Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual Transitions
By focusing attention on the ways that the media manifold fosters visual practices of presentational work for Generation Z, this article examines the active and relational nature of youth’s engagement with visual self-images during the transition between high school and university. Drawing on in-dep...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211047875 |
| _version_ | 1819088745148710912 |
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| author | Michelle Gorea |
| author_facet | Michelle Gorea |
| author_sort | Michelle Gorea |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | By focusing attention on the ways that the media manifold fosters visual practices of presentational work for Generation Z, this article examines the active and relational nature of youth’s engagement with visual self-images during the transition between high school and university. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 35 youth between the ages of 15–22, the analysis examines how the relational contexts of family, school, and peers, alongside the socioeconomic and gendered dimensions of young people’s everyday lives work to shape the different ways that youth engage in visual processes of becoming; in terms of becoming who they are and who they want themselves to be. Findings reveal that although youth’s visual self-performances parallel contemporary theorizations of mediatization, self-identity, and visuality, I argue that more attention should be paid to the nuances of transitional moments among young people, and the precise ways in which they navigate practices of “looking,” which are tightly bound up with heightened expectations around visual performance and projection of the self. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T21:56:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cd46887a980e483595b67fb6f34e025f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T21:56:55Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-cd46887a980e483595b67fb6f34e025f2022-12-21T18:48:56ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512021-09-01710.1177/20563051211047875Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual TransitionsMichelle GoreaBy focusing attention on the ways that the media manifold fosters visual practices of presentational work for Generation Z, this article examines the active and relational nature of youth’s engagement with visual self-images during the transition between high school and university. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 35 youth between the ages of 15–22, the analysis examines how the relational contexts of family, school, and peers, alongside the socioeconomic and gendered dimensions of young people’s everyday lives work to shape the different ways that youth engage in visual processes of becoming; in terms of becoming who they are and who they want themselves to be. Findings reveal that although youth’s visual self-performances parallel contemporary theorizations of mediatization, self-identity, and visuality, I argue that more attention should be paid to the nuances of transitional moments among young people, and the precise ways in which they navigate practices of “looking,” which are tightly bound up with heightened expectations around visual performance and projection of the self.https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211047875 |
| spellingShingle | Michelle Gorea Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual Transitions Social Media + Society |
| title | Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual Transitions |
| title_full | Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual Transitions |
| title_fullStr | Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual Transitions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual Transitions |
| title_short | Becoming Your “Authentic” Self: How Social Media Influences Youth’s Visual Transitions |
| title_sort | becoming your authentic self how social media influences youth s visual transitions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211047875 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michellegorea becomingyourauthenticselfhowsocialmediainfluencesyouthsvisualtransitions |