Youth Culture in a Digital World (YCDW)
A combination of online scientific articles.
Table of contents
Developmental approaches to understanding media effects on individuals - D. A.,
Gentile & A. Sesma (2003) [p. 19-37] 1
Digital youth: The role of media in development - K. Subrahmanyam & D. Šmahel
(2011) [Ch. 4, p. 59-77] 3
Media effects: An overview - P. M. Valkenburg & M. B. Oliver (2019) 7
Media Literacy and the Challenge of New Information and Communication
Technologies - S. Livingstone (2004) 9
Body ritual among the Nacirema - H. Miner (1956) 11
The role of media figures in adolescent development: relations between autonomy,
attachment, and interest in celebrities - D. C. Giles & J. Maltby (2004) 11
Parasocial Interactions and Relationships with Media Characters–An Inventory of 60
Years of Research - N. Liebers & H. Schramm (2019) 13
Why We Can’t Stop: The Impact of Rewarding Elements in Videogames on
Adolescents’ Problematic Gaming Behavior - D. Pirrone (2023) 14
The role of virtual communities in gambling and gaming behaviors: A systematic
review - A. Sirola (2021) 16
Normative, passionate, or problematic? Identification of adolescent gamer subtypes
over time - M. Peeters (2019) 17
Predicting adolescents’ problematic social media use from profiles of
internet-specific parenting practices and general parenting dimensions - S. Geurts
(2023) 19
Parenting and problematic social media use: a systematic review - H. Vossen (UR) 20
Social media and well-being: pitfalls, progress, and next steps - E. Kross (2021) 21
Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of
the evidence - P. M. Valkenburg et al. (2022) 22
Smartphone use and academic performance: A literature review - S. Amez & S. Baert
(2020) 23
The impact of banning mobile phones in Swedish secondary schools - D. Kessel et al.
(2020) 24
, 1
Developmental approaches to understanding media effects on individuals - D.
A., Gentile & A. Sesma (2003) [p. 19-37]
The well-known extreme stories about the media effects are not the real media effects,
because they oversimplify complex situations.
- Seven myths about media effects:
1. ‘Media effects are simple and direct’
The effects of media usually happen very subtly and they are mostly
cumulative. We are not consciously aware of the effects.
● E.g. advertisements alter our behaviour, but we are (mostly) not
consciously aware of this.
○ People that claim that advertisements don’t have an effect on
them, tend to be more influenced/affected (Greene, 1999)
2. ‘The effects of media violence are severe’
The largest effect of violent media is not illustrated by individual violent
behaviour, but by the ‘culture of disrespect’. Killing someone is just a visible
violent behaviour, but there are a lot of other behaviours that are violent as
well, such as bullying.
● The media effects of violent media are mostly named in the negative
sense, such as feeling aggressive. But watching a violent movie can
also make you excited, which is a positive media effect. This is
commonly overlooked.
3. ‘Media effects are obvious’
Because the effects of media are cumulative and subtle they are easy to
dismiss as the cause of a form of behaviour. But this doesn't mean we can’t
see that.
● E.g. we all know that smoking causes lung cancer, even though it’s
due to the subtle and cumulative effects of cigarettes. The same
applies to media effects, smoking does not always have the same
effect on every person.
4. ‘Violent media affect everyone in the same way’
Four main effects of violent media:
1) Aggressor effect: the more violent media an individual consumes, the
more aggressive, meaner, and violent they become.
2) Victim effect: the more violent media the individual watches the more
they view the world as a scary place and the more they’ll initiate
protective behaviours.
3) Bystander effect: the more violent media the individual consumes, the
more desensitised, callous, and less sympathetic to the victim of
violence they become.
4) Appetite effect: the more violent media the individual consumes, the
more violent media they want to consume.
★ Females tend to be more affected by the victim effect and
males tend to be more affected by the aggressor, bystander,
and appetite effect.
, 2
★ Even though it’s unclear how to predict what effect will be
displayed, does not mean there is no effect.
