HC 9 – Adolescents Media Use and Effects
Moderate Discrepancy Hypothesis (MDH)
- Children and adolescents are predominantly attracted to entertainment that deviates
only moderately from the things they know, understand, and are capable of
- Children and adolescents are not or less interested in entertainment that deviates
too much from their existing framework and experiences
- Hypothesis is a viable explanation of why media preferences differ so much among
different age groups
Five main developmental characteristics that inform needs and gratifications
- Identity exploration
- Autonomy and self-efficacy
- Peer orientation
- Emotionality and sensation seeking
Physical development
- Changes in appearance
- Interest in sex
- Impact on mood
Cognitive development
- Formal operational thinking: logical, abstract hypothetical, problem-solving, interest
in future
- Only completely in place at the end of adolescence
- Adolescents will switch between concrete and formal operational thinking
Changes in dopamine + Increases cognitive capacities = boredom
Formal operational thinking
Advantages Disadvantages
Abstract thinking Nothing goes without saying
Scientific thinking Question everything
Future thinking Critical
Metacognition Adolescent egocentrism imaginary
audience
Media implications
- More complexity in story lines
- More complex characters
- Topic that deal with big world issues
War movies, science fiction
Sensation seeking
- Sensation seeking is the tendency to seek out novel, varied, and highly stimulating
experiences, and the willingness to take risks to attain them
- Focus on immediate rewards
- Peaks during adolescence and then increases
,Socio-emotional development
- Autonomy
- Identity
- Intimacy
- Self-presentation
- Self-disclosure
Autonomy
- Social media provide control over communication
- Media allow individuals to be producers of content
- Media provide information about how to solve problems
Identity
- Self-concept and self-esteem
Exploration
Developing self-esteem, fluctuations
Gender identity
- Need for identity-relevant information
- Need for role models
- Need for identity experiments
Identity exploration
- Media provide relevant identity information
- Media provide role models
- Identifying with and learning from media characters
- Identity experiments
Intimacy
- Relationships
Cliques and best friends
Strong need to fit in & validation (social antenna)
Subcultures
‘Puppy love’
o Practicing for later sexual relationships
o Fear of rejection
Need for intimacy
- Subcultures and para-social relationships with idols
- Learning about social relationships
Hyperpersonal theory of communication (Walther, 1996)
- Poses
CMC is friendlier, more social, more personal and more intimate than FTF
communication
This is because of the reduced cues in CMC
- Walther: ‘It surpasses normal interpersonal levels’
,Hyperpersonal communication theory
Evidence for hyperpersonal communication theory – experiment
- In the text only condition social attraction was highest this remained even after
face-to-face interaction
- Hyperpersonal effect existed only in women
Social media effects
1. Physical and social self-esteem
2. Mental wellbeing
3. Empathy
Social media and body image
- Social media use influences body dissatisfaction
- Social comparison
Downward comparison (with people who are worse off)
Horizontal comparison (with people who are equal)
Upward comparison (with people who are better off)
- Upward comparison is stronger on social media that with tradition forms of media!
Social media and social self-esteem: feedback
- Cross-sectional findings: social media – more
- Positive feedback – more social self-esteem
- Longitudinal findings (over time)
Social self-esteem predicts more social media use
Not the other way around!
Social media and mental wellbeing
- ‘Facebook depression’ due to social comparison?
