Investigating the significance of Instagram in the lives of teenage girls
Welcome to the social media revolution…
Technology has revolutionized how people see the world, along with how we interact with each other. Amongst the many technological innovations introduced, social media is arguably one of the most significant ones. Social media sites, like Instagram, are among the most common and active of today’s millennials, offering a portal for entertainment and communication which is growing exponentially. Whilst previous studies have been concerned with the negative nature of these sites and the detrimental effects it could potentially have on teenagers, this study intends to consider the perspectives of teenage girls; an angle that is obvious to consider, but that seems to remain rather neglected. Due to the general tendency to pathologise adolescents’ routine engagement with social media, this thesis is concerned with deconstructing the negative stereotypes that surround their involvement in social media sites.
This study collaborates findings about social media among teenage girls
through a focus group conducted specifically to discern the role of Instagram
in their daily lives and its significance for them. With a direct emphasis on Instagram’s
meaning to them and its contribution to their identities that they present to
the world, this study’s aim is to uncover Instagram’s significance through the
prism of a different lens, not yet fully considered. This paper considered a
wealth of academic scholars and theorists to reinforce and draw conclusions to
contribute to sociological knowledge on this topic.
With more than 600 million active users and over forty billion images
shared (Forer, 2017), Instagram is more than just an application on your phone;
Instagram is social media’s current ‘queen bee’. It seems inadequate to
describe Instagram as being simply relevant in society, it seems more apt to
assert that it has become a routine part of everyday life for many. Despite
only being founded in 2010, for teenage girls, Instagram has become a way of validation
– Instagram is their identity, and in their minds, Instagram is mandatory.
Whilst there are millions upon millions of girls absorbed by social media, the
inspiration behind this research is based on a ‘close to home’ reasoning.
Whilst on a recent family holiday, my younger sister spent the majority
of her time snapping photos. One might be easily forgiven for suggesting that
the reason for her incessant photo taking was because she was an avid
photographer. Instead, these photos were taken purely to post on her Instagram
profile. Rather than being in the here and now, she was so focused on capturing
the ‘perfect’ moment to present to her peers on Instagram. Weren’t the wonders
of the world wonderful enough before they were posted on Instagram?
The sociological nature of this study is to investigate how coming of
age concurrently with the rise of social media, namely Instagram, has influenced
teenage girls’ lives. There has been extensive research and literature
regarding how the prevalence and accessibility of social media has affected the
lives of teenage girls, yet relatively little from the mouths of those who are actually using
social media. The extraordinary success of Instagram corroborates Rainie et
al.’s (2012) assertion that photos and videos have become the key social
currencies online, prompting studies to move beyond the assumptions made by
those who did not grow up with social media, and listen to young people’s own
experiences with new media technologies. Attaining a deeper understanding of
Instagram is important because it will help us gain an insight into its significance
for teenage girls’.
This study seeks to
understand further the sociology of identity, and how sociologically, Instagram
is integrated into their daily lives and shapes their social interactions. By
telling their own stories, teenage girls offer an important window into the
role of Instagram for shaping self-identify and social identities. Using
sociological concepts, this study will attempt to understand how Instagram can
shape actions and interactions on one level, and how identity is constructed,
expressed and shaped through their use of Instagram. Furthermore, these young
people are “tomorrow’s shapers of society” (Miller, 2001), after all.
This study aims to address
three key research questions in order to contribute original, contemporary work
to sociological scholarship on teenage girls’ use of Instagram:
This literature
review forms part of a body of research that is concerned broadly with teenage
girls’ social media use, particularly Instagram. Studies about the internet and
young people often focus primarily from the perspectives of the older
generation, thus the scholarly literature included has been selected to
identify the gaps in the existing literature and assist this study in giving a
voice to teenage girls. Correspondingly, the relevant literature undertaken by
other researchers and sociological concepts will be analysed to further inform
the theoretical and empirical questions underpinning my own research. The theoretical framework
used in this research will draw upon concepts developed by sociologists to
assist in developing our contemporary, sociological understanding of how and
why Instagram is used and its significance to teenage girls.
Primarily, Davis (2012) “explores how young people, for whom issues of
identity are particularly salient, conceive of the new opportunities for
self-expression provided by digital media technologies” (2012:634) in Tensions of Identity in a Networked Era.
Davis argues that social networking allows users to make changes to their online
identity that they would not necessarily make offline due to confidence issues
(2012:639). Davis avowed that social networking creates a testing ground that’s
“practice for real life; test being one person online, see how people react,
then try it in real life” (Davis, 2012:644). By using social networking sites
to selectively post photos, Davis argues that users have control over their own
identity formation and can choose how to present themselves offline based on
the feedback of their online-tested identity. Using social networking sites as
a tool for identity practice supports the aims of this research.
Furthermore, through Goffman’s (1959) theoretical framework in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life,
contemporary sociologists can develop an understanding of social interactions
on social networking sites, such as Instagram. Crucially, Goffman exemplified
how individuals use certain strategies to control the impression presented to
others. This theory of impression management asserts that individuals regulate
and “take their choice of what to display personally” (Hogan, 2010:377) to
produce a specific ‘self’ to others. Goffman identifies this as creating an
idealised image of oneself, something that Instagram is arguably centred around.
Just as Shakespeare once said, “all the world’s a stage”, Goffman’s
dramaturgical model identifies humans as acting in a front stage manner in
front of others, and having a different persona when in private. Using this
theoretical grounding, this thesis seeks to explore this dramaturgical model
further and demonstrate that it is now more relevant with Instagram, than
perhaps it has ever been.
When considering self-presentation on social media, it’s crucial to
understand the role of others and selective audiences. Rui and Stefanone (2012)
in Strategic Self-Presentation Online: A Cross-Cultural Study, found
that the audience of image sharing sites plays a key role in an individual’s
performance. Photographic self-presentation on social media, per Rui and
Stefanone, is “the process of controlling how one is perceived by other people
and is key to relationship inception and development” (2012:110). The aim of
self-presentation is to guide others into accepting the images individuals
claim for themselves. Rui and Stefanone assert that individuals must present
themselves in accordance with their social roles and adjust their public images
to audience expectations. Rui and Stefanone’s assertions also echo the work of
Goffman and can thus aid this study in exploring the role of Instagram in
teenage girls’ construction and expression of their identities.
Macmillan and Morrison (2006) in Coming of Age with the Internet investigated how coming of age
concurrently with the internet and related technologies has influenced young
people’s lives. An understanding of how the technology is influencing the
various domains of young people’s lives, provides a window into what internet use
may be like for future generations, with their dependency on the internet
growing rapidly. Their recognition that young people’s “online lives are no
less real than those they live offline” echoed further the questions facing
this study. However, the generalization of ‘young people’ implies that both
males and females can be grouped together in their activity and use of social
media, whilst this study will focus on teenage girls.
