ECREA16-Abstract

Thursday, November 10

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ARS04

Children as Audiences 1: Online Content Creation and Interpretation

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Children’s Digital Content Creation

K. Drotner

U. of Southern Denmark, Dept for the Study of Culture, Odense M, Denmark

This paper explores how we may study children’s digital content creation as creative processes of production. Based on a critical examination of ways in

which digital content creation is conceptualised in the research literature, with particular reference to political communication and culturalist approaches,

I identify the very processes of production as an understudied area in media and communication studies and ask: What characterizes children’s digital

content creation as production processes in terms of semiotic expression, social interaction and reflection; and, more briefly, what are the key conditions

necessary to advance the young makers’resources of production? Answers are provided through qualitative analysis of a case study on 114 Danish children’s

film-making conducted July-December 2015. The main insights gained from the empirical analysis are then discussed with particular focus on the institu‑

tional and substantive ramifications that are needed to nurture children’s digital content creation as societal resources, rather than as individual requisites.

The discussion is perspectivised in relation to UNESCO's recent media and information literacy (MIL) initiative.

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The Relationships Between Online (Self-)Sexualization and Sexual Satisfaction and Self-Esteem Among Adolescents and Young Adults

J. van Oosten

, J. Peter

, L. Vandenbosch

University of Amsterdam, Communication Science, Amsterdam, Netherlands

University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Sexualization in the media and its effects on youth have received an increasing amount of attention in the literature. Sexualization is said to occur when

a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics; a person is held to a standard that equates

physical attractiveness with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified; and/or sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person (Zurbriggen et al., 2010).

According to the APATask Force on the sexualization of girls, sexualization in the media can have negative consequences for young people, such as decreases

in self-esteem and sexual satisfaction (Zurbriggen et al., 2010). Recently, discussions around sexualization in the media have extended to self-sexualizing

behaviors in social media (Hall, West, & McIntyre, 2012; Ringrose, 2010, 2011). One particular way in which self-sexualization can occur is in social media

through sexy self-presentation. Scholars have observed that young people post pictures of themselves on their profile pages in which they engage in se‑

ductive or sexy gazing (Kapidzic & Herring, 2014), suggest sexual readiness in their pose (Crescenzi, Araüna, & Tortajada, 2013; Hall et al., 2012), and have

a sexy appearance or are scantily dressed (Crescenzi et al., 2013; Hall et al., 2012; Moreno, Parks, Zimmerman, Brito, & Christakis, 2009; Peluchette & Karl,

2009). Previous research has already shown that the use of social media in general can result in decreased self-esteem and sexual satisfaction (Doornwaard

et al., 2014). However, we still lack knowledge about the consequences of self-sexualizing online behaviors specifically, in the form of posting sexy pictures

online. Moreover, research has hardly differentiated between the consequences of engaging sexy self-presentation and looking at sexy self-presentation

of others. Finally, previous discussions on sexualization have revolved mostly around adolescent girls and young adult women, and as a result we know little

about the influence on adolescent boys or young adult men (Lerum& Dworkin, 2009).The present study thus aimed to investigate the relationship between

either engaging in online sexy self-presentation or looking at others’ sexy self-presentations, and self-esteem and sexual satisfaction. In doing so, we

systematically compared these relationships between adolescent girls, young adult women, adolescent boys, and young adult men. A longitudinal survey

among 1,958 participants showed that consequences that were previously said to occur for sexualization in mass media do not occur for (self-) sexualization

on social media, with one exception: exposure to sexy self-presentations of others on social media decreased sexual satisfaction for adolescent boys. Instead,

selection influences seemed to occur, where higher self-esteem predicted more frequent exposure to sexualization on social media among boys and men,

and sexual satisfaction predicted self-sexualization on social media among girls and women, albeit in different ways. For young adult women, higher sexual

satisfaction predicted a higher frequency of engaging sexy self-presentation. Adolescent girls, on the other hand, showed a negative relationship between

sexual satisfaction and sexy self-presentation. These findings suggest that research may need to take into account (differential) motivations for (self-)

sexualization in addition to consequences.

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Digital Native’s Attitude Towards Intra-Personal Communication

S. Veinberg

RISEBA Riga & Liepaja University, Faculty of Public Relations and Advertising Management, Riga, Latvia

Communications between people has always been one of the most important preconditions for the development of individual subjects, and also for col‑

lective human activities, cultures, and societies. The ability to communicate in modern society is one of the extremely significant ingredients of social com‑

petence. ‘The communications process can be viewed from several different perspectives. Of these, five are of particular importance: a physical, biological,

psychological, socio-cultural, and systemic perspective,’ which is what Jens Allwood believes (Allwood, 2013). Other researchers offer different models

of human communications research: Shannon/Weaver, Gerber, Laswell, Friske, Newcomb,Westley, Jacobson, Mortensen, Kaplan,Windahl, etc. Paradoxical‑

ly, the classics of communication very seldom like to include in their works the perspective of intrapersonal communications which: ‘...have a measurable

impact upon psychological and physical health, and upon people as a whole. With higher levels of intrapersonal communications skills, people are better

able to adapt to stress, experience greater degrees of satisfaction in relationships, gain more friends, and experience less depression and anxiety,’ (Owen

Hargie, 2011). Intrapersonal communications form humanity’s most important characteristic, and also its greatest accomplishment. It is a human ability to