Review of Researching Social Media with Children | Arun Kumar Gond

BOOK REVIEW

Researching Social Media with Children: #DigitalEthnography #Storytelling
by Antonio Silva Esquinas, Jorge Ramiro Perez Suarez, Raquel Rebeca Cordero Verdugo, Julio Diaz Galan

Routledge
2024, 105 pages, Rs 1,622
ISBN: 9781032506173

Reviewed by Arun Kumar Gond

Social media is more than just a platform for connection- it shapes how young people form identities, express emotions, and navigate reality. This book explores their digital world, raising critical questions about research ethics, commercialization, and online pressures. Through interactive workshops and digital storytelling; it empowers youth as active participants rather than passive users. Divided into six chapters, it examines digital identity, ethical research, storytelling in livestreaming, digital citizenship, and the evolving online landscape. More than research, it is a call to rethink digital responsibility, ensuring young people engage with social media consciously, creatively, and ethically.

Social media is no longer just a tool for connection; it has become a vast virtual space where young people shape their identities, express emotions, and build relationships. The chapter “Logging In: An Introduction” explores this evolving digital landscape through research conducted by the Knowledge and Research Group on Social Problems (GCIPS). It examines how social media profoundly influences young people’s social interactions and mental well-being. Two major studies- Project A.I.Driana and CONFIDOMINA2.NET- reveal that while young people believe they control their online presence, the digital world often operates beyond their grasp. Issues like cyberbullying, online exploitation, and emotional distress are on the rise. Educational institutions, despite their best intentions, sometimes exacerbate these vulnerabilities by integrating digital platforms into learning, exposing students to increased psychological pressures. This research highlights that social media is not merely a platform but a force shaping young people’s thoughts, relationships, and self-perception. Traditional research methods fall short in capturing this complexity; leading scholars to employ digital storytelling as a means to connect with youth experiences and emotions. Additionally, a specialized ethical framework has been designed to ensure digital privacy and protection. The chapter concludes that social media is not just entertainment- it is a powerful force that influences self-identity, relationships, and worldviews. To safeguard young people, we need innovative research methods, greater awareness, and thoughtful policies tailored for the digital age.

The chapter “Fatal System Error: Current Structural Problems in Academia” examines how universities have shifted from being centres of independent learning to profit-driven institutions. Education, once rooted in humanistic values, is now shaped by market forces, where financial efficiency and economic utility overshadow critical thinking and intellectual growth. Knowledge has been commodified, and research is increasingly dictated by profitability rather than societal needs. The rise of digital capitalism, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has allowed major corporations to dominate education, influencing learning processes to serve commercial interests. Universities, compelled to operate under market logic, emphasize employability and skills-based training over holistic education. As social mobility declines; degrees no longer guarantee better opportunities but instead fuel intense job market competition, leading to precarious employment. Students, now treated as customers, expect education to cater to immediate career goals rather than fostering lifelong learning. Universities, in turn, prioritize productivity and student satisfaction, further entrenching a consumerist model. This shift threatens academic freedom, marginalizes critical research, and deepens educational inequalities. The chapter calls for reclaiming education as a public good, advocating for research and learning that serve society rather than market interests.

Criminological research in digital spaces, particularly when studying vulnerable groups like children, requires a nuanced ethical approach. “Terms of Service: The Ethics of Working with Children Online” highlights the limitations of traditional regulatory ethics, which often impose rigid, standardized guidelines that fail to accommodate the complexities of real-world research. The digital environment blurs the boundaries between public and private spaces, raising concerns about consent, confidentiality, and covert observation. Different academic bodies provide conflicting ethical perspectives, underscoring the need for a more adaptive framework. The MARVEL Protocol offers a solution by advocating situated, dialogic, and longitudinal ethics, ensuring that ethical considerations evolve alongside the research process. Instead of enforcing static rules, it promotes ongoing engagement, open dialogue with participants, and continuous ethical reflection. Real-world cases demonstrate its effectiveness in preserving research integrity while prioritizing participant well-being. By replacing bureaucratic rigidity with thoughtful ethical adaptation; this approach redefines criminological research, making it more humane, responsible, and ethically sound in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

