Dares in the virtual : the construction of social media challenges : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

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dc.confidentialEmbargo: No
dc.contributor.advisorvan Ommen, Clifford
dc.contributor.authorNazari, Victoria
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-22T21:35:25Z
dc.date.available2024-07-22T21:35:25Z
dc.date.issued2023-12-30
dc.description.abstractSocial Media Challenges (SMC), which are structured activities completed by participants with the engagement posted to social media, have resulted in injury and even death. Conceptualised as a social phenomenon, SMC involve a range of stakeholders, including participants, consumers, journalists and researchers. This article-based thesis explores how different stakeholders construct dangerous SMC and what the implications of these constructions are for participants. News reports, academic material, and YouTube comments were analysed using thematic discourse analysis grounded in a social constructionist paradigm. A qualitative systematic review and evidence synthesis was used to critically explore the existing research on dangerous SMC. The review indicates SMC to be a relatively understudied, complex, and dynamic phenomenon. Yet explanations for participation tend to be developmental, psychological, and individualistic, imposing a range of common, acontextual explanations for youth behaviour. The subsequent three analysis chapters consider constructions of risk, participants, reasons for participation, and attributions of responsibility. The referencing of SMC as ‘challenges’ and as forms of fun and entertainment are portrayed as misleading by some stakeholders. Instead, the danger involved in participation is emphasized. Dangerous SMC are constructed by most stakeholders as an undesirable youth activity demanding intervention and prevention. Risk, however, is predominantly understood as involving physical harm with emotional consequences seldom being addressed. Participants are portrayed in diverse ways; as asinine inferior specimens deserving harm, as neurologically immature, as psychologically vulnerable, or as competitive fun-seekers. Self-identified participants, in contrast, speak of forced participation and of participation utilised as a coping strategy. A range of groups are identified as responsible for addressing risk, including social media companies, parents, and participants themselves. Attempts to control participation, such as the use of age restrictions are demonstrated to be by passable. Largely absent from discourse around risky SMC are the larger structural and contextual issues, which draw attention to dynamics specific to social media platforms and the financial investment of companies in SMC proliferation. There is a silence expressed in the form of ineffective and limited interventions that externalise responsibility onto individual participants and their families.
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/70268
dc.publisherMassey Universityen
dc.rightsThe Authoren
dc.subjectOnline social networks
dc.subjectSocial media
dc.subjectPsychological aspects
dc.subjectSocial media and society
dc.subjectSelf-injurious behavior
dc.subjectNew Zealanden
dc.subjectpsychologyen
dc.subjectsocial media challengesen
dc.subjectonline daresen
dc.subjectrisky behaviorsen
dc.subject.anzsrc520505 Social psychologyen
dc.titleDares in the virtual : the construction of social media challenges : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealanden
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychology
thesis.degree.nameDoctorate of Clinical Psychology
thesis.description.doctoral-citation-abridgedNazari, V. (2023). Dares in the virtual: The construction of social media challenges (Doctoral dissertation). Massey University.
thesis.description.doctoral-citation-longNazari, V. (2023). Dares in the virtual: The construction of social media challenges (Doctoral dissertation). Massey University.
thesis.description.name-pronounciationVic to ria Na za ri
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