With the spread of social media, we witnessed the multiplication of web’s fig-ures such as influencers and content creators. The pupils in the last years of primary schools (9-11 years old), engaged in a complex task of defining their own identity, are strongly exposed to entertainment contents conveyed by social networks and online video platforms. The present exploratory study, which involved 173 students from a primary school in Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), aims to investigate the role of social media and influencers in the formation and expression of the identities of children, highlighting a universe little known and only superficially explored by teachers and adults with educational roles. The contribution has the twofold objective of: investigat-ing children’s practices related to social networks (in particular those based on video content such as YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat) to offer an over-view of the situation in an age group increasingly targeted by these social networks; making a reflection on how much the figures of content creators and influencers play a role in the identity formation of children in 4th and 5th year of primary school. The results lead to new research questions and educational path to make teachers and par-ents more aware of this issue.

Contestualmente al diffondersi delle piattaforme social, si è assistito alla moltiplicazione, sul web, di figure quali influencers o content creators. Gli studen-ti frequentanti gli ultimi anni di scuola primaria, impegnati in un complesso compito di definizione della propria identità, sono fortemente esposti a contenuti di intratteni-mento veicolati da social e piattaforme video online. La presente ricerca, un’indagine esplorativa che ha coinvolto 173 studenti di una scuola primaria dell’Emilia-Romagna, ha avuto l’obiettivo di indagare il ruolo dei social media e degli influencers nella formazione e nell’espressione identitaria dei giovani in età preadolescenziale, mettendo in risal-to un universo poco conosciuto e solo superficialmente esplorato dagli insegnanti e dagli adulti con ruoli educativi. Il contributo si pone il duplice obiettivo di: indagare le pratiche relative ai social network (in particolare quelli basati sui contenuti video come You-Tube, Twitch, TikTok e Instagram) dei giovani alunni e delle giovani alunne al fine di offrire una panoramica della situazione in una fascia d’età sempre più targhettizzata da questi social; compiere una riflessione su quanto la figura dell’influencer giochi un ruolo nella formazione identitaria dei bambini e delle bambine. I risultati portano a nuove domande di ricerca e a percorsi formativi per consapevolizzare maggiormente insegnanti e genitori su questo tema.

Pratiche mediali, social media e influencers nella formazione e nell’espressione identitaria dei bambini : una ricerca esplorativa = Digital media practices, social media and influencers in children’s identity formation and expression : an exploratory research

Pacetti Elena
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Soriani Alessandro
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
2021

Abstract

With the spread of social media, we witnessed the multiplication of web’s fig-ures such as influencers and content creators. The pupils in the last years of primary schools (9-11 years old), engaged in a complex task of defining their own identity, are strongly exposed to entertainment contents conveyed by social networks and online video platforms. The present exploratory study, which involved 173 students from a primary school in Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), aims to investigate the role of social media and influencers in the formation and expression of the identities of children, highlighting a universe little known and only superficially explored by teachers and adults with educational roles. The contribution has the twofold objective of: investigat-ing children’s practices related to social networks (in particular those based on video content such as YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat) to offer an over-view of the situation in an age group increasingly targeted by these social networks; making a reflection on how much the figures of content creators and influencers play a role in the identity formation of children in 4th and 5th year of primary school. The results lead to new research questions and educational path to make teachers and par-ents more aware of this issue.
2021
Pacetti Elena ; Soriani Alessandro
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/845972
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