Role of media on identity development of adolescents in Australia (Personal Interest Project -PIP) PDF

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Mini PIP for year 11...

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Role of media on identity development of adolescents in Australia

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Table of Contents Introduction..................................................................3 Log...............................................................................5 Chapter One: First Sight.............................................6 Chapter Two: Hidden Faces.........................................8 Chapter Three: Media and Identity............................10 Conclusion.................................................................11 Resource List.............................................................12

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Introduction Media, from television to the "new media" (including cell phones, iPads, and social media), are a dominant force in children's lives1. Although the predominant form of media to children and adolescents, innovative technologies are increasingly popular. The reason for this is the technology evolution, the time when Internets, social media platforms and electronic devices are created to make life easier. Adolescents don't absorb that abstract, instead, media makes them ‘lazier'. In this Personal Project Interest, I will provide the information that brings up the impact of media Throughout the project, there will be the discussion about how generational and cultural decide the interaction as well as the influence of media on adolescents, and the differences between men and women. The reason I chose this topic was to explore the reasons why the people – especially our parents' generation – tend to tell us watching TVs and mobile phones are a waste of time and understand what stands behind aggressive and shy kids with the ubiquity of Internet access. I have used the most effective methodologies throughout my research, including both primary and secondary methods. In my primary research, I have used a questionnaire, interview, and observation. The questionnaire is advantageous for my finding not because it can provide me with qualitative and quantitative results, but it's convenient for me to gather data through the internet. The interview is a small portion of my primary research. The reason is some questions in the questionnaire take up some time to think and many people don't have the time to answer it in depth and detail. As I travel to school using public transport, it's an access to real-life situations to observe people on their communication towards some sorts of media. This topic will be addressed to the socio-cultural components such as gender, to point out how men and women are apart from each other. Moreover, no generations in the history that are this close like the 21st century with the emerging of technology. Everyone's childhood was different from each other, it's considerable to point out how adolescents behave. When it comes to nationalities, there

1 Council on Communication and Media - Children, Adolescents, and the Media http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/132/5/958.short

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are developed and developing countries so there is a huge gap between them on how early a country approach to the early form of media that had a significant impact on adolescents like TV. Overall, I hope my research is able to answer the proposed questions in detail and leave no doubt, I aim to better understanding why older generations get upset when kids us nowadays spend too much time on TV and other electronic devices rather than reading books, which has a significant impact on your way of life later on. Moreover, based on my primary and secondary research, I can give out a conclusion on how adolescents will become when they read books or interact with electronic devices. In addition, I expect to point out the difference between men and women, as well as their backgrounds and when were they born.

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Log I selected my topic on the school holiday after term 2. I decided on my topic of media because right now, the mankind is kind of living depend on it. Being independent is good, but when relying too much something is not good at all. I compare the 1970s to 2000s continuity and genders because of usage between fully ubiquity generation compare to black-and-white-TV generation and the different perspectives on medias. At the beginning, I’m totally lost because I have no idea what to do. However, after my teacher provides me a detailed explanation of what I am going to write in my PIP, I was able to draw out a plan. It took me a week to finishing up the survey and 2 weeks to spread it out to friends and relatives. I ensure all my questionnaire, observations and interview was ethical, as I ensure respondents under 14 years old had parental consent before taking the survey. The questions for the interview was the last week, when I found out the information that I can’t conduct from the survey, I started asking people. By the end of today, August 19th, I finally complete the mini PIP, with included statistics and quotes from my primary research, as long as analysis from previous conducted research.

