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cover of episode Ysabel Gerrard, "The Kids Are Online: Confronting the Myths and Realities of Young Digital Life" (U California Press, 2025)

Ysabel Gerrard, "The Kids Are Online: Confronting the Myths and Realities of Young Digital Life" (U California Press, 2025)

2025/4/13
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Ysabel Gerrard: 本书并非一开始就计划成为一本书，而是由多个独立的研究项目逐渐发展而来，直到找到一个核心概念（悖论）将这些项目串联起来才最终成书。我的研究并非以批判社交媒体为出发点，而是抱着开放的态度去收集和理解青少年的体验。我对将社交媒体的影响简单地归类为“好”或“坏”的确定性框架感到不满，因为它没有考虑到使用者的能动性。青少年在社交媒体上表达的关于社交媒体与其关系的观点中，充满了悖论，这些悖论强烈地体现在我的数据中，不容忽视。“悖论”的概念源于对青少年与社交媒体关系的确定性框架的质疑，以及数据中青少年自身表达的悖论性体验。社交媒体平台的算法会根据用户的行为数据创建用户的“算法身份”，并向其推送更多类似内容，这使得用户即使想摆脱某个话题（如负面心理健康内容）也难以做到，造成了悖论。本书的研究方法不仅关注数据收集，更重视研究伦理，力求准确和道德地呈现受访者的观点。本书的研究方法不仅是方法论上的，也是伦理上的，力求诚实和严谨。青少年对网络安全的看法与其对匿名使用的看法密切相关，特别是与他们使用的昵称和身份有关。即使数据量有限，但由于研究内容的社会重要性和研究结果的独特性，我仍然选择将其纳入本书。数字照片编辑技术与传统媒体对身体形象的塑造相比，其独特性在于用户可以自行编辑自身图像，但其对身体形象标准的影响并非完全不同于以往。本书的结论部分既包含对有害现象的明确批判和建议，也探讨了如何以更积极的方式与社交媒体的悖论共存。接受社交媒体中存在的悖论，并尝试在日常生活中与之共存，可能比试图完全解决问题更有效。我的下一个研究项目将集中在数字照片编辑和当代审美标准之间的关系上。我的另一个研究方向是学校里的meme账号，这将是一个全新的研究领域。

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Ysabel Gerrard's book, "The Kids Are Online," wasn't initially planned as a book but evolved from various research projects on mental health, content moderation, and anonymous apps. The unifying theme became the paradoxes of social media use among young people.
  • The book evolved from separate research projects.
  • A key concept is the paradox of social media use.
  • The book combines different projects and ideas with a clear through line.

Shownotes Transcript

How do young people use digital platforms? In The Kids are Online: Confronting the Myths and Realities of Young Digital Life)* *(U California Press, 2025), Ysabel Gerrard), a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Society) at the University of Sheffield) explores the understandings and experience of young people as they navigate both the online and offline world. Drawing on a range of sociological, digital and creative methods, the book punctures many myths around young people’s digital lives, showing both the potential as well as the problems of contemporary online spaces. Framed through the idea of the paradoxes of social media for young people, the book’s analysis is insightful and engaging, as well as deeply theoretically informed. The book is essential reading across the social sciences and humanities, as well as for anyone interested in understanding contemporary digital life.

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