How do young people process social media posts about the war in the Middle East? In an interview with the online magazine LEIBNIZ, Kira Thiel talks about her research on the experiences of children and young people in the digital world, as well as the opportunities and risks associated with them.
From the interview
LEIBNIZ: Ms. Thiel, news and images of the war in the Middle East are everywhere. Children and young people encounter them on Instagram and TikTok, for example – where they are usually without adult supervision. You examined how young people perceive images and videos of war on social media very soon after the 7th of October 2023. How did you approach this?
KIRA THIEL: So far, we know very little about what war content young people come into contact with on social media and how they perceive it. However, we had the impression that they come across much more explicit content on social media than in journalistic reporting. A wild mix of content is circulating on social media in a wide variety of forms and from a wide range of sources: journalistic articles, clips from those affected, expressions of solidarity from influencers, or content from the warring parties, such as videos recorded by Hamas terrorists with body cams. Since we are already working with a Hamburg school on other projects, