How social media discourses organize communication online: a multi-level discursive analysis of tensions and contradictions in teens’ online experiences

摘要

Media reports frequently frame youth as foolish but also uniquely vulnerablewhen it comes to social media. However, adult framings of teen online activitiesand teens’ reported experiences regularly differ due to the privileging of adultconcerns. In this paper, we take a youth-centered approach to teen onlineactivities exploring the constitutive processes of social media and the micro-,meso-, and macro-level discourses associated with youth social media use.Through in-depth interviews with 55 culturally and socio-economically diverseyoung people, we examine the contradictions and tensions that organize teens’experiences online, as well as the discursive resources they draw on to navigateonline life. Our research showcases a multi-level discursive analysis that enablesscholars to see how discourses intertwine to organize communication online,foregrounding theoretical implications about how young people resist and reifycertain discourses about social media, as well as how identity and imaginedaudiences are maintained online.