As platforms for self-expression, social media sites require users to consciously, visibly, and deliberately perform their identity. While a dominant developmental discourse encourages young people to test and explore different identities, a self-conscious and highly visible performance of identity via social media brings into question the form and value of this activity. This article reviews a range of popular arguments about how young people use media, and demonstrates how this use comes into conflict with a broader developmental discourse. It proposes that this conflict contributes to the perception that young people's media use is dangerous for healthy development, and that a different kind of approach to youth is needed. Engaging Judith Butler's notion of performativity, the article argues that social media and the structures of performative display are a way to reconceptualise youth and the relationship between social media and young people's self-development.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlburyK.CrawfordK.2012, ‘Sexting, Consent and YoungPeople's Ethics: Beyond Megan's Story’, Continuum, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 463–73.
2.
AlburyK.CrawfordK.ByronP.MathewsB.2013, Young People and Sexting in Australia: Ethics, Representation and the Law, ARC Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation and the Journalism and Media Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
3.
American Psychological Association (APA)2007, Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualisation of Girls: Executive Summary, APA, Washington, DC.
4.
BaileyR.2011, Letting Children Be Children: Report of an Independent Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, Department for Education, London.
BlattererH.2010, ‘The Changing Semantics of Youth and Adulthood’, Cultural Sociology, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 63–79.
10.
BoydD.2008, ‘Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Changing Place of Digital Media in Teenage Social Life’, in BuckinghamD. (ed.), Youth, Identity, and Digital Media, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 119–42.
11.
BuckinghamD.2000, After the Death of Childhood: Growing Up in the Age of Electronic Media, Polity Press, Cambridge.
12.
BuckinghamD.2007, Beyond Technology: Children's Learning in the Age of Digital Media, Polity Press, Cambridge.
13.
BuckinghamD. (ed.), 2008, Youth, Identity, and Digital Media, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
ButlerJ.1993, Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’, Routledge, London.
16.
ButlerJ.1999, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, 10th anniversary edn, Routledge, London.
17.
CaseyB.J.GetzS.GalvanA.2008, ‘The Adolescent Brain’, Developmental Review, no. 28, pp. 62–77.
18.
CohenS.1972, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and the Rockers, MacGibbon and Kee, London.
19.
DavisK.2010, ‘Coming of Age Online: The Developmental Underpinnings of Girls' Blogs’, Journal of Adolescent Research, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 145–71.
20.
Day GoodK.2012, ‘From Scrapbook to Facebook: A History of Personal Media Assemblage and Archives’, New Media and Society, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 557–73.
21.
De RidderS.Van BauwelS.2013, ‘Commenting on Pictures: Teens Negotiating Gender and Sexualities on Social Networking Sites’, Sexualities, vol. 16, nos 5/6, pp. 565–86.
22.
DinesG.2010, Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality, Beacon Press, Boston, MA.
23.
DobsonA.S.2012, ‘“Individuality is Everything”: “Autonomous” Femininity in MySpace Mottos and Self-descriptions’, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 371–83.
24.
DoddsD.2011, ‘The New Science of the Teenage Brain’, National Geographic, October, pp. 42–59.
25.
DurhamM.G.2009, The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualisation of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It, Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY.
26.
EriksonE.1963 [1950], Childhood and Society, W.W. Norton, New York.
27.
EriksonE.1968, Identity: Youth and Crisis, W.W. Norton, New York.
28.
FloresA.JamesC.2012, ‘Morality and Ethics Behind the Screen: Young People's Perspectives on Digital Life’, New Media and Society, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 834–52.
GabrielF.2013, Deconstructing Youth: Youth Discourses at the Limits of Sense, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
31.
GirouxH.A.2000, Stealing Innocence: Corporate Culture's War on Children, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
32.
GirouxH.A.2009, Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability?Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
33.
HallG.S.1904, Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education (2 vols), D. Appleton and Company, New York.
34.
HasinoffA.A.2012, ‘Sexting as Media Production: Rethinking Social Media and Sexuality’, New Media and Society, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 449–65.
JenkinsH.2006, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture, New York University Press, New York.
37.
Law Reform Committee2013, Inquiry into Sexting: Report of the Law Reform Committee for the Inquiry into Sexting, Parliamentary Paper No. 230, Session 2010–2013, www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lawreform/article/944
38.
LeskoN.2001, Act Your Age! A Cultural Construction of Adolescence, Routledge Falmer, London.
39.
LevyA.2005, Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, Black Inc., Melbourne.
40.
LivingstoneS.2002, Young People and New Media, Sage, London.
41.
LivingstoneS.2008, ‘Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers' Use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy and Self-expression’, New Media and Society, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 393–411.
42.
MalesM.1996, The Scapegoat Generation: America's War on Adolescents, Common Courage Press, Monroe, ME.
43.
MalesM.1999, Framing Youth: 10 Myths About the Next Generation, Common Courage Press, Monroe, ME.
44.
MazurE.KozarianL.2010, ‘Self-Presentation and Interaction in Blogs of Adolescents and Young Emerging Adults’, Journal of Adolescent Research, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 124–44.
45.
MazzarellaS.R.2007, ‘Why is Everybody Always Pickin’ on Youth? Moral Panics About Youth, Media, and Culture‘, in MazzarellaS.R. (ed.), 20 Questions about Youth and the Media, Peter Lang, New York, pp. 45–60.
46.
McMillanS.J.MorrisonM.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 and Society, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 73–95.
47.
MiegelF.OlssonT.2012, ‘A Generational Thing? The Internet and New Forms of Social Intercourse’, Continuum, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 487–99.
OppligerP.A.2008, Girls Gone Skank: The Sexualisation of Girls in American Culture, McFarland and Company, Jefferson, NC.
50.
PhillipsS.F.2007, The Teen Brain, Chelsea House, New York.
51.
PiagetJ.1969, The Psychology of the Child, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
52.
RingroseJ.GillR.LivingstoneS.HarveyL.2012, A Qualitative Study of Children, Young People and ‘Sexting’: A Report Prepared for the NSPCC, NSPCC, London.
53.
RiversS.E.ReynaV.F.MillsB.2008, ‘Risk Taking Under the Influence: A Fuzzy-trace Theory of Emotion in Adolescence’, Developmental Review, no. 28, pp. 107–44.
54.
RobardsB.2012, ‘Leaving MySpace, Joining Facebook: “Growing Up” on Social Network Sites’, Continuum, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 385–98.
55.
RushE.La NauzeA.2006a, Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of Children in Australia, Discussion Paper no. 90, The Australia Institute, www.tai.org.au/documents/dp_fulltext/DP90.pdf
56.
RushE.La NauzeA.2006b, Letting Children Be Children: Stopping the Sexualisation of Children in Australia, Discussion Paper no. 93, The Australia Institute, www.tai.org.au/documents/downloads/DP93.pdf
ThompsonK.2010, ‘Because Looks Can Be Deceiving: Media Alarm and the Sexualisation of Childhood – Do We Know What We Mean?’, Journal of Gender Studies, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 395–400.
64.
WalterN.2010, Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, Virago, New York.
65.
WynJ.WhiteR.1997, Rethinking Youth, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