Sonia Livingstone (2002) offers an understanding into why young people
spend so much time on social media in Young
People and New Media: Childhood, Youth and the Changing Media Environment. Livingstone
recognizes that failing to listen to adolescents’ voices, means we miss
understanding their experience of the media and this fundamentally captures
what this research is attempting to harness. Livingstone later penned Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful
Content Creation: Teenagers’ Use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy,
Privacy and Self-Expression (2008) which hones in further on the explosion
in social networking sites and the importance of social media to manage one’s
identity, lifestyle and social relationships. Livingstone affirmed that older
generations’ general consensus of social media is negative, emphasizing the
need for a different angle to be taken to sufficiently understand and situate
teenage girls’ social media usage within society today. Likewise, van Zoonen
(2013) in From Identity to Identification
adopts a fairly critical stance on the direction in which online identity
management is headed, reasserting this thesis’ claim that there’s a need for a
more child-centred approach to studies carried out on social media. For
example, the construction of online personas not reflecting offline identities,
is proposed as a risk of social media use by van Zoonen, prompting this study
further to deconstruct the stereotypes surrounding social media.
To further assist in exploring the role of Instagram for millennials,
O’Keefe and Pearson’s The Impact of
Social Media on Children, Adolescents and Families (2011) proved valuable. “Using
social media websites is the most common activity of today’s children and
adolescents” and the authors liken social media to a “portal for entertainment
and communication”, emphasising how the attitude and mind-set of the millennial
teenager has shifted. Whereas once a mobile phone was used purely for
communication via texts and phone calls, O’Keefe and Pearson postulate that at
least 25% of teenagers use their mobile phones purely for social media. Whilst this
was written 6 years ago and this figure has almost certainly risen drastically,
the point remains that social media websites are relentlessly growing in
popularity, totally altering the priorities and everyday routines of teenage
girls. This piece of literature provides a coherent understanding on the impact
of social media on children, adolescents and families and is a useful platform
to build and develop ideas upon.
Sauter’s (2008) What’s On Your Mind? Writing on Facebook as a Tool
for Self-Formation, exposed individuals as being concerned by being judged
or neglected by their social group on social media, hence subjecting themselves
to a “panoptic form of constant scrutiny” (Sauter, 2008:12). Whilst specific to
Facebook, this work is still relevant when exploring the significance of
Instagram. For example, status updates on Facebook are similar to the captions
that Instagram users attach to their photos. This research aspires to assess
Sauter’s claims further, and establish to what degree the audience influences
the construction of identity or whether it is the disciplined, conscious
individual that scrutinizes themselves.
Amanda Lenhart’s (2015) Teens, Social Media and Technology Overview investigates American
adolescents specifically, and their use of social media and mobile phones to create
and maintain friendships. Lenhart found that for American teenagers between the
ages of 13-17, “Facebook
remains a dominant force in teens’ social media ecosystems, but Instagram has
risen into a prominent role in teens’ online lives” (2015:3), making space for
academic literature centred on Instagram. The statistics produced here claim
that “92% of teens report going online daily”, with “24% of them using the
internet almost constantly and 56% going online several times a day” (2015:16),
reinforcing this study’s presupposition that teenagers’ use of Instagram is at
an all-time high. Lenhart also observed that “there is a significant gender gap
among teens in online behaviours, with girls outpacing boys in their use of
text messaging and in their visual, social media platforms like Instagram”
(2015:6). With “girls more likely than boys to say they use Instagram (23% of
girls vs. 17% of boys)” (2015:3), this further justifies this thesis’ decision
to focus on teenage girls.
Finally,
the work of Alfred Schutz (1967) in The
Phenomenology of the Social World introduces the concept of the
‘lifeworld’. Social phenomenology is an approach
within the field of sociology that aims to reveal what role human awareness
plays in the production of social action, social situations and social worlds. Schutz provided an original analysis of
human action and its intended meaning, arguing that people are engaged in an
ongoing process of making sense of the world, and that we are seeking to make
sense of their sense-making. Schutz’s work is thus clearly significant to this
study which is striving to situate teenage girls’ use of Instagram sociologically,
and establish whether Instagram can be considered a modern type of lifeworld
for teenage girls. As Inglis and Thorpe (2013:) postulated, “the lifeworld is
formed by the culture of a particular group of people” and this thesis is
seeking to explore the culture of Instagram in the lives of teenage girls.
Fundamentally, this chapter advocates that academic concepts in existing
literature are useful to situate this study sociologically, as well as
highlighting gaps that it can fill. An overarching caveat found in the existing
literature on social media that this study hopes to satiate, is that it generally
talks from the perspective of a generation which didn’t grow up with social
media. Within this study I hope to be able to offer an account based on the
testimony and experiences of teenage girls actively using Instagram. This
thesis will advocate that there should be a more child-centred approach in the
research done on social media’s impact on society. Additionally, Instagram is
one of the newest installations of social media applications and thus, the
existing research and studies can be deemed outdated, as they do not focus
specifically on the significance of Instagram, per se.
A suitable methodology is vital to successful
research. This chapter will therefore outline the ways in which I chose to
approach this topic of study.
The elected method of data collection used in this investigation was the
focus group. When choosing which research method to use, the most effective
technique to obtain suitable and beneficial data needs to be identified; “to
attain credibility, the research process must be both valid and reliable” (Barriball, 1993). Instagram is a particularly complex
phenomenon due to many teenagers not being able to verbally express why they
feel the need to be using it. Thus a group discussing it together may establish
a collective consensus between them and consequently create a more relaxed
environment. The general consensus regarding Instagram is that elder
generations view it in a negative light, and I did not want the participants to
feel intimidated or reluctant to disclose their feelings towards it. Thus, by
them outnumbering me, it might invoke more confidence in them to talk freely
and openly.
The research participants included were five teenage girls, between the
ages of 18-19. It was not ethically appropriate for me to interview any
teenagers below the age of 18, however this limitation was by no means
restricting, because talking to the older half of the teenager spectrum probably
provided a more mature and experienced perspective. I deemed it inappropriate
to involve participants that I knew well in order to eliminate any bias in
their given responses. This resulted in contacting girls who attended, or had
just left, a nearby school, where it was definite that I would not have any
form of relationship with them and they would not know me and my personal
opinions on this subject. I would also note that I was not aware of any of the
participants’ opinions or views on the significance of Instagram in teenage
girls’ life worlds prior to the focus group. I verbally explained to each of
them briefly about my investigation and then enquired whether they would be
willing to meet with me and participate in my focus group.
The research needed to be conducted in an environment where the
participants felt comfortable and at ease, and for that reason I suggested a
location that they were all familiar with to hopefully avoid them feeling on
edge and uncomfortable. As the participants within the group already knew each
other, the conversation flowed relatively easily and the participants were
relaxed enough to share information. I conducted the interview based around the
topic of teenage girls using social media and the impact they felt it had on
their behaviour, attitudes and general way of life.
Once the focus group was complete, the data collected needed to be collated,
analysed and managed. The focus group was recorded using a password protected,
cellular phone and the recording was only kept until it had been fully
transcribed; “transcripts are needed to make fleeting conversational behaviour
permanently available on paper for scientific analysis” (Kowal & O’Connell,
2004). After transcribing, I applied the ‘grounded theory’ to help
conceptualise any patterns and areas of interest within the data. To do this
successfully, I coded the data and looked for general themes that occurred
throughout the interview and turned to existing literature on the topic to
compare as well as any background knowledge. “Coding may be described as the
deciphering or interpretation of data and includes the naming of concepts and
also explaining and discussing them in more detail” (Bohm, 2004).
