A closer look at Twitter

WHAT ABOUT THE KID'S GROWING UP IN THE SOICAL MEDIA WORLD ????

Hanging Out and Growing up with Social Media

The relationship between human beings, their environment, and society has always been complex, intertwined, and interdependent. Some might argue the terms environment and society are one in the same. In social media, the media or utility serves as the conduit that connects the user and their worlds. Society represents the human beings using a profile or identity to create connections and shared meaning. Social media and the development of written language are similar in the construction and developmental process. Some aspects are linear and predictable, and other aspects of the developmental process and social media are unknown. In this paper, the author examines how media, and in particular, social media is a central part of many Westerner’s developmental processes by intertwining media psychology theory with his own family experience.


The rapid adoption of social network sites by teenagers in the United States and in many other countries around the world raises some important questions. Why do teenagers flock to these sites? What are they expressing on them? How do these sites fit into their lives? What are they learning from their participation? Are these online activities like face-to-face friendships – or are they different, or complementary (Boyd, 2007a, p. 2).


These questions help frame the discussion of developmental behavior as it relates to the ever-changing psychosexual and developmental aspects of children and adolescents engaged in social media. Lev Vygotsky’s thoughts on child development provide a framework of questions for discussion relevant for today’s children, teenagers, and the intersection of social media.


Vygotsky (1978) believed three fundamental issues offered insight as to the manner in which human development occurred. His questions were as follows:

• What is the relationship between human beings and their environment, both physical and social?
• What new forms of activity were responsible for establishing labor as the fundamental means of relating humans to nature and what are the psychological consequences of these forms of activity?
• What is the nature of the relationship between the use of tools and the development of speech?

Boyd’s work in social media identified similar thoughts regarding youth engagement in culture and processes stating, “While particular systems may come and go, how youth engage through social network sites today provides long-lasting insights into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality” (Boyd, 2007a, p.1).


I have selected two questions to frame this discussion of “hanging out” and growing up with social media:

• What is the relationship between human beings and their environment, both physical and social?
• How (do) youth engage through social network sites today and (will it provide long-lasting insights) into identity formation, status negotiation, and peer-to-peer sociality?

Definitions

The following definitions provide context for this emergent field as a foundation for understanding and future development. These definitions also provide insight as to how technology is being embedded into the culture, similar to the early adoption studies of the telephone, and the behavior related to its use and adoption.


Social Media is an umbrella term, defining all of the activities that come together in a utility that uses multiple communication mediums’ of words, pictures, or videos to create visual displays, picture-sharing opportunities, connection points, and the creation of personal meaning and community building opportunities. Social media uses the wisdom of crowds to connect people and information in a collaborative manner.


Social media can take many different forms, including message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures, and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, group creation, and voice over IP, to name a few. Examples of social media applications are Google (reference, social networking), Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), Facebook (social networking), Club Penguin (children’s social networking), iTunes (personal music), YouTube (social networking and video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), and Flickr (photo sharing).


In an e-book from Spannerworks.com called What is social media?, another definition is provided. “Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media which share most or all of the following characteristics: Participation, openness, conversation, community, and connectedness” (Spannerworks.com, 2007). This community-oriented connectedness aligns well with the interests of youth today as being involved with their friends. It is a critical aspect of their life meaning and development.


Social Behavior as it relates to the context of social media is the study of how people influence each other in their individual and collective behavior. This includes both the individual activities involved in crafting a perception of an individual in a setting where others may be present, as well as the changes that may occur due to group behavior and influence (Glassman, 2000).


Social Networking refers to the utilities that create collaboration through activities that people use to connect, develop relationships, and create personal myths. These sites and activities allow for self-identification and discovery; as well as self-expression through words, pictures and other mediums of communication. These sites base primary interactions around a user’s profile, an individual home page that provides an opportunity to customize their page with self-directed information, pictures, quotes, and widgets that help craft their online identity. Boyd provides an example, stating “Throughout the country, young people were logging in, creating elaborate profiles, publicly articulating their relationships with other participants, and writing extensive comments back and forth. By early 2006, many considered participation on the key social network site, MySpace, essential to being seen as cool at school” (2007, p. 1).


Social Networks are defined differently, as a related cousin to social networking. Linton Freeman and Cynthia Webster define social networks as “a structural form – or patterning of the ties that link social sectors and interaction” (1994, p. 223). Freeman and Webster visually describe the patterns in this manner: “…whenever human association is examined, we see what can be described as thick spots – relatively unchanging clusters or collections of individuals who are linked by frequent interaction and often by sentimental ties” (p. 223).


Social Cognition is the study of how people understand themselves and other people. The International Social Cognition Network states, “It is a level of analysis that aims to understand social psychological phenomena by investigating the cognitive processes that underline them” (2007). The processes that make up social cognition are perception, judgment and the memory of social stimuli. Utilities such as Facebook create social cognition experiences as individuals can create and change their identity with their pictures, and create engagement by presenting pictures and using words to connect, share and create meaning with other individuals. This developmental process helps in the shaping and sharing of one’s identity.


Social Psychology is the study of how social conditions affect individuals and groups. Social psychology is concerned with the areas of attitude, persuasion, cognitions, influence, group dynamics, prosocial behavior, and interpersonal attraction and behavior. The examination of attitudes and behavior and how they interact is a key focus of social psychologists.


Social Intelligence is defined as the non-cognitive social aptitudes that allow us to respond to an emotional situation. Aptitudes are perceived as being without thought. As we continue to learn more about social and emotional intelligence, we also learn that while perhaps different, the two also overlap. Relationships are the key and critical connection between emotional intelligence and social intelligence (Goleman, 2006).