Summary lectures Problematic and Beneficial Effects of New Media Use (PBMU)
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Problematic and Beneficial Effects of New Media
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Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
This is an (English) summary of the lectures of the course Problematic and Beneficial Effects of New Media Use (PBMU). Each article begins with a brief overview of the results, and later on, the other information (except for the first item, that was not a research, but a paper).
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problematic and beneficial effects of new media use
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Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
Communicatiewetenschap
Problematic and Beneficial Effects of New Media
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Problematic and Beneficial Effects of New
Media Use (PBMU)
Session 1 – Moral Panics
Internet: typical public discourse
Negroponte (former director; MIT) (positive/prophets) “Digital technology can be a
natural force drawing people into greater world harmony.”
Carr (negative/pessimists) “deep reading has become a struggle.” Because of the Internet
use, he loses ability to focus.
- Mostly more negative people than positive.
- Moral panics always arise with new media.
History of debates
1. 17th century (1674): negative response on drinking coffee. “Should not adapt this
new behaviour.” Thought it would affect the organs, brains etc., particularly for
women. petition.
2. 19th century: Popular novels. Today they are a part of education (Jane Austen,
Charles Dickens). Fiction, romantic aspect. They thought women could suffer
overexcitement from reading + waste household time. Young men would not be able
to distinguish fiction and reality. Same with videogames now: (young) men.
3. 1932: Movies. “The devil’s camera” by 2 religious journalists. Especially youth has
time to go to the movies and had some more money: most at risk.
4. 1954: Comic books. “Seduction of the innocent” by Wertham. They saw it as a cause
of juvenile delinquency (steal etc.). Wanted censorships + US congressional
inquiry: congress invites scientists: what do we know about the effects + censor it?
Reminds of videogames now.
There’s a pattern
- Change: something new
- Conservatives: like things as they are
- Spokesperson bring it to the light: motivates to see threat want to protect their
power (fear of losing it). Sell it by the threats.
- Mostly about the consequences for youth: ‘have to protect youth’: mostly by
censoring.
Panics are motivated by the fear to lose power. The negative books are mostly bestselling.
E.g. “Amusing ourselves to death” by Postman (read abstract).
“Alone together” Sherry Turkle (forerunner in public discourse about mobile phones, but not
very good empirical evidence).
Future moral panics
Virtual Reality, AI Robots.
1
,Moral panics (Cohen)
Conflicts of interests – at community & society levels – and presence of power differentials
which leave some groups vulnerable to such attacks.
He studied youth phenomenon: subcultures. Rockers and mods. Accusations against new
sub-culture.
- Disturbed public order
- Moral condemnation
- Societal response to new youth phenomenon.
3 characteristics of moral panics
1. Uncertainty
o New behaviour: no normative convention yet
o Unknown effects
2. Normative
o Strong moral judgments (morally wrong)
o Establishment (politicians, parents, older people)
o Self-proclaimed experts
3. Often focused on vulnerable groups
o Children, adolescents: “youth”
o Women
o Working class
3 core answers from science
1. Prevalence: how many, how often
2. Causality: Media use X or vice versa?
3. Effect size How strong is the effect?
3 stages in research
New medium societal fears and moral panics science responds:
1. Crime & time: prevalence, simple effects: is it there? Too much time devoted (always
negative) and how many?
2. Complex causal analyses and theory-building: after a few years, when and how?
Moderation/mediation. Deeper understanding of why things happen (why make
videogames people aggressive). Moderating (who), mediating (why).
3. Cumulated evidence: after 10 years, can we be sure? Literature reviews, meta-
analyses.
Biased researchers?
Research subjects are influenced by societal beliefs and media reports on effects. Leads to
view that fear is justified. The findings against the negative effects are difficult
acknowledged: mostly ignored (no effect: “maybe methodology wasn’t right”). fear
supportive politicians promote fear for political gain.
- Moral panic wheel (Ferguson): because of moral panics, scientists are needed.
2
,Class
Workshops: how mass media communicates about a certain new media (positive/negative,
how much).
Database: ISI Web of Knowledge
3
, Session 2 – Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying:
Any behaviour performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups that
repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intended to inflict harm or
discomfort on others.“
Important characteristics:
1. Harmful intent
2. Repetition
3. Use of electronic/digital media
4. Power imbalance (anonymity provides power imbalance, also technical skills)
Bullying among adolescents by Juvonen (2003).
Psychological characteristics of the bully and the victim:
Depression: feeling that you do everything wrong
Social anxiety: permantly afraid that others will laugh at you, negatively judge you.
Loneliness: nobody to talk to, no really good friends in life that you can depend on.
Social status: ‘the coolest kids’
Avoidance: people that you don’t like to hang out with.
Popularity: perceived popularity
Internalizing problems: does not seek help from others, stays alone with problems.
Conduct problems: person gets in conflict with norms; fight
School disengagement: how people start to miss classes, drop school grades, unfocused,
problems in school.
Bully: considered a high social status (‘coolest kid’), doesn’t feel lonely/ social anxiety
depression, avoid the bullies. But do have school disengagement issues.
Victim: chance on depression, social anxiety (insecure) and very lonely, low social status,
people avoid the victim a bit. Also internalizing problems and bit school disengagement.
Bully victim: people do not like to hang out with bully victims, they do have a low social
status. Have a lot of conduct problems and school disengagement.
Differences between online and traditional (offline) bullying:
1. Cyberbullying is perceived anonymous
2. Cyberbullying has more accessibility: 24/7
3. Reach: Greater potential audience
4. Don’t see immediate effects; not being aware of consequences
5. Distressful for victim: doesn’t know who enemy is.
6. Permanence: most of content stays on the Internet
7. In offline: teachers/parents can observe and intervene. Mostly kids don’t tell their
parents in cyberbullying because of the obstacles. Livingston (2006) shows that more
children are reporting being bullied than parents think.
8. Different skills: offline – physical skills, online – technology skills.
4
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