Through conducting a focus group, I was able to gather an abundance of
data and discuss issues of relevance to gain perspectives and opinions on the
significance of Instagram in the lives of teenage girls. Focus groups are
advantageous because they intend to be non-directive and so participants may
engage with the topic from as many angles as they please. Indeed, smaller
issues were exposed within the larger topic that had not previously been
considered. However, some structure was implemented as a list of questions with
subsections were prepared before the session commenced.
Having said this, there are obvious limitations to this study, in that I
have only spoken to five girls from similar backgrounds and the same school, and
thus I am restricted to their view. If this study were broadened, one might
speak with girls of a similar age, but from a different demographic background
and culture. Additionally, whilst I hold the focus group to be the most
appropriate methodology for this arena of research, it must be acknowledged
that it’s essentially a managed verbal exchange, and as such, its effectiveness
heavily depends on the communication skills of the interviewer; in this case, myself.
A successful focus group relies on personal language as data, so if the
participants didn’t respond well to the structure and questions prepared, or
listen inattentively, it may have affected the results and not achieve the
desired outcome of this research. Denscombe (2007) discussed how people respond
differently depending on how they perceive the interviewer, “in particular, the
sex, the age, and the ethnic origins of the interviewer have a bearing on the
amount of information people are willing to divulge and their honesty about
what they reveal”. It was a very real possibility that the teenage participants
may not have responded in the way I hoped. If this did prove to be a problem, I
had considered using a questionnaire/survey that would grant me anonymity and potentially
greater honesty from the participants.
It was crucial to contemplate any ethical considerations. Using an
informed consent form, I was able to gain permission from the participants
prior to the focus group to ask questions surrounding the subject of their
social media use and its significance within their lives. This was necessary to
reassure them that this was in no way potentially a personal attack , neither
judging nor condemning them for how they choose to use their time on Instagram.
Additionally, the informed consent form gave me the opportunity to advise the
participants that their responses to the questions asked were entirely
confidential between myself and them, with it being deleted once the interview
was transcribed and the data collated. The informed consent form also
illustrated to them that the focus group is solely for research purposes and established
my reasoning for conducting the focus group as well as what I hoped to get out
of it. This was necessary to obtain whether or not they were happy for the
interview to go ahead. Essentially, the informed consent form allowed the
participant to comprehend what the interview would entail, to gain a deeper
understanding of what I was researching and what I hoped to gain out of the
focus group with them.
A major contribution of
this study is that it allowed young people to speak their minds regarding the
influences that Instagram has had on their lives. The participants described
their feelings, thoughts and behaviours when using Instagram and through these
descriptions, they have shared their experiences with us; thereby contributing
to our understanding of Instagram’s meaning in their lives. The findings
reported here represent key themes that emerged from an analysis of
participants’ responses. Having used grounded theory to code the collected
data, the following sections will discuss the key, thematic areas that arose
from the focus group whilst also relating the findings to the literature
discussed in Chapter 2.
Approval was a key theme that arose throughout the focus group. When the
topic of followers surfaced, participant C revealed she had over 1000 followers
and participant B’s immediate, instinctive response was “wow, lucky girl!”. The
fact that this large number provoked such an instantaneous and impressed
reaction led me to associate a large following, with a large approval. It soon
became clear that the more followers someone had, the more rewarding it could
be. Participant D confidently declared that “having more followers means more
likes on a photo, and at the end of the day, that’s all we want”. Whilst this
at first struck me as incredibly naïve that this was ‘all they wanted’, it
appeared they were also aware of the fact that this could be perceived to be
shallow; “it’s lame when I say it out loud, but I can’t deny that it’s more
satisfying when you get approval on a photo”. Thus, the data expresses that
even though they are aware that it is superficial, they still crave it.
Furthering this, when discussing followers, participant C responded without
hesitation that she had “1179”. She continued explaining that Instagram was
“more rewarding when you get lots of followers and likes” because it “boosted
her confidence”. The participants seem to have this mutual understanding that a
picture is only as good as its likes. Is Instagram just one big popularity
contest?
Consistent with this contemplation that Instagram is
the modern day equivalent to a high-school popularity contest, the data also revealed
that approval and validation on Instagram relates to the users’ self-esteem. Participant
D asserted that “if you don’t get the number of likes you want, it really
affects self-esteem, because a like basically equals approval, and approval
means I like you and I like this photo”. Participant A revealed that “if you
got no likes on a photo, it would be humiliating”, with participant B reasserting
this and adding “if I don’t get a certain number of likes in a certain amount
of time, no question, the photo gets deleted”. This attitude that a photo is
only worthy to be on your profile if it receives an appropriate numerical
figure below, correlates with Davis’ (2012) ideas presented in Chapter 2, that
social networking sites are used as tools for identity practice. Davis (2012)
presents the idea that the feedback given from the audience of the user is
crucial in how they then choose to present themselves online. With the data
from this research reinforcing this idea, this study will explore the concept
of identities online further in Chapter 5.
Whilst the popularity of social networking sites has continued to grow,
so too has the user’s time spent on social media. The data provided
demonstrated the sheer amount of time dedicated to Instagram in a typical day,
with participant B declaring that “it’s the first thing I do and the last thing
I do in a day”. As well as being the marker for the beginning and end of a day,
participant B admitted that she checks her Instagram newsfeed “once every half
an hour”, and participant A similarly confessed that she goes on Instagram “definitely
always once an hour”. Having said this, this revelation was not entirely
surprising as there have been numerous studies beforehand regarding the
frequency that teens visit social media sites. For example, ongoing research by
the BBC (Winston, 2017) has annually monitored a group of teenagers born in
2000. In this year’s documentary that focused on whether mobile phones were
helpful or harmful for teenagers, it revealed that, on average, teenage girls
spent four hours a day on their phones, twice as much as the boys. In that
time, the girls were three times more likely to be using social media. This is
congruent with the findings of Lenhart (2015), mentioned in Chapter 2, who
observed that “there is a significant gender gap among teens in online
behaviours, with girls outpacing boys in their use of text messaging and in
their visual, social media platforms like Instagram” (2015:6). With the
findings corresponding with this observation that girls are incessantly
increasing their social media presences, this reinforces the sociological need
to deeper investigate the significance of Instagram in the lives of teenage
girls.
The findings also revealed that several of the participants had started
using Instagram from a relatively young age, with participant B estimating that
she had been active since she “was about 15 or 16”. Having been active for at
least two years, we might suggest that it has evolved from being a hobby or
activity, to somewhat of a more serious routine. With the participants
revealing they both check Instagram frequently throughout the day and have been
doing so for the past few years, illustrates Instagram is a habitual part of
their lives. We might refer to the work of Schutz (1967) here and his concept
of the lifeworld, mentioned in Chapter 2. Schutz maintained that the lifeworld
is essentially the mundane, everyday world in which people operate in
(Harrington, 2000) and from these findings, we might contend that Instagram has
become a sort of lifeworld for teenage girls. This notion will be explored
further in Chapter 5.
