The Impact of Social Media on Teenage 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” (2015).

This research study would orbit around questions such as “What is the overall emotional impact of social media upon girls under the age of 17?” or something similar such as, “What is the overall impact of social media on the self-perception of teenage girls?” Hence, this research design will take a social constructivism stance. 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 media, this open-ended format really is important for it to thrive and to gather the most authentic data. The interview format, being on-camera and recorded, also allows the researchers to make note of any gestures, tics, or facial expressions that perhaps indicate a particular emotional response, or level of discomfort or sadness regarding the subject. The interview simply opens the door for the researcher to gather more data, and hopefully more compelling and revelatory data.

The target population is females aged 12-17 who use social media on a daily basis. Identifying and recruiting participants would have to be done in conjunction with the help and cooperation of a local middle/high school. The research study would have to be backed by a major university in order to give the study credibility, and so that the school would approve of granting access to their students. Parental permission would have to be obtained in writing. The participation of all teenage girls would of course be strictly voluntary. All interested and curious parties would receive a written explanation of the overall intent of the study, to shed light on the impact of social media on the ultimate overall emotional well-being of these young women, and how social media can influence their sense of self. The study needs to be presented in such a way that prospective participants and their parents can clearly understand the inherent benefits of such an endeavor, and how shedding more light on this issue is crucial for society.
As already stated, the data collection method would be an interview format, and keeping answers non-restrictive and open-ended would empower us to better answer our research questions, because girls would essentially be answering in their own words, ideally providing us with the most honest and most illuminating answers to help answer our questions.

These data collection methods are consistent with the methods used in past and current research on the topic. Alternative methods would be asking the participants to complete a survey. However, the interview format for the collection of data is superior, because it also allows the researchers to gather data from observation as well.

The quality and reliability of the data would be ensured by making certain all researchers were ready with follow up questions in case the participants said things that weren’t completely clear. Because the participants are so young, they might not excel at articulating themselves well, so researchers need to be prepared to ask supplementary data to ensure they are getting clear answers.

The data would be analyzed in terms of coding, coding responses that indicate strong emotions in regards to the impact that social media has, and then creating a scale of emotions in response to social media that corresponds to words the participants used.

The target audience would be our peers, other researchers, parents, teachers, lawmakers, childhood development experts and other relevant individuals.