In the digital age, ethnographic research has evolved beyond traditional fieldwork, adapting to online spaces where identities, interactions, and cultures are continuously reshaped. “Uploading Stories: Weaving Digital Ethnography” explores the intricate process of studying young people in digital environments, emphasizing both methodological flexibility and ethical responsibility. Ethnography is more than a set of techniques-it is a research logic that shapes how we observe, interpret, and represent lived experiences. With the rise of social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch, researchers must navigate the blurred lines between public and private spheres, where self-expression, identity formation, and peer validation unfold in real time. One of the key ethical dilemmas in digital ethnography is the question of covert research. While traditional ethics emphasize informed consent, digital spaces often challenge these rigid guidelines. The concept of lurking- observing without direct engagement- has been both criticized and defended; as it allows for an authentic understanding of online behaviours without disrupting natural interactions. Another emerging phenomenon, the pornography of pain, highlights the way young users share emotional distress as a form of social currency, reinforcing the need for sensitive and ethical research approaches.

In the age of social media, storytelling has transcended traditional narratives, becoming a fundamental part of digital interactions. Individuals craft and curate their online identities using filters, music, captions, and avatars, transforming everyday experiences into compelling visual tales. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok provide dynamic tools that allow users to experiment with self-expression in fluid and evolving ways. However, beyond casual storytelling, digital ethnography uncovers deeper layers of meaning, emotion, and social impact. This chapter, “Digital Storytelling and Ethnographic Creativity in Livestreaming,” explores The Story Workshops, where participants engaged in structured content creation across Instagram, TikTok, and Telegram. Through role-playing exercises, they developed fictional personas that reflected diverse gender identities, social roles, and exaggerated archetypes. Some characters satirized consumer culture, while others redefined masculinity or explored outsider perspectives. These digital performances became a lens through which researchers examined youth interactions with online spaces; highlighting how social media shapes self-perception and belonging. The process was both liberating and challenging. While participants enjoyed creative freedom, they also felt the pressure of public scrutiny, striving for perfection in their digital personas. The workshops underscored the power of sensory and visual ethnography, revealing how digital spaces evoke aspirations, anxieties, and emotions. Ultimately, digital storytelling is more than entertainment- it is a profound ethnographic tool, capturing the evolving narratives of youth in an interconnected world.

This chapter “Just Chatting: A Gathering of Future Challenges” explore the digital world expands, technology and artificial intelligence continue to reshape society, influencing personal interactions, work, entertainment, and knowledge production. Traditional research methods, including ethnography, must evolve to align with this rapidly shifting landscape. Science, too, has always transformed alongside social change, as seen in the revolutionary works of Descartes and Bacon. Today, we stand at another crossroads; redefining how we approach knowledge in a digital era. Young people, deeply immersed in this digital reality, engage with online spaces in complex ways. Even small age gaps create vast differences in perception, necessitating fluid and context-driven ethical approaches. Meanwhile, digital platforms, once envisioned as democratic spaces, have become unregulated cyberbazaars. Influencers shape unattainable ideals, spreading hyper-consumerism and toxic narratives. To counteract this, responsible digital citizenship must be cultivated through education, awareness, and inclusivity. By bridging generational gaps and fostering ethical engagement, we can build a more equitable, conscious, and empowered digital society.

This book offers deep insights into children’s engagement in digital spaces and the ethical complexities of researching social media. It effectively presents digital storytelling and interactive methods, but its brevity (105 pages) may limit the depth of analysis. While it raises meaningful discussions on privacy, consent, and power dynamics, it could have explored the long-term impacts of social media and policy implications more extensively. Overall, it is a valuable research work with an innovative approach, though it could benefit from broader coverage and deeper exploration.

(Review Author: Arun Kumar Gond, Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Allahabad | Email: arungond413[at]gmail.com )