Cultural analysis: The work of Peter Berger, Mary Douglas, Michael Foucault and Jurgen Habermas: by Robert Wuthnow, James Davison Hunter, Albert Bergeson, and Edith Kurzweil, London, U.K.: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984

Abstract

Digital media include video games, streaming, social media, and augmented and virtual reality and are used by teens for communication, education, and entertainment. These apps and platforms provide affordances and gratifications that promote media use and overuse, trigger dopamine reward pathways, and influence teen identity, self-esteem, socialization, learning and development, and behavior. Digital media introduce benefits and risks, which include the collection of data and personal information that can be analyzed and used for targeted and profitable advertising and marketing or for inappropriate interactions such as sexual predation and cyberbullying. Digital media overuse can contribute to negative mental health outcomes. Despite such risks, digital media use is integral in the lives of Generation Z, the iGen; most own a smartphone and half report being “almost constantly” on the internet. Teens use a breadth of social media platforms (such as Instagram and Snapchat), games, and apps to communicate, do schoolwork, and engage in activities of daily living. Digital media use that displaces necessary healthier activities, however, such as exercise, adequate sleep, and face-to-face social interactions can undermine health and wellness in teens. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Family Media Use Plan can help teens and families develop a personalized media use plan that can promote appropriate and healthy media use in today's multimedia digital media environment.