Everyone is affected by media: You inhibit the norms and values of your
family members → your family is part of a community that influences your
family with norms and values → your community is part of society and the
norms and values of society are influenced by the media.
● So even if you are not a direct consumer of media, you’ll still be
influenced by it. But the effect can be different for everyone.
5. ‘Causality means “necessary and sufficient”’
Violent media is not the only reason for violent behaviour.
● It’s not necessary for violent behaviour to happen because there are a
lot of other causes that can lead to violent behaviour.
● It’s not sufficient, because violent media on its own rarely causes
violent behaviour. Most of the time, other factors play a huge role as
well, such as mental health.
6. ‘Causality means immediacy’
The effect of violent media is usually visible 15 years after its release. That is
the time it takes for a generation to grow up with the violent media and to
reach a prime crime-committing age.
● So the effect is usually visible in long term, but that doesn’t dismiss
causality.
7. ‘Effects must be “big” to be important’
About 1 to 10% of the violent behaviour can be explained by violent media.
Which is often dismissed as ‘too insignificant’ or ‘too small’. But if violent
media is a steady cause of violent behaviour, it’s really important!
Two approaches to development:
1) Developmental tasks approach
● Developmental task = a capacity or skill that is important for concurrent and
future adaptation
This approach has been used for two purposes:
1. It provides a set of criteria to judge adaptation at any given moment in the
development.
2. A framework to understand how development unfolds over childhood.
Principles within this approach:
● There is a hierarchy in these developmental tasks. Different issues rise in
importance depending on the child’s developmental level.
● Later tasks are contingent on the success with which earlier tasks were
negotiated. So adaptation is seen as cumulative; it builds up on prior
adaption.
● Future development progress is not determined or fixed as a result of earlier
tasks. It’s dynamic, it’s a process.
● While change is possible it is constrained by prior adaptation.
Major developmental tasks:
- Infancy:
● Attachment to caregiver(s)
● Regularity of patterns
- Toddlerhood:
● Learning language
A combination of online scientific articles.
Table of contents
Developmental approaches to understanding media effects on individuals - D. A.,
Gentile & A. Sesma (2003) [p. 19-37] 1
Digital youth: The role of media in development - K. Subrahmanyam & D. Šmahel
(2011) [Ch. 4, p. 59-77] 3
Media effects: An overview - P. M. Valkenburg & M. B. Oliver (2019) 7
Media Literacy and the Challenge of New Information and Communication
Technologies - S. Livingstone (2004) 9
Body ritual among the Nacirema - H. Miner (1956) 11
The role of media figures in adolescent development: relations between autonomy,
attachment, and interest in celebrities - D. C. Giles & J. Maltby (2004) 11
Parasocial Interactions and Relationships with Media Characters–An Inventory of 60
Years of Research - N. Liebers & H. Schramm (2019) 13
Why We Can’t Stop: The Impact of Rewarding Elements in Videogames on
Adolescents’ Problematic Gaming Behavior - D. Pirrone (2023) 14
The role of virtual communities in gambling and gaming behaviors: A systematic
review - A. Sirola (2021) 16
Normative, passionate, or problematic? Identification of adolescent gamer subtypes
over time - M. Peeters (2019) 17
Predicting adolescents’ problematic social media use from profiles of
internet-specific parenting practices and general parenting dimensions - S. Geurts
(2023) 19
Parenting and problematic social media use: a systematic review - H. Vossen (UR) 20
Social media and well-being: pitfalls, progress, and next steps - E. Kross (2021) 21
Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of
the evidence - P. M. Valkenburg et al. (2022) 22
Smartphone use and academic performance: A literature review - S. Amez & S. Baert
(2020) 23
The impact of banning mobile phones in Swedish secondary schools - D. Kessel et al.
(2020) 24
, 1
Developmental approaches to understanding media effects on individuals - D.
A., Gentile & A. Sesma (2003) [p. 19-37]
The well-known extreme stories about the media effects are not the real media effects,
because they oversimplify complex situations.
