Module 1 OLJ task 1
The results are in, social media participation can lead to multi-dimensional outcomes and well-being for LGBTQ+ youth!
In 2017, a large study was done to ascertain the benefits of social media on LGBTQ+ youth (Shelley, Eaton, McInroy, Leung, & Krishnan, 2021). The study surveyed over six thousand youth aged 14-29 and delved into the influence and use of a range of social media sites. The results are fascinating and encouraging, with the authors stating the benefits of a range of social media platforms can lead to emotional support, education, anonymous identity expression and information access (Shelley et al, 2021). The authors provide an engaging discussion on how social media provides safer conditions for gender expression than offline communities and supports this with a wealth of supportive references.
The article is the most uplifting LGBTQ+ social media article I’ve read in some time, and I think this has to do with the presentation by the authors. The article and survey are presented from a positive stance. The survey questions primarily consist of beneficial factors, such as ‘makes me feel loved’, ‘lets me share my story’. This positive stance I do think needs to be objectively balanced (which I will discuss later), however I agree the study results and discussion from these authors demonstrates some very prominent benefits to social media including the opportunity for expression, supportive communities and non-judgemental information access. When youth participate on social media issues of stigmatisation can be navigated to emotional support and connection.
From an objective view of this article, I do think the focus on benefits (which this study was created for) leads to positive results. For example, a large number of questions around platform use were answered with ‘because I’m bored’. I think the article could have benefited from some analysis of negative social media features such as overuse, escapist coping and unrealistic comparisons, to give a balanced view of the study (Robinson, Bailey & Byrne, 2021).
Overall, this article was very uplifting and provided a fascinating look into the benefits of social media for LGBTQ+ youth, and I appreciated the importance of this study for 21st century youth.
References
Robinson, J., Bailey, E., & Byrne, S. (2017, December 12). Social media can be bad for youth mental health, but there are ways it can help. https://theconversation.com/social-media-can-be-bad-for-youth- mental-health-but-there-are-ways-it-can-help-87613#:~:text=Young%20people%20spend%20a%20lot,eating%20concerns%2C%20and%20suicide%20risk.
Shelley, L.C., Eaton, A, E., McInroy, L.B., Leung, V.W.Y., & Krishnan, S. (2021). Can social media participation enhance LGBTQ+ youth well being? Development of the social media benefits scale. Social media + society, (7). DOI: 10.1177/2056305121988931