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So many shapes so many functions

Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 6:47 am
by Arzina3225
Also laugh along at the digital mockery that young people display online. On Instagram accounts such as ' Sarcasm Only ', young people tag themselves or their friends under images with texts such as "Being cremated is my last hope for a smoking hot body" or "I'm naturally funny because my life is a joke" . Young people do not intend to hurt each other. The tags serve as mocking, humorous reflection on conversations and mutual relationships, with the aim of confirming and strengthening the mutual bond.



Social media are not just a fun pastime, they are also an important tool for many young people in managing their social lives. Different social media platforms play different roles in this. For example, if we look at the two biggest climbers of the past few years – Instagram and Snapchat – we see that these platforms (also) play different roles.

According to research by Newcom, 66 percent of korean phone number whatsapp young people (15-19 years) use Instagram and 67 percent use Snapchat daily in 2017. Although the use of Facebook is still higher among this group (80%), we see a clear decrease compared to 2016, where we see an increase in use of Instragram and Snapchat.

Image

Instagram
Instagram is the platform to showcase yourself. Here it is (mainly) about your public self. Very important if your social status within the school, class or group of friends is still uncertain. Where the schoolyard and the auditorium used to be the places to work on your image, Instagram is now at least as important. It is a place where young people can create an image, with the emphasis on creating.

You decide what the other person does and does not see, which often results in a very positive reflection of the much more unruly life in reality. They share which new sneakers they bought, how they hang out with friends on the beach, watch the sunset and that beautiful goal they scored last weekend: 'Look at me, this is me.' Giving each other a like means recognition. Not getting likes is disastrous: apparently you are not as popular as hoped. That means working even harder on your public self…

Snapchat
Snapchat is more about intimate communication. Here, communication takes place (even) more behind closed doors. By building a streak with each other here – by exchanging at least one photo with a friend every day – young people confirm and strengthen their friendship, for example. They get closer because they share images with each other that others do not see and there is a lot of meaning in the length of the streak. The longer, the more value you apparently attach to the friendship. It is not without reason that young people are genuinely upset when a streak is lost …

On Snapchat, young people build something intimate, something that is only visible and meaningful among themselves or within a safe group of friends.