Balance Artists on Social Networking Sites – Young Women with Migrant Backgrounds and their Self-presentations.

Authors

  • Ingrid Onarheim Spjeldnæs
  • Rita Agdal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/pl.v44i1.141122

Keywords:

social networking sites, self-presentation, context collapse, migration, young women

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNS) represent central social arenas in the everyday life of young people. SNS give young people with migrant backgrounds opportunities to keep in touch with family and friends in transnational networks. At the same time, SNS create opportunities to establish and participate in “digital neighbourhoods” with youth in Norway and elsewhere. Activities on SNS involve risk in relation to visibility and exposure and may reproduce and even reinforce processes of marginalisation. Thus, we have asked young women with migrant backgrounds about their considerations when they publish content on SNS.We group interviewed 15 young women aged 16 to 26. The women have lived in Norway for several years and originate from the Greater Middle East and the Horn of Africa. We draw upon perspectives from the field of communication and from symbolic interactionism. Our analysis suggests that the young women present themselves in carefully tailored ways according to the affordances of SNS, such as anonymity, visibility, and persistence. Self-presentations were managed towards several particular yet, large and diverse audiences.  When borders between the various social groups on SNS become blurry, the young women experience the risk of “context collapse”. However, the young women reveal several strategies to deal with such challenges.

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Published

2023-10-02

How to Cite

Onarheim Spjeldnæs, I., & Agdal, R. (2023). Balance Artists on Social Networking Sites – Young Women with Migrant Backgrounds and their Self-presentations. Psyke & Logos, 44(1), 30–49. https://doi.org/10.7146/pl.v44i1.141122

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Articles