ASSESSING THE WAY GENDER NORMS AFFECT TEENAGERS’ BEHAVIOUR IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

The internet, together with its associated smart technologies, has a central, and since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic one might even add, essential position in the fluid functionality of social apparatus. This is apparent on multiple facets, but it has especially impacted the way individuals socialise and present themselves in the online space. Although it has been in use for several decades the way the Internet is perceived has changed significantly as now it has presently become an extension of the social front stage. Through the tools offered by social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, users can carefully construct their own digital versions. These characteristics have proven to be highly attractive to teenagers, as social media platforms offer them the possibility of engaging with their peers, uncover various aspects about the environment outside their familiar space and to create a digital identity. All of these aspects prove to be attractive to them as it caters to their need to seek and to have a sense of empowerment and belonging. Gender plays an important role in the process of developing one’s identity and the type of behaviour an individual chooses to present in a social environment, be it digital or otherwise. Previous studies have also pointed out the fact that gender stereotypes and gender norms affect and influence the way individuals perceive others and the type of behaviour they act out. This paper aims to pinpoint a theoretical examination of the way teenagers’ behaviour and digital identity on social media platforms is affected by the way people around them look at and perceive gender.