Aran-Ramspott Sue, Korres-Alonso Oihane, Elexpuru-Albizuri Iciar, Moro-Inchaurtieta Álvaro, Bergillos-García Ignacio
Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain.
Faculty of Education and Sport, University of Deusto, Donostia, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2024 May 30;15:1375983. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1375983. eCollection 2024.
One of the major challenges for edu-communication research is to analyze the influence of social media on young and adolescent users. This article examines the evaluation of gender inequalities - real and symbolic - in the consumption of social networks such as YouTube and Instagram among young people. Within the framework of a Research & Development & innovation (R&D + ) project, it presents a discursive-theoretical analysis of how young users of social media perceive the presence and representation of gender on social media and whether such digital representations can be associated with an empowering gender perspective. This study presents results from 14 focus groups ( = 83), composed of students aged 12 to 18, drawn from three Spanish Autonomous Communities (Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country). The results show that gender issues arise in participants' conversations, especially among female participants, who perceive the importance of physical appearance on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Female participants feel more pressure in terms of appearance and dress compared to male participants. Among male participants there are more expressions of self-affirmation and more mentions related to fun and social prestige. Both male and female participants express concern about the impact of that pressure on younger girls. The influence of social media on self-image is more evident among female participants, who make frequent mention of the importance of self-esteem in relation to beauty standards and exposure to idealized body images. Notably, there were no comments by male participants that acknowledge any influence of social media on their self-image. The findings are in line with existing research and taken as a whole gives rise to concern as to the gender disparities observed in the use of social media, which do not constitute a picture of female empowerment. This research underlines the importance of promoting a respectful and equitable environment in relation to gender equality within digital spaces. Thus, this study provides support for the need to develop and implement edu-communicative initiatives to foster critical thinking around the influence of social media in this context and the evaluation of the impact of such initiatives in future research.
教育传播研究的主要挑战之一是分析社交媒体对青少年用户的影响。本文探讨了年轻人在使用YouTube和Instagram等社交网络时，对真实和象征性性别不平等的评价。在一个研发与创新（R&D +）项目的框架内，本文对社交媒体年轻用户如何看待社交媒体上的性别存在和表现，以及这种数字表现是否能与增强性别权能的观点相关联进行了话语理论分析。本研究展示了来自14个焦点小组（n = 83）的结果，这些小组由12至18岁的学生组成，他们来自西班牙的三个自治区（加泰罗尼亚、巴利阿里群岛和巴斯克地区）。结果表明，性别问题出现在参与者的对话中，尤其是在女性参与者中，她们意识到Instagram和TikTok等平台上外表的重要性。与男性参与者相比，女性参与者在外表和穿着方面感受到更大的压力。在男性参与者中，有更多自我肯定的表达，以及更多与乐趣和社会声望相关的提及。男性和女性参与者都对这种压力对年轻女孩的影响表示担忧。社交媒体对自我形象的影响在女性参与者中更为明显，她们经常提到自尊相对于美容标准和接触理想化身体形象的重要性。值得注意的是，男性参与者没有发表任何承认社交媒体对其自我形象有影响的评论。这些发现与现有研究一致，总体上引发了对社交媒体使用中观察到的性别差异的关注，这些差异并未构成女性赋权的图景。本研究强调了在数字空间中促进尊重和平等的性别平等环境的重要性。因此，本研究支持开展和实施教育传播倡议的必要性，以培养在这种背景下对社交媒体影响的批判性思维，并在未来研究中评估此类倡议的影响。
