through acquiring technical skills.Participants learned [to exist] in social media through developing online soft skills Participants learned to use distinct sets of applications to communicate with distinct audiences for distinct objectives.

Future Plans

Trace back the initial participants to conduct new construct analysis to document changes in their mental cartographyConduct a longitudinal study with participants from early adolescents to young adulthood to document the changes with regards to HCHI

Thank you!