The participants showed awareness that Instagram
showcases the best parts of people’s lives and not, necessarily, all of their
lives. Participants B and D both admitted that “it’s so rare that someone will
post an honest photo”, acknowledging that Instagram is a “false presentation”. The natural tendency is to pathologise teenage girls
infatuation with Instagram, emphasising further the need for research to be
redirected and considered from the perspective of teenage girls. Just as Weber (1904)
astutely noted, we have to at least try to be objective in a situation where we
know we never can be; we have to be aware of our biases.
Participant A echoes this with her sincere
declaration, “we pick out the best bits from our lives to post on Instagram…
Who would want to see a real photo of me with greasy hair in my pajamas?!”.
When the participants began digressing on how Instagram might be inspirational
in a sense through its “sneak peek” into the lives of celebrities, participant
E quickly asserted that “it’s still not exactly real though, it’s just the best
bits” and participant D agreeing, “it’s superficial”. So, despite being given the
stereotype that teenage girls are ignorant about the extent of Instagram being
realistic, it appears that these participants are more than aware of the
effort, thought and process behind posting a photo on Instagram. However, just
because they are aware of social media’s potential negative presence in their
lives, it doesn’t mean their use is by any means tempered; it does not seem to
constrain their constant need to be active on Instagram. The findings here
strongly correlate with the work of Goffman, mentioned in Chapter 2, who
advocated a dramaturgical model for everyday, social interactions. The fact
that the participants are aware that they present a perfected, more glamorous
façade of themselves on Instagram than they do offline, reaffirms this thesis’ belief
that teenage girls’ use of Instagram can be understood through an updated
version of Goffman’s theories.
The participants’ discussion on editing photos was
informative when exploring the concept of identities online. All participants
admitted to using editing apps to alter their photos, with participant A
revealing that she not only used free editing apps, but also pays for an app
called “Facetune”, which she contested was “worth every penny!”. Participant A described
it as an app that could “whiten your teeth, smooth your face, remove blemishes,
make yourself look slimmer”. Participant C disclosed that “editing apps can
sort out photos and make sure they’re postable”. The participants then began
discussing the positive aspects of editing apps, with participant E pointing
out that “people want to show the best side of themselves and the photo is a
representation of yourself, so why not use these editing apps, everyone knows
it’s important to translate well on social media!” Participant D verified this,
saying “if someone’s talking about someone, and you don’t know who they are,
the immediate thing that’s done is to look them up on social media, especially
Instagram. And that is where they will cast their first opinion on them”. The participants’
comments surrounding editing reveal the importance in presenting their ‘best
selves’ on Instagram, even if that means paying for editing apps to be able to
alter their appearance.
When the participants discussed what they like to see
on their Instagram newsfeeds, there was a strong consensus towards “things that
are nice to look at”. Participant D asserted that “beautiful people and
beautiful food” were what she was interested in, with participant C adding that
she “likes looking up celebrities whose lives I want to live”. Once the topic
of celebrities was encountered, the participants began discussing who they
considered a ‘good’ celebrity to follow. The Kardashians, Victoria’s Secret
models, the Made in Chelsea cast were all mentioned as “cool, famous people who
do much more exciting things with their lives than me”, participant E claimed.
Having established the kinds of celebrities they followed and what types of
photos they post, the participants began conferring over what types of photos
they post that attract the most likes. Participant A asserted that “bikini photos”
were a sure way to get likes, but participant E quickly added “well, only if
you’re attractive and not fat!”. There was a clear unanimity that there is a
certain type of look, a certain type of photo, that will attract likes on
Instagram. Sauter (2008), as mentioned in Chapter 2, described individuals as
concerned with being judged or neglected by their social group on social media,
hence they subject themselves to a “panoptic form of constant scrutiny”
(2008:12). Made evident in these findings, the teenage girls subject their
photos to total scrutiny, ‘fixing’ the tiniest of flaws with editing apps, in
order to conform to this pressure of uploading the ‘right’ type of photo onto
Instagram. From these findings, uploading a successful, ‘likeable’ photo onto
Instagram is clearly of great importance to teenage girls. Teenagers have had a
hunger for validation from their peers long before Instagram became popular,
but social media offers this quantitative measure of peer approval through the
number of likes per post. Nowadays, the term ‘like’ has taken on a completely
superficial connotation, one that defines users thirst for social media
acceptance.
The data established that there is a deep and personal
need that participants feel for Instagram. When questioned whether they could
go a week without social media, Participant B revealed that she would feel “really
anxious, like I’m missing out on stuff”. Participant D agreed, adding that
“when I’m abroad and there’s no easily accessible internet, I get really
stressed that I don’t know what everyone else is doing and posting”.
Participant C said she would feel “very excluded”, not having access to social
media. Previous studies have shown social media to be a common source of stress
to its users. Being constantly alert for new social media messages, to your
instinctive fight or flight limbic system, is the same as being on continuous
alert for predators, which causes a release of the stress hormone cortisol
(Jacobs, 2014). Additionally, Macmillan and Morrison (2006), aforementioned in
Chapter 2, concurred that “young people’s online lives are no less real than those
they live offline”, accentuating the idea that there is this profound need that
teenagers feel towards social media. The data found reflects the claims made by
Macmillan and Morrison (2006), and offers a more niche understanding into
teenage girls on Instagram, specifically. Furthering this, participant A
revealed that she would post photos of meals at restaurants, to say “hey, I’m at
a restaurant with friends!”. Participant D said that she also “tags the
restaurant in the photo, as a way of proving that you went there”. Participant
C said that this “gives people the impression I have a fun social life!”,
highlighting Rui and Stefanone’s (2012) notion that young individuals online
today, must adjust their public image to audience expectations. If eating out
with friends is in accordance with their social roles, it becomes their mission
to show through Instagram that that’s what they are doing.
The analysis of the data found in this research, revealed
a plethora of ideas concurrent with the literature selected to pinpoint the
basis of this study. The findings will allow me to develop and progress the
concepts in existing literature, and bridge new ideas towards the significance
of Instagram in the lives of teenage girls.
The intention of this study is to
consider the significance of Instagram from the perspective of teenage girls,
and thus the primary section of this discussion intends to uncover the meanings
that teenage girls attach to Instagram, as opposed to the pathologised meanings
that broader society have attached to it.
It is not unusual to hear teenagers being described as
‘glued to their phones’, but it’s not the phone they are glued to, it is the social
media platforms these phones contain. The
emergence of social media has tremendously altered the world we know,
transforming the dynamics of social interaction and the ways in which we come
to know others. With social media, we can access more information about each
other than ever before, changing how people communicate; with 80 million photos being shared a day and 3.5
billion likes made on those photos every day (Smith, 2016). Whilst it may have
benefits, including the ability to easily connect with friends and family
around the globe, breaking down international borders and cultural barriers, it
has come at a price, in the eyes of some. In a ‘TED talk’ (technology,
entertainment and design conference), psychologist Sherry Turkle describes the
way computers have taken over, and how although “we are connected, we are alone
together”. Turkle’s (2012) concern is echoed by many who are alarmed that
humanity has been profoundly impacted by the social media revolution. Parents
often fear that social media, particularly Instagram, has robbed their children
of the physical and emotional support we once drew from each other, with
virtual connections. Teenagers prefer texting to phone conversations, online
chats to face-to-face meetings, and have replaced human interaction with
convenient platforms like Instagram. Foer (2013) argued that with each step
forward in social media, it has made it easier to avoid the emotional work of
being present physically. Is Instagram promoting a narcissistic generation? Or,
could we conversely argue that the parents of these millennials are actually
pathologising Instagram?