- Seven myths about media effects:
1. ‘Media effects are simple and direct’
The effects of media usually happen very subtly and they are mostly
cumulative. We are not consciously aware of the effects.
● E.g. advertisements alter our behaviour, but we are (mostly) not
consciously aware of this.
○ People that claim that advertisements don’t have an effect on
them, tend to be more influenced/affected (Greene, 1999)
2. ‘The effects of media violence are severe’
The largest effect of violent media is not illustrated by individual violent
behaviour, but by the ‘culture of disrespect’. Killing someone is just a visible
violent behaviour, but there are a lot of other behaviours that are violent as
well, such as bullying.
● The media effects of violent media are mostly named in the negative
sense, such as feeling aggressive. But watching a violent movie can
also make you excited, which is a positive media effect. This is
commonly overlooked.
3. ‘Media effects are obvious’
Because the effects of media are cumulative and subtle they are easy to
dismiss as the cause of a form of behaviour. But this doesn't mean we can’t
see that.
● E.g. we all know that smoking causes lung cancer, even though it’s
due to the subtle and cumulative effects of cigarettes. The same
applies to media effects, smoking does not always have the same
effect on every person.
4. ‘Violent media affect everyone in the same way’
Four main effects of violent media:
1) Aggressor effect: the more violent media an individual consumes, the
more aggressive, meaner, and violent they become.
2) Victim effect: the more violent media the individual watches the more
they view the world as a scary place and the more they’ll initiate
protective behaviours.
3) Bystander effect: the more violent media the individual consumes, the
more desensitised, callous, and less sympathetic to the victim of
violence they become.
4) Appetite effect: the more violent media the individual consumes, the
more violent media they want to consume.
★ Females tend to be more affected by the victim effect and
males tend to be more affected by the aggressor, bystander,
and appetite effect.
, 2
★ Even though it’s unclear how to predict what effect will be
displayed, does not mean there is no effect.
Everyone is affected by media: You inhibit the norms and values of your
family members → your family is part of a community that influences your
family with norms and values → your community is part of society and the
norms and values of society are influenced by the media.
● So even if you are not a direct consumer of media, you’ll still be
influenced by it. But the effect can be different for everyone.
5. ‘Causality means “necessary and sufficient”’
Violent media is not the only reason for violent behaviour.
● It’s not necessary for violent behaviour to happen because there are a
lot of other causes that can lead to violent behaviour.
● It’s not sufficient, because violent media on its own rarely causes
violent behaviour. Most of the time, other factors play a huge role as
well, such as mental health.
6. ‘Causality means immediacy’
The effect of violent media is usually visible 15 years after its release. That is
the time it takes for a generation to grow up with the violent media and to
reach a prime crime-committing age.
● So the effect is usually visible in long term, but that doesn’t dismiss
causality.
7. ‘Effects must be “big” to be important’
About 1 to 10% of the violent behaviour can be explained by violent media.
Which is often dismissed as ‘too insignificant’ or ‘too small’. But if violent
media is a steady cause of violent behaviour, it’s really important!
Two approaches to development:
1) Developmental tasks approach
● Developmental task = a capacity or skill that is important for concurrent and
future adaptation
This approach has been used for two purposes:
1. It provides a set of criteria to judge adaptation at any given moment in the
development.
2. A framework to understand how development unfolds over childhood.
Principles within this approach:
● There is a hierarchy in these developmental tasks. Different issues rise in
importance depending on the child’s developmental level.
● Later tasks are contingent on the success with which earlier tasks were
negotiated. So adaptation is seen as cumulative; it builds up on prior
adaption.
● Future development progress is not determined or fixed as a result of earlier
tasks. It’s dynamic, it’s a process.
● While change is possible it is constrained by prior adaptation.
Major developmental tasks:
- Infancy:
● Attachment to caregiver(s)
● Regularity of patterns
- Toddlerhood:
● Learning language