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Chapter One: First Sight Books, one of the first form of media, since the ancient civilization, when writing system was created, they use various type of material like rock, trees, clay, bones to write on. Later then we got scrolls, manuscripts and books. Books show you the pathways of your life. More books mean one’s mind is opened to different ideas. Books contains knowledge of cultural and evolutionary. Most importantly, book teaches you social norms. TVs, radios, music, Internet also show you the pathways of your life. However, with millions TV shows and channels, various artists from time to time and the ubiquity of Internet, you are surrounded with million pathways. With the right education, you are able to choose the right way, however, if you take the pathway you should not been taken, it will have a significant impact on your life. Typically, people from older generation tend to have a negative view on how adolescents these day. They always compare how they lived and how kids us nowadays live. It always starts with: “When I was your age, …” In my interview primary research, one Baby Boomer male said: “When I was the age of the kids these days, I read books, do chores, wrestling with friends and play on the field till dusk”. His teenager life is totally different from young generation these day. One Millennial female claims that she “can’t live without her electronic devices, music and always find an alternative way to get connected”. This shows that older generations are hard to keep up the emerging of technology, and besides, they have the capable of living without them. The presence of technology is common to the Millennial, since they are everywhere. Their acceptance opposed to the older generation as electronic devices are the must-have for young generation. The figure below shows that nearly 70% people answered the survey use their computers, phones the most due to the mobility, lightweight and easy to control with one hand. The electronic devices can do everything, from checking the news to entertainment, it can do everything. They make the product so good that users can’t deny using those. Plus, the Internet has the information that you can get within 1 second, E-books and e-

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newspaper, email and Messenger to shorten the distance between people, it is hard to resist the benefits from using them.

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Chapter Two: Hidden Faces Most kids nowadays plugged into the electronic devices before they know how to read. Technology can be part of a healthy childhood; however, this privilege shouldn’t be abused. Technology can be used as a tool for your kid to learn the alphabet, educational games for kindergarten and primary students, in order to encourage to kids to study by using interactive games or teen to research on the Internet. Social media, a place to share pictures, marketing or sharing the joy to everyone. Since it connects to people around the world, it appears to be a society. However, social medias have been an addiction to teens nowadays. One Generation Y said: “I can see a level of addiction growing amongst young people. I have noticed that people tend to ‘hide’ behind social media rather than speak to people face-to-face”. It has been reported that social media use is rapidly increasing, in particularly spending more time on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.2 With this increase in social media adolescents tend to evaluate their own self-worth and popularity based on how many friends they have or how many likes they get on their profile pictures on Facebook3 or followers on Instagram. What adolescents upload on social media tends to be a happiest day of their life, a flawless selfie or having a blast on the post. A positive feedback or likes on social media should boost levels of self-esteem4. In addition, research has shown that girls are more likely to show physical appearance comparison and with the pressure of posting photos online they are more active on sites such as Instagram and Facebook. Girls tend to show more social comparison online which are self-relevant and can be threating to self-worth, which can lead to higher levels of depression and lower levels of self-esteem.5 The vast of majority of children and young people over 12 have a Facebook account – only a small minority did not have one and this was primarily due to strict parental control.6 Those who did not have access felt they were somewhat socially isolated and to some degree excluded.7 It is easy to understand since these days, an electronic device is not as

2 Seo, Houston, Knight, Kennedy & Inglish, 2014 3 Cookingham & Ryan, 2015 4 Burrow & Rainone, 2016 5 NEsi & Prinstein, 2015 6 Australian Communications and Media Authority – Like, post, share: Young Australians’ experience of social media, Aug 2011, p.23 7 Ibid

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expensive as 10 years ago, with 91% of teenagers use computer8 to access the internet. In the reality, the one who hasn’t signed up for a social media account would be asked: “Everyone is using it, and it would be weird if you don’t, so why don’t you?” What it meant was we are all social creatures, it’s the simple human trait that affect us all. Whether we are shy or outgoing, in deep down, there is always the desire of connected to people, who share a common interest. To shy teenagers, they find it hard to express their emotions, stutter when expressing an idea or they don’t want to show people their true personality because of judgements and criticism. Social media can be used to show their other faces. One person did the survey think that “social media is the perfect place for the, to show their true personality (bad boy/girl, nasty, lewd, etc.) because they can fake their account name, and no one will blame them for that action or their character.” By using a fake name, which is against social medias’ policy, they are able to do whatever they want, become nasty or simply just avoid judgements and criticism of peers and family. Moreover, social medias play a role in the lives of young people beyond a communication vehicle. As they have been an integrated part of adolescents’ lives, the interaction they have through the sites carried over into offline world and vice versa. Therefore, the impact of online communication doesn’t confine on online space but carry out into real world. There are many cases of disputation on social media can lead to banging someone out because some stupid status or lost a fight in real world and go home to pick up the fight online. Adolescents recognize the number of user on social media as a key to express their identity freely. These people often described as keyboard warrior9.