The time when a child transitions to adolescence is
traditionally a time where parents feel challenged, but the challenges have
been increased more than ever through the phenomenon of social media. The fear
that parents feel for their children becoming individuals in their own right is
by no means unique to this generation; we need only to look at their own
childhoods, whereby television defined their generation, with their parents
having the same concerns for this new, technological phenomenon at that time.
The introduction of the television brought with it animosity and tension where,
“as in the case of television, much of the research on the internet and social
media has been preoccupied with the search for evidence of negative effects;
and much of it has been based on implicitly behaviourist assumptions”
(Buckingham, 2002:79). It is evident that a clearer understanding into the
meaning of Instagram to teenage girls is necessary. Thus, in order to offer parents’ and general society with a deeper understanding behind why teenagers behave and
interact the way they do online, this study will incorporate the ideas of
Schutz and his phenomenological concept of the lifeworld.
The
relevance of phenomenology to the understanding of the social impact of social
media, has aroused the interest of many scholars (Zhao, 2007:140). To situate
the ideas of Schutz and the lifeworld, we might consider the varying,
historical ideas towards how we come to know the mind of another person without
being that person. Primarily, Descartes, (1641), maintained that we can know
only the body of another person because it is perceptually accessible to us,
but not the mind of another person because it is not subject to our direct
observation. Husserl (1969) alternatively, contended that, although we haven’t
direct access to the inner consciousness of another person, we can ‘grasp’ it
based on the knowledge of our own mind. Schutz, “a central figure in importing
phenomenological thinking and methods into sociology” (Inglis & Thorpe,
2013:89) in the early 20th century, reformed this phenomenology,
offering a sociological solution to the previously rather “solipsist views”
(Zhao, 2007:141). Schutz’s fundamental principle maintained that the mind of
the other can be known in a shared lifeworld where individuals become
intimately familiar with each other through sustained face‐to‐face contacts. “Schutz’s
phenomenological theory of mutual knowledge begins with the premise that the
meaning of any object in the lifeworld is inter-subjectively constituted
through human interaction” (Zhao, 2007:141). Through the lifeworld, people can
make sense of and experience the world around them. Although still unable to
directly observe the mind of others, “individuals come to synchronize the
streams of their inner consciousness and get to know each other through shared
life experiences” (Zhao, 2007:142).
However,
the dissemination of social media has undeniably altered the structure of the
lifeworld that Schutz previously depicted, producing ways of getting to know
others that were previously impossible. As aforementioned, according to Schutz,
if others aren’t in our immediate physical presence, they are inaccessible to
our direct observation. But today, Instagram, along with other social media
outlets, allows us to engage in instantaneous contact with distant others,
whereby synchronizing our streams of inner consciousness with theirs in the
absence of physical presence. Therefore, considering those changes, this thesis
will endeavour to renew Schutz’s theory, demonstrating that knowledge of the
other obtained online can be a valuable addition to the mutual knowledge we
come to accumulate in physical social interactions.
Having
determined that phenomenology, in a broad, philosophical sense, is concerned
with how we can know each other’s minds, this thesis asserts that in this
sociological study, the true phenomenology of interest here, in regards to
teenage girls’ use of Instagram, is how the culture of the group, shapes the
minds of the people in it. “Phenomenological approaches to social life exist at
the heart of contemporary social theory” (Inglis & Thorpe, 2013:86). Phenomenology
attempts to see how things in the world look from the point of view of the
people one is studying, and thus in this study, the point of view being
considered is that of teenage girls. “Phenomenology is concerned with how
particular persons or groups of people see, perceive, understand, experience,
make sense of, respond to, emotionally feel about and engage with particular
objects or circumstances”, (Inglis & Thorpe, 2013:86) and here, Instagram
is the subject at hand.
When
Schutz discussed lifeworlds, he was suggesting the lifeworld to be increasingly
central to the culture of the group. This dissertation is investigating the
cultural shaped meanings attached to Instagram in the culture of the young
girls and how these meanings inform and shape, enable and constrain the range
of actions, interactions and identities available to the girls. “The culture
creates the commonsense ways in which people experience the world” (Inglis
& Thorpe, 2013:90). So, this study is interested in teenage girls
socializing in the lifeworld of Instagram, and the meaning it gives to them. From
a phenomenological perspective, how people see the world is shaped by the ideas
and values of the culture of that lifeworld, thus, in this scenario, we are
focused on the cultural meaning that Instagram provides to teenage girls.
Having spoken to a group of teenage girls in the focus group performed in this
research, the findings informed me that, for them, Instagram is a way of
keeping up with friends and also celebrities, a way of showcasing interesting
aspects of their lives through photos and, ultimately, a way of life. When
parents and broader society think about Instagram, and draw on the meaning of
Instagram in their minds, they see it totally differently. So, evidently, the meanings
attached to Instagram in the lifeworld of the girls differs from those of the
adults looking into the lifeworld of the girls. This dissertation is
fundamentally interested in how the meanings attached to Instagram differ.
In
exploring the significance of Instagram in the lives of teenage girls, this
thesis has begun by looking at the way the particular categories contained in
the cultural group, structures how they see things and what they do. In order
to fully understand the meaning of Instagram in the lives of teenage girls, we
need to grasp how the world is perceived by them and how they make sense of it.
Thus, by reconstructing “the contours of their lifeworld” (Inglis & Thorpe,
2013:91), this study has embarked on unpacking this unknown phenomenon. Essentially,
young people are socialized into groups, and that group gives rise to a level
of culture. The culture of Instagram, then, implants in the minds of each of its
users, certain ways of thinking. This angle of understanding teenage girls’
Instagram use, although challenging to empirically measure, opens doors into a
better comprehension of the significance and meaning of Instagram for them.
Having examined the meaning of Instagram
in the lifeworld of teenage girls, the secondary section of the discussion
intends to consider how my sister, and teenage girls in general, assume an
understanding and make sense of Instagram and the extent to which Instagram is
constructing or enabling in their lifeworlds.
The category that is Instagram, is a
social category because how we understand it, is informed by others as to how
it’s used in a group. This social structure can be seen to both support and constrain the endeavours
of individuals. In terms of structure
agency, Schutz asserts that the concepts people have of a certain thing,
constrains how we see and interact in everyday life. So, when we say that
society shapes people, we mean that the culture of the group determines how we
see the world and how we see the world, determines how we’ll do some things,
but not others. Broadly speaking, culture, enables people and makes them behave
in some ways at the same time as constraining in others. Instagram is enabling
because it leads its users to interact in certain ways and express their
identities in a particular way through their Instagram profile, but at the same
time, it constrains them because by doing it in those ways, they’re not doing
it in other ways, i.e. meeting each other in person, away from a screen.
