{"id":15827,"date":"2024-05-06T00:26:05","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T22:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalevidence.com\/?p=15827"},"modified":"2024-05-07T09:37:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T07:37:09","slug":"teens-see-social-media-algorithms-as-accurate-reflections-of-themselves-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalevidence.com\/en\/teens-see-social-media-algorithms-as-accurate-reflections-of-themselves-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Teens see social media algorithms as accurate reflections of themselves, study\u00a0finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teens see social media algorithms as accurate reflections of themselves, study\u00a0finds<\/h1>\n
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Teens say \u2018for you\u2019 algorithms get them right.\/ Photo illustration by Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Nora McDonald<\/a>, George Mason University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Source: The Conversation<\/a><\/p>\n

Social media apps regularly present teens with algorithmically selected content often described as \u201cfor you,\u201d suggesting, by implication, that the curated content is not just \u201cfor you\u201d but also \u201cabout you\u201d \u2013 a mirror reflecting important signals about the person you are.<\/p>\n

All users of social media are exposed to these signals, but researchers understand that teens are at an especially malleable stage<\/a> in the formation of personal identity. Scholars have begun to demonstrate that technology is having generation-shaping effects<\/a>, not merely in the way it influences cultural outlook, behavior and privacy, but also in the way it can shape personality among those brought up on social media.<\/p>\n

The prevalence of the \u201cfor you\u201d message raises important questions about the impact of these algorithms on how teens perceive themselves and see the world, and the subtle erosion of their privacy, which they accept in exchange for this view.<\/p>\n

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Teens like their algorithmic reflection<\/h2>\n

Inspired by these questions, my colleagues John Seberger<\/a> and Afsaneh Razi<\/a> of Drexel University and I<\/a> asked: How are teens navigating this algorithmically generated milieu, and how do they recognize themselves in the mirror it presents?<\/p>\n

In our qualitative interview study of teens 13-17, we found that personalized algorithmic content does seem to present what teens interpret as a reliable mirror image of themselves<\/a>, and that they very much like the experience of seeing that social media reflection.<\/p>\n

Teens we spoke with say they prefer a social media completely customized for them, depicting what they agree with, what they want to see and, thus, who they are.<\/p>\n

If I look up something that is important to me that will show up as one of the top posts [and] it\u2019ll show, like, people [like me] that are having a nice discussion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It turns out that the teens we interviewed believe social media algorithms like TikTok\u2019s have gotten so good that they see the reflections of themselves in social media as quite accurate. So much so that teens are quick to attribute content inconsistencies with their self-image as anomalies \u2013 for instance, the result of inadvertent engagement with past content, or just a glitch.<\/p>\n

At some point I saw something about that show, maybe on TikTok, and I interacted with it without actually realizing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When personalized content is not agreeable or consistent with their self-image, the teens we interviewed say they scroll past it, hoping never to see it again. Even when these perceived anomalies take the form of extreme hypermasculine or \u201cnasty\u201d content, teens do not attribute this to anything about themselves specifically, nor do they claim to look for an explanation in their own behaviors. According to teens in our interviews, the social media mirror does not make them more self-reflective or challenge their sense of self.<\/p>\n

One thing that surprised us was that while teens were aware that what they see in their \u201cfor you\u201d feed is the product of their scrolling habits on social media platforms, they are largely unaware or unconcerned that that data captured across apps contributes to this self-image. Regardless, they don\u2019t see their \u201cfor you\u201d feed as a challenge to their sense of self, much less a risk to their self-identity \u2013 nor, for that matter, any basis for concern at all.<\/p>\n