Young people's identity formation in social media's fast-paced consumer culture: a sociocultural psychological theorisation

Abstract

Brug af sociale medier er efterhånden et udbredt fænomen i vestlige samfund, særligt blandt unge mennesker. Fælles for mange sociale medier er, at de i høj grad benytter sig af personaliserede algoritmer for at udvælge indhold, der skal præsente-res for en given bruger. Særligt ses dette på det sociale medie TikTok, der også har ageret inspiration for andre platforme ved implementeringen af det, der i forbindelse med specialeafhandlingen kaldes ’kortvideo-baserede sociale medier’. For unge mennesker gør det sig samtidigt særligt gældende, at de benytter sig af kulturelle ressourcer (så som sociale medier) i en tid, der er karakteriseret af mange brud i tilværelsen, og dermed også deres forståelse af verden, og ikke mindst sig selv – deres identiteter. Sociale medier argumenteres for at være - på lige fod med alle andre strukturer i det moderne samfund - bundet op på en kapitalistisk og konstant vækst- og tidsoptimerende logik, samt en tilhørende forbrugsorienteret kultur. Det betyder, at meget af det indhold, der præsenteres på sociale medier, også skabes med dette in mente; uanset om der er tale om eksplicit reklame og marketing, eller mere implicitte forbrugsorienterede beskeder. Denne forbrugsorienterede kultur er dog også blevet kritiseret i en lang årrække, også inden for psykologien, for at have en række negative konsekvenser. Disse ses, blandt andet, i forhold til trivsel og mentalt helbred for de individer, der lever i den-ne type kultur. Nogle af disse kritikker omhandler - meget vedkommende for identitetsdannelsesaspektet - hvordan mennesket risikerer at udvikle en iboende fremmedgørelse af sit eget selv og forholdet til andre, samt en frygt for at blive gjort irrelevant og ’flydende’ i en verden, hvor selv fysiske omstændigheder som tid og sted har ændret form og betydning. Dette speciale stiller skarpt på, hvordan man kan betragte dynamikkerne mellem identitetsdannelse – særligt i ungdomsårene – fra en sociokulturel psykologisk vinkel, forbrugerkulturen og dens udfoldelse på det sociale medie TikTok, og de eventuelle konsekvenser disse faktorer måtte have på trivsel, ved at danne en overordnet, præliminær teoretisering, der søger at forbinde disse aspekter, med udgangspunkt i problemformuleringen: ”Hvordan kan de(n) forbrugsorienterede og hyppigt skiftende kulture(r) på sociale medier forstås at influere identitetsdannelsen hos unge mennesker?”, og ved besvarelsen af dets tilhørende undersøgelsesspørgsmål: ”Hvad er nogle af de (teoretiske) mekanismer og indvirkninger af denne indflydelse?”. Denne undersøgelse er ydermere blevet informeret og kvalificeret af forudeksisterende empiriske data, bl.a. fra neuro- og kognitionspsykologiske studier vedrørende emnet. På baggrund af den præsenterede teoretisering, præsenterer specialet ligeledes en række metodologiske forslag til, hvordan videre undersøgelse af emnet kan udføres. Disse metodologiske forslag indeholder både kvantitative metoder, bl.a. i form af dataindsamling af indhold fra platformene, samt kvalitative metoder, der søger at uddybe forståelsen af, hvordan brugere (og ikke-brugere) oplever platformen, mhp. tidligere og nuværende trends, modstandsstrategier, samt platformens overordnede indvirkning på trivsel, med undgangspunkt i de fremlagte teoretiske faktorer.

The use of social media is, at this point in time, a widespread phenomenon in Western societies, especially among young people. Many social media platforms have one feature in common; that they make extensive use of personalised algorithms to select the content that is presented to a given user. This is particularly evident on the platform of TikTok, which has also served as inspiration for other platforms with the implementation of what is called 'short video-based social media' in this thesis. At the same time, young people in particular make use of cultural resources (such as ones presented on social media) in a time that is characterised by many ruptures in life, as well as their understanding of the world and themselves – their identities. Social media, as with all other structures in modern society, is argued to be tied to a capitalist and logic of constant optimisation of time and growth, as well as an associated consumerist culture. This means that much of the content presented on social media is also created with this in mind; whether it is through explicit advertising and marketing, or more implicit consumption-oriented messages. However, this consumerist culture has been criticised for some time, also within the field of psychology, for having several negative consequences. These are seen, among other things, in relation to the well-being and mental health of the individuals who live in this type of culture. Some of these critiques deal - very relevant to the identity formation aspect - how people risk developing an inherent alienation of their own self and their relationships with others, as well as a fear of being made irrelevant and 'liquid' in a world where even physical properties such as time and space have changed form and meaning. This thesis focuses on how one may view the dynamics between identity formation – especially in youth – from a sociocultural psychological perspective, consumer culture and its unfolding on the social media TikTok, and the possible consequences these factors may have on well-being, by forming an overarching, preliminary theorisation that seeks to connect these aspects, based on the problem formulation: “How can the consumerist and rapidly changing culture(s) of social media influence be understood to influence the identity formation of young people?", and in answering its associated research question: “What are some of the known (theoretical) mechanisms and impacts of this influence?”. This investigation has also been informed and qualified by pre-existing empirical data, including ones from neuro- and cognitive psychology studies on the subject. On the basis of the theorisation presented, the thesis also presents a number of methodological proposals as to how further investigation of the topic may be executed. These methodological proposals contain both quantitative methods, e.g. in the form of data collection of content from the platforms, as well as qualitative methods that seek to deepen the understanding of how users (and non-users) experience the platform, in terms of the use of the platform. past and present trends, strategies of resistance, as well as the platform's overall impact on well-being, grounded by the theoretical factors presented.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

Young people's identity formation in social media's fast-paced consumer culture: a sociocultural psychological theorisation

[Unge menneskers identitetsdannelse i sociale mediers tempofyldte forbrugerkultur: en sociokulturel psykologisk teoretisering]