Bourdieu’s (1979) concept of the habitus can be
specifically used to further describe how teenage girls navigate and utilise
Instagram in a way that’s both constructing and enabling. While the premise of
Instagram may appear to be to express one’s unique and subjective personality,
thus enabling, all users may only present themselves in the standard structure
of the Instagram template, thus also constraining. Within these confines,
individual agency and taste allow users to articulate and renegotiate the
possibilities of the site and its meaning in the larger field, creating new
meanings from familiar structures. We can understand Instagram as this cultural
space, whereby its users establish normative behaviours that are policed via
the premise of the habitus. We can depict the habitus as operating in digital
and physical worlds similarly, leading users to adopt and adapt normative
behaviours by performing online in ways that are similar to the ways they
perform in face-to-face interaction; policing the persona and actions of others
within the social norms associated with those personas in particular cultural
contexts. In navigating these online spaces, such as Instagram, “individuals
permit a hybrid set of established and newly formed predispositions to guide
their behavior” (Papacharissi, 2009). On Instagram, individuals are invited and
encouraged to tell stories about themselves through their photos on their
profile, and thus this social architecture compels individuals, more than ever,
to make these stories public. This is frequently mistaken for excessive
narcissism or excessively self-referential behavior, but may also be understood
as an expression of agency that conforms to and seeks to relate to the
structure that Instagram has instigated. Fundamentally, Instagram represents
this ever-changing structure, which offers space to present oneself in a
stylized way, yet also within the boundaries that this new, online realm has
set.
It would be unjust to condemn Schutz for failing to
incorporate online presences and relationship that social media provides into
his conceptualization of the lifeworld, for it did not exist at the time he was
formulating his phenomenological theory of the social world. Thus, the internet
can be best understood as an unparalleled technology, allowing people to
communicate with one another regardless of time and place; “we now live in a
world of hyper-mediation, where the boundaries between real and representation have become
displaced” (Van Loon, 2000:168). Facets of the internet, such as social media, have
created an online public gathering place that allows complete strangers to
socialize with each other. In the offline world, people will not normally socialize
with each other except in specially designated public social places, like bars
and nightclubs, where people are expected to be ‘mutually open’ (Goffman, 1963)
for personal engagement. But social media has opened up an online social domain
for people to connect and interact with each other without prior
acquaintanceships. For example, the findings of this paper’s research have
shown that teenage girls tend to follow Instagram accounts that belong to
people they have never met and like their photos, even though they do not know
them offline, personally.
Teenage girls using Instagram are in each other’s
‘electronic proximity’ (Dertouzos, 1998) when scrolling through their Instagram
newsfeeds and viewing others uploaded photos. Relationships can be established
between complete strangers who interact with each other solely on Instagram,
because unlike human associations that are inherently constrained by physical
proximity, online communities can be based entirely on common interests and
mutual liking (Rheingold, 2000). Essentially, Instagram provides a new way of
communication and socializing that fundamentally transforms the lifeworlds we
live in. On Instagram, mutual knowledge is derived from the biographic and
photographic narratives that people supply about themselves that describe who
they are. For example, the screen names that people use give a sort of ‘first
impression’, whilst their personal profiles containing their photos uploaded
provide more information about the user.
Categorically, advancements in technology and social
media have altered the ways in which mutual knowledge is traditionally
constituted, as face-to-face contact is no longer the only means of
establishing relationships. Public disclosure of private thoughts and personal
moments through photo uploading on Instagram renders it possible for people to
have intimate knowledge of each other without being physically together. However,
it must be acknowledged, that whilst Instagram has enabled us to do many
things, so too is it constraining for users, restricted to the boundaries of
Instagram.
Having established that Instagram
provides us with mutual knowledge of each other in both an enabling and
constructing manner, this final section of the discussion intends to engage
with debates around identity and explore whether the identity shown on
Instagram is a true representation of self. Illustrated through the work of
Erving Goffman, who made huge theoretical
contributions to the debate on identity management and pivotal work within a
traditional, offline context, this thesis will demonstrate that Goffman’s work is
a useful foundation upon which to explore notions of online identity on
Instagram.
It’s imperative to
establish that debates around identity existed long before the emergence of
social media outlets. But, social media platforms like Instagram, have meant
that discourses around identity are a
major currency of contemporary culture. A useful starting point for examining
the notion of identity is the work of Goffman, a notorious interaction theorist
in the late 1950s, prior to the social media revolution. He introduced a novel
conceptualization of identity construction in his study on human interaction,
upholding that everyone is concerned, to some extent, with how others perceive
them, constantly striving to maintain the identity we create for others to see.
The internet and social media have introduced non-physical, online environments
for social interaction, leaving queries around whether Goffman’s interaction
order is still applicable. Arundale (2010) argues that Goffman’s work, being
several decades old, is outdated, but this thesis contests that interaction on
social media is a natural extension to what Goffman theorized and can be used
to further understand how teenage girls construct and express their identities
through Instagram.
This assertion can be
reinforced through exploring the role of Goffman’s dramaturgical model. Goffman
points to the importance of a separation between spheres of action that allows
us to tailor our actions to our setting and environment. Just like actors in
the theatre, we consciously structure social life into back and front stage
areas. The front stage is the area in our lives where we perform to those
watching by observing certain rules and social conventions to project a suitable
persona for that audience. But, for there to be a front stage area, there needs
to be a backstage area that’s hidden from the audience to prepare ourselves for
this performance. Goffman gives the explicit example of a nightclub, whereby
people, typically, in the presence of others, will dramatize what they’re
doing, presenting a face that suits the nightclub scene. For example, people
might like to show they have money to spend and sit on VIP tables and buy
expensive drinks. This can be understood as the front stage performance,
whereas, the toilets can be considered as the backstage area. The clubbers can
retouch their appearance and take a moment away from the spotlight, making it a
backstage area that crucially facilitates for the performance in the nightclub.
We might similarly contend
that teenage girls are highly adept at posting photos on Instagram appropriate
to their audience. This research has exhibited that teenage girls showcase the
highlights and ‘best bits’ of their lives, resonating strongly with Goffman’s
dramaturgical model. Social media promotes putting up a façade that highlights
all the fun, excitement and success we seem to enjoy, but tells very little
about where we are struggling in our day to day life on a deeper level. So, to
fit in, teenage girls’ profiles portray perfectly happy and trendy facades,
because that’s what they see others doing. Hence, Instagram profiles tend to
reflect how they want to be perceived, rather than showing an honest picture of
who they truly are. Put simply, not every photo that a teenage girl has in her
camera roll on her phone will make the cut for her Instagram profile. Rather,
she will select one photo and edit it relentlessly to make it ‘perfect’ before
uploading. We might see Instagram as being a type of portfolio or CV for these
teenage girls, with their followers being their audience. If the photo uploaded
appeals to their followers, it will equate to more likes, hence approval and
popularity. Teenage girls use Instagram as a platform to showcase the most
aesthetically pleasing aspects of their lives. Thus, the camera roll on the
phone is their backstage area and the photos showcased on the Instagram
profile, the front stage area.
“The idea that people guide others and create certain images and desired
impressions of self for others to attain knowledge about them, is similar to
selective posting online” (Madison, 2014:10). A user can post photos to guide
their audience into creating understandings of themselves in a way they find
most desirable and acceptable to others. Equally, the user is also part of an
audience and reacting to the posts of others and being guided into creating
understandings of other users (Madison, 2014). Goffman’s concept of impression
management can be applied to how, on Instagram, this represents enhancement.
