Social Media on Adolescent Girls

One current issue in society that has long been pervasive throughout the decades has been the power of the media and the negative impact it has wielded on adolescent girls. MTV videos, the fashion and modeling industries, commercials, film and television all show unrealistic portrayals of women with perfect appearances and hard to achieve bodies. Young people have engaged in the process of comparing themselves to what they see in the media for a while now; this is an issue that has been both recorded and researched. Social media, however, is a different form of provocation that can spark such comparisons and negative feelings (Lenhart et al., 2010). The era of social media has only complicated this issue, as pre-teen and teenage girls now have more intimate examples of models, sexually provocative women, luxury lifestyles and other visual triggers that can make them feel bad about themselves. Just as young people can harness social media as a tool for sharing and connecting with others, it can also be something that has a negative and nebulous impact on adolescents, with girls in particular being vulnerable (Knorr, 2017). Another study conducted by Common Sense Research found that when it comes to girls, “35 percent are worried about people tagging them in unattractive photos; 27 percent feel stressed about how they look in posted photos; 22 percent felt bad about themselves if their photos were ignored”... This type of design refers to a sociological theory of understanding and perspective where human development is based and connected via engagement with other humans, as noted by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. The specific research design will be an interview format, with each participant being interviewed on camera in a one-on-one format. This method of data collection will go hand in hand with the grounded theory that the research is centered in. Grounded theory will ensure that all interpretations emerge from the exact data collected. The interview process will help refine the data, and hopefully a common theme will emerge from the data particulars.
This design is ideal for the type of research being gathered and the sensitivity of the research question. This is largely a result of the fact that an interview format will allow the participants to answer freely and to select their own words, using their own vocabulary, as influenced by their genuine thoughts, feelings and opinions. In order to really capture an authentic slice of what each of the participants experience in regards to social…