Week 1 Popular Media Review

The 2018 movie, Eighth Grade, provides a glimpse into the impact of social/digital media on the identity formation of a 13-year-old, Kayla. Kayla appears to have two separate identities - her YouTube persona where she doles out self-help tips, and her "actual" persona where she receives the year-end award of "Most Quiet". Can Kayla's identity be both the confident social media presence and the reticent middle school student? I have two adolescent children and I have developed a love/hate relationship with social media. Neither of my children fit in with the "typical" identity at their schools and social media provides a means for them to connect with others outside of school - that is nice as they are so busy that fitting in face-to-face time with others is difficult and some of their online friends are not local. They also get to control the narrative they choose to present via social media. The very negative aspect is that students no longer can leave the negative aspects of school behind when they are home as social media comes with them. Social media lowers many barriers, but not all of them should be lowered. How much ugly is spread by students (and parents....they can be just as bad or...) that students would not say in person? This movie made me think about how the digital age is changing what children are exposed to and how they interact with other people both in person (everyone looking at their phones instead of each other) and online (finding both community/support and ugliness online). It will be interesting to learn how the influence of social media affects the impact of relationships with parents, teachers, and in-person peers. Watching this movie with a current middle school student is a great way to check how well the movie depicts the reality of being a young adolescent, and it does a pretty good job!

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