Mechanisms of uploading photos to Instagram allow individuals to manufacture
and physically alter the image using editing apps available at the touch of a
finger.
Goffman concurred that our
conscious presentations of self are intended to be ‘scaffolding’, which can be
taken down once it has performed its purpose. As previously mentioned, a
certain persona is adopted in job interview or on dates, knowing that we can
gradually relax the front stage performance if the initial contact is
successful and leads to commitment. But, on social media, this front stage self
is being presented to the world of Instagram all the time, and thus can never
be relaxed. Instagram users have to be concerned, more than real-life/offline
performers, over the essential question of whether the performance can be
sustained. This leads to the ultimate dilemma in identity on social media; the
artificiality suggests the online participation that Instagram facilitates,
will never let us show our true selves.
Goffman’s
concept of ‘face’ was written about in conjunction with how people interact in
daily life, and for him, ‘face’ is a mask that changes depending on the
audience and the variety of social interaction. By ‘face’, he’s implying an
individual’s reputation in the eyes of their partner in interaction, “there
will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet” (Eliot, 1915). This
notion of ‘face’ remains relevant when teenage girls post photos to their Instagram
profiles, because it’s imperative to them that the persona they present online,
is one they maintain. It can thus be understood that the persona presented
online by teenage girls is merely a mask they choose to wear in that given
situation. These masks demonstrate supposed perfect lives, directing
others’ impressions of them as hoped. This should not be misconstrued as
manipulating, because whilst teenage girls do to some extent control what their
followers see, it’s still themselves, but the best part of themselves; a
snapshot of the identity that they want the world to see.
In conclusion, Goffman’s original framework is still
relevant as an explanatory framework for understanding identity through
interaction and the presentation of self on Instagram, thus this thesis endorses the
timelessness and versatility of Goffman’s theories. As Thompson (1995:215) astutely observed,
individuals are increasingly dependent “on a range of social institutions and
systems to provide them with both the material and symbolic means for the
construction of life projects”, and whilst some may argue that there is
inherent artificiality in our online identities, this thesis argues that we are
not deceiving ourselves or others, but rather, being ourselves in a stylized
manner.The
concepts put forth in Goffman’s work, whilst meant for in-person interactions,
are clearly valuable when interpreting interactions online and teenage
girls’ online personas perhaps conform even more closely to Goffman’s idea of
everyday life than our everyday life does today.
Originally, social media was considered another passing trend, a
subculture similar to the trends of music and fashion. But as time has
progressed, it is evident that the world is adopting social media and digital
technology as a new way of life (Qualman, 2012). Consequently, sociologists
have proposed that social media is the biggest socio-cultural and economic
shift since the industrial revolution (Bussert, 2010:210). As a result of the
accelerated pace of cultural change, today’s millennials and adolescents find
themselves in a culture that is very different to what their parents grew up
in. Adolescents of today are growing up in the internet age, never having known
a world without cell phones, personal computers and social media. Thus, this
study has recognized the importance of capturing the standpoints of those whose
lives have been changed by social media and expanding scholarly literature to
incorporate this perspective.
Fundamentally, this study sought a greater understanding of the
significance of Instagram in the lives of teenage girls,from a perspective that has not yet been fully
investigated. This thesis is a phenomenological exercise, interested in looking
at how other people perceive a particular thing (Instagram), and how it
features in the lifeworld of teenage girls and structures what they do. The
reason being, is that whilst the negative aspects of social media have been
studied, there’s been relatively little scholarship focusing on the teenage
girls’ reasoning behind why they use it and their own opinions. There’s an undeniable
tendency from time immemorial for adults to pathologise what young people do
and social media activity is no exception. “Scholars have been debating the social impact of the Internet
for more than a decade” (DiMaggio et al., 2001), but this study recognised the
need for moving beyond the conceptualisations of an online/offline dichotomy
(Graham, 2013).
The research was informed and guided predominantly by
Goffman’s dramaturgical model and Schutz’s concept of the lifeworld. Thus, the
study undertaken here contributes to a growing body of scholarship on the
amassing use of social media, but from the unique angle of the most prolific
users; teenage girls. As today’s millennials grow into tomorrow’s adults, we
should recognise and predict that their practices will increasingly enter the
mainstream and therefore, a greater understanding surrounding the significance
of Instagram is necessary. When considering the first research question asking
what meaning Instagram holds in the lifeworlds of teenage girls, this study
found that Instagram has produced ways of getting to know others that were
previously impossible. This study established that Instagram provides new ways
of communication and socializing that has fundamentally transformed the lifeworld
as we know it. When exploring the second research question surrounding the extent
to which Instagram constrains and enables teenage girls, this study found that Instagram represents this
ever-changing structure which offers space to present oneself in a particular
way, yet also within the boundaries set by Instagram. Thus, Instagram can be
considered as both enabling and constraining. Finally, this study explored how
Instagram influenced the way that teenage girls constructed and expressed their
identities. This study affirmed that
Instagram provides teenage girls with a reference point in the process of
developing their social identity, whereby they interact with their peers and
gain a sense of what type of presentations are socially appropriate. Updating Goffman’s
dramaturgical model highlighted how teenage girls have become highly adept at
posting photos on Instagram appropriate to their audience, showcasing the best
bits of their lives. Essentially, this thesis found that teenage girls aren’t
deceiving themselves or others, but rather, presenting themselves in a stylized
manner.
This study has contributed
to the existing literature on social media and how it impacts human behavior,
from the unique angle of teenage girls’ perspectives. It guides and informs
future research to further explore teenage
girls’ use of Instagram in a broader realm.
(9837 words TOTAL)
Arundale, R. (2010), “Face as Emergent in Interpersonal
Communication: An Alternative to Goffman”, London: Equinox Publishing, pp.
33-54.
Barriball, L. (1993) “Collecting data using a semi-structured
interview: a discussion paper”, Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Bohm,
A. (2004), “Theoretical Coding: Text
Analysis in Grounded Theory”, Sage Publications, London.
Bourdieu,
P. (1979), “La Distinction”, Les
Editions de Minuit, Paris.
Buckingham,
D. (2002), “The Electronic Generation?
Children and New Media”, in “The
Handbook of New Media”, pp.77-89, Sage Publications, London.
Bussert, C. P. (2010), “The social media revolution”, Franchise
Law Journal, Volume 29, No. 4.
Davis,
K. (2012), “Tensions of Identity in a
Networked Era: Young People’s Perspectives on the Risks and Rewards of Online
Self-Expression”, Sage Publications
Denscombe,
M. (2007), “The Good Research Guide: For
Small Scale Social Research”, Open University Press, Buckingham.
Dertouzos,
M. (1998), “What Will Be”, HarperEdge,
USA.
Descartes,
R. (1641), “Meditationes
de Prima Philosophia”, Oeuvres
de Descartes, pp.1897-1913.
DiMaggio, P.,
Eszter, H., Neuman, W.R. and Robinson, J.P. (2001), “Social Implications of the Internet”, Annual Review of Sociology,
Volume 27, pp. 307-336.