- Research:
If we compare individuals with each other we find a relationship between
social media and mental wellbeing
No relationship on an individual level: if someone starts using more social
media, their mental wellbeing does not change
, Recap (1)
- Developmental characteristics determine social media use
- The moderate discrepancy hypothesis explains why media use changes with age
- The Uses and Gratifications Theory explains how media is used to gratify needs
related to developmental characteristics of adolescents
- Characteristics within the physical, cognitive and social emotional domain are directly
related to specific needs that can be gratified with media
- Social media is particularly instrumental in gratifying the needs of adolescents
Recap (2)
- Many concerns about the influence of social media
- Initially it was thought that communication via social media is superficial and
therefore detrimental for adolescent development
- The hyperpersonal theory of communication states that online communication is
more intimate and personal
- Studies how small and sometimes mixed effects of social media on self-esteem,
mental wellbeing and empathy
- Perhaps individual differences play a role
- Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM) specifies three types of
susceptibility factors: dispositional, developmental, social
- These factors can directly influence media use or strengthen/weaken media effects
Moderate Discrepancy Hypothesis (MDH)
- Children and adolescents are predominantly attracted to entertainment that deviates
only moderately from the things they know, understand, and are capable of
- Children and adolescents are not or less interested in entertainment that deviates
too much from their existing framework and experiences
- Hypothesis is a viable explanation of why media preferences differ so much among
different age groups
Five main developmental characteristics that inform needs and gratifications
- Identity exploration
- Autonomy and self-efficacy
- Peer orientation
- Emotionality and sensation seeking
Physical development
- Changes in appearance
- Interest in sex
- Impact on mood
Cognitive development
- Formal operational thinking: logical, abstract hypothetical, problem-solving, interest
in future
- Only completely in place at the end of adolescence
- Adolescents will switch between concrete and formal operational thinking
Changes in dopamine + Increases cognitive capacities = boredom
Formal operational thinking
Advantages Disadvantages
Abstract thinking Nothing goes without saying
Scientific thinking Question everything
Future thinking Critical
Metacognition Adolescent egocentrism imaginary
audience
Media implications
- More complexity in story lines
- More complex characters
- Topic that deal with big world issues
War movies, science fiction
Sensation seeking
- Sensation seeking is the tendency to seek out novel, varied, and highly stimulating
experiences, and the willingness to take risks to attain them
- Focus on immediate rewards
- Peaks during adolescence and then increases
,Socio-emotional development
- Autonomy
- Identity
- Intimacy
- Self-presentation
- Self-disclosure
Autonomy
- Social media provide control over communication
- Media allow individuals to be producers of content
- Media provide information about how to solve problems
Identity
- Self-concept and self-esteem
Exploration
Developing self-esteem, fluctuations
Gender identity
- Need for identity-relevant information
- Need for role models
- Need for identity experiments
Identity exploration
- Media provide relevant identity information
- Media provide role models
- Identifying with and learning from media characters
- Identity experiments
Intimacy
- Relationships
Cliques and best friends
Strong need to fit in & validation (social antenna)
Subcultures
‘Puppy love’
o Practicing for later sexual relationships
o Fear of rejection
Need for intimacy
- Subcultures and para-social relationships with idols
- Learning about social relationships
Hyperpersonal theory of communication (Walther, 1996)
- Poses
CMC is friendlier, more social, more personal and more intimate than FTF
communication
This is because of the reduced cues in CMC
- Walther: ‘It surpasses normal interpersonal levels’
,Hyperpersonal communication theory
Evidence for hyperpersonal communication theory – experiment
- In the text only condition social attraction was highest this remained even after
face-to-face interaction
- Hyperpersonal effect existed only in women
Social media effects
1. Physical and social self-esteem
2. Mental wellbeing
3. Empathy
Social media and body image
- Social media use influences body dissatisfaction
- Social comparison
Downward comparison (with people who are worse off)
Horizontal comparison (with people who are equal)
Upward comparison (with people who are better off)
- Upward comparison is stronger on social media that with tradition forms of media!
Social media and social self-esteem: feedback
- Cross-sectional findings: social media – more
- Positive feedback – more social self-esteem
- Longitudinal findings (over time)
Social self-esteem predicts more social media use
Not the other way around!
Social media and mental wellbeing
- ‘Facebook depression’ due to social comparison?
- Research:
If we compare individuals with each other we find a relationship between
social media and mental wellbeing
No relationship on an individual level: if someone starts using more social
media, their mental wellbeing does not change
, Recap (1)
- Developmental characteristics determine social media use
- The moderate discrepancy hypothesis explains why media use changes with age
- The Uses and Gratifications Theory explains how media is used to gratify needs
related to developmental characteristics of adolescents
- Characteristics within the physical, cognitive and social emotional domain are directly
related to specific needs that can be gratified with media
- Social media is particularly instrumental in gratifying the needs of adolescents
Recap (2)
- Many concerns about the influence of social media
- Initially it was thought that communication via social media is superficial and
therefore detrimental for adolescent development
- The hyperpersonal theory of communication states that online communication is
more intimate and personal
- Studies how small and sometimes mixed effects of social media on self-esteem,
mental wellbeing and empathy
- Perhaps individual differences play a role
- Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM) specifies three types of
susceptibility factors: dispositional, developmental, social
- These factors can directly influence media use or strengthen/weaken media effects