8 Roy Morgan Single Source – Key indicators of Aussie teenagers online, June 2015 https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussie-teens-and-kids-online 9 A person who acts tough, or puts down others over the Internet Urban Dictionary https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Keyboard%20Warrior

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Chapter Three: Media and Identity Before the electronic devices, even before the legendary Nokia phone, go farther backward we have the TV. The TV was first introduced in Australia in 1975. It quickly gains the popularity among children as well as adults. Today, we have thousands of TV shows, cartoons, channels to watch. According to a research, Australians (aged 14+) watch over 18 hours of television a week on average10. That’s 5 times more than the doctor’s recommendation of 30 minutes per day. The problem is the content that your child exposed to on TV. As children grow older, into their adolescent stage, their mental, physical, social and emotional change. They start picking up things from their surrounding and grow. Specific channels contain cultivate stereotypic views of gender roles and race as well as drugs and alcoholic drinks. During a football game, the commercial break somehow always has to be a beer commercial. There is no denying as alcohol a common part of Australian culture. It gathers friends, and as widely promoted as fun, there is no surprise that adolescents want to try it. In fact, 49 percent of Australian adults believe that underage drinking under parental supervision in the home is acceptable11.This may affect a child’s identity as they grown up. They might associate with bad friends at school, using drugs and hurt their own reputation and shame themselves. Media does affect children on their physical aggression and stereotypes thinking. Most boys nowadays like playing violent video games like GTA or Call of Duty, which involves gun, killing, blood and gores. After the game or long period of exposure to the game, they will become aggressive. In worst scenario, they can commit a crime just because in their mind, the reality just like the game. You died or got busted then 5 seconds later, you back alive. However, there is a way to cure this, books. Book teaches kids to stay calm, read and think, which make kid wiser, collect the information. When facing with obstacle on the pathway of growing up, kid starts to adapt and with concentration, it’s easier for them to overcome it compare to who doesn’t.

10 Roy Morgan research, 2016 http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7069-more-time-watching-television-than-using-internet-at-home-australiaseptember-2016-201611291605 11 Bupa Healthwatch research

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Conclusion This investigation has allowed me to become more aware of media’s daily usage and the content that exposed to me. I have learnt that, shockingly, adolescents have been depending too much on their phone. Surprisingly, through the interview I found a few people can live just with books. I have developed an understanding behind parents giving children their phone to calm them down and some good sides of using media as a tool. My research has allowed me to sufficiently declare the huge role of media on adolescents. This project not only discuss the different between male and female usage, but also adult’s youth as well as today adolescents. However, due to the limitation of report on book reading and other form of media, I can only provide a brief, and yet, detail within the resource conducted. By comparing, contrasting, and combining knowledge through research and conducting, I believe my methodologies work thoroughly. If I can start over this again, I would plan the things that will be helpful for my report first rather than researching to get the basic understandings. It results in insufficient data on the numbers of book reader since 70s to 2000s. Secondly, I would have started this from the beginning of the holidays instead of leaving it to the second week. With that being sad, if I hadn’t experience and overcome these obstacles, my mini PIP wouldn’t have been this rewarding and exhausting like now. Luckily, I learned something after this.

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Resource List     

Australian Communications and Media Authority – Like, post, share: Young Australians’ experience of social media, Aug 2011, p.23 Bupa Healthwatch research Burrow & Rainone, 2016 Cookingham & Ryan, 2015 Council on Communication and Media - Children, Adolescents, and the Media

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/132/5/958.short      

https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussie-teens-and-kidsonline https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Keyboard%20Warrior Nesi & Prinstein, 2015 Roy Morgan research, 2016 Roy Morgan Single Source – Key indicators of Aussie teenagers online, June 2015 Seo, Houston, Knight, Kennedy & Inglish, 2014 Urban Dictionary

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