Eliot, T.S.
(1915), “The Lovesong of J. Alfred
Prufrock”, Poetry: A Magazine of Verse.
Foer, J.S. (2013), “How not to be
alone”, The New York Times, available online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/how-not-to-be-alone.html
(last accessed on 22/03/2017)
Forer, L. (2017), “139 Stats and
Facts about Instagram”, MarketingProfs, available online at: https://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2017/31628/139-stats-and-facts-about-instagram-infographic
(last accessed on 17/04/2017)
Goffman, E. (1959) “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”, Garden
City, New York.
Goffman, E. (1963), “Behaviour in
Public Places”, Free Press, New York.
Graham, M. (2013), “Geography/Internet: Ethereal Alternate
Dimensions of Cyberspace or Grounded Augmented Realities”, The Geographic
Journal, Volume 179, No.2, pp. 177-182.
Harrington, A. (2000), “Superstructuralism”, Routledge, London.
Hogan, B. (2010), “The Presentation of Self in the Age of
Social Media: Distinguishing Performances and Exhibitions Online”, Bulletin
of Science, Technology & Society, Volume 30, No.6, pp. 377-386.
Husserl, E. (1969), “Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to
Phenomenology”, The Hague, Netherlands.
Inglis, D. and Thorpe, C. (2013),
“An Invitation to Social Theory”, Polity
Press.
Jacobs,
T. (2014), “The Link Between Depression and Terrorism”, Pacific Standard Magazine.
Kowal,
S. and O’Connell, D.C. (2004), “A
Companion to Qualitative Research: The Transcription of Conversations”, Sage
Publications.
Lenhart, A. (2015), “Teens, Social
Media & Technology Overview 2015”, PewResearch Centre.
Livingstone, S. (2002) “Young People and New Media: Childhood, Youth
and the Changing Media Environment”, Sage Publications.
Livingstone, S. (2008) “Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful
Content Creation: Teenagers’ Use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy,
Privacy and Self-Expression”, New Media & Society.
Macmillan, S.J., and Morrison, M. (2006), “Coming of Age with the
Internet: A Qualitative Exploration of How the Internet has become an Integral
part of Young People’s Lives” New Media & Society, Volume 8, No.1, pp.
73-95.
Madison, G. (2014), “Social Media
and Self: Influences on the Formation of Identity and Understanding of Self
through Social Networking Sites”, Portland State University.
Miller, M. (2001), “A Snapshot of
the Class of 2001”, Public Relations Tactics, Volume 8, pp. 21-22.
O’Keefe, G.S., and Pearson, K.C. (2011), “The Impact of Social
Media on Children, Adolescents and Families”, American Academy of
Pediatrics.
Papacharissi, Z. (2009), “The
Virtual Geographies of Social Networks: A Comparative Analysis of Facebook,
LinkedIn and ASmallWorld”, New Media & Society, Volume 11, No.2, pp.
199-220.
Qualman, E. (2012), “Socialnomics:
How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business”, Hoboken, New
Jersey.
Rainie, L., Brenner, J and Purcell, K. (2012), “Photos and Videos as Social Currency Online”, Pew Internet &
American Life Project.
Rheingold, H. (2000),
“The Virtual Community: Homesteading on
the Electronic Frontier”, Addison Wesley Publishing Company, Massachusetts.
Rui, J. & Stefanone, M. (2012) “Strategic Self-Presentation
Online: A Cross-Cultural Study”, Computers in Human Behaviour.
Sauter, T. (2013) “What’s On Your Mind? Writing on Facebook as a Tool
for Self-Formation”, New Media & Society, Sage Publications.
Schutz, A. (1967), “The Phenomenology of the Social World”, Northwestern
University Press.
Shakespeare, W. (1623), “As You Like It”, Act II, Scene VII.
Smith, K. (2016), “37 Instagram Statistics for 2016”, Brandwatch
Blog, available online at: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/37-instagram-stats-2016/
(last accessed on 23/04/2017)
Thompson, J.B. (1995), “The Media & Modernity: A Social Theory
of the Media”, Stanford University Press, California.
Turkle, S. (2012), “Connected, but alone?”, TED, available
online at: https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together
(last accessed on 21/04/2017)
Van Loon, J. (2000), “Virtual Risks in an Age of Cybernetic
Reproduction”, in “The Risk Society
and Beyond: Critical Issues for Social Theory”, Sage Publications, London.
Van Zoonen, L. (2013), “From Identity to Identification: Fixing the
Fragmented Self”, Media, Culture & Society, Sage Publications.
Weber, M. (1904), “The Objectivity of the Sociological and
Social-Political Knowledge”, Archive for the Social Science and Social
Policy, Germany.
Winston,
R. (2017), “Child of Our Time: Changing
Times”, Television Documentary, British Broadcasting Channel, The Open
University, UK.
Zhao,
S. (2007), “Internet and the Lifeworld:
Updating Schutz’s Theory of Mutual Knowledge”, Information, Technology
& People, Volume 20, No.2, pp. 140-160.
The title of the research being undertaken is “Investigating the Significance of Instagram in the Lives of Teenage Girls”. The research will take place in the form of a focus group which will be led by *****.
The purpose of this research is to explore the ever increasing and
overwhelming influence social media is having on the younger generation and
enquiring into whether Instagram is promoting a world where people are judged
on the image they present to the world, rather than who they are and what they
have achieved. The results of this study should further our understanding on
just how powerful this form of technology is and whether it is indeed blurring
the distinction between reality and social media.
This focus group is completely voluntary; the participants can refuse to
answer any questions at any time for any reason. They have the freedom and
right to withdraw from the interview at any point. The interviewees’
participation will involve answering questions for an estimated 45-60 minutes.
The participants’ names will not be mentioned during this interview and
they need not say anyone else’s name in answering any of the questions. The
data will be recorded in a password protected cellular phone. The recordings
will only be kept until the recording is transcribed and will then be deleted.
This interview information will only be used for this particular study. There
will be a chance during the interview, but not after, to make changes to your
answers.
I have read and understood
the above and agree to partake in this study.
_____________________
(Participant Signature)
___________________
(Interviewer Signature)
_____________________ (Date
Signed)
INTERVIEWER: Hi girls! Okay, I’m going to
start the ball rolling by asking the simple question, do you have Instagram
installed on your phone?
INTERVIEWER: That’s interesting, thank you!
So, every time you go on the app, do you post a photo or just observe other
people’s posts?
(everyone in agreement)
INTERVIEWER: So, do you think you could go
a week without social media, then?
INTERVIEWER: That would be an interesting
challenge! So when you do post photos on Instagram, do you use any apps to edit
your photos?
INTERVIEWER: So, what kind of photo
attracts likes?
INTERVIEWER: Thank you, this is all great!
Next question, why do you think people put hashtags on their photo captions?
INTERVIEWER: Do you think that your online
self is a true representation of your ‘real world self’?
INTERVIEWER: How
many followers do you all have? And what does it mean to have followers?
INTERVIEWER: So, would you be happy to have
your parents on Instagram? If no, why not?
INTERVIEWER: Do you think you will still be
using Instagram in five years? I.e. is its popularity dependent on as long as
everyone else is using it?
(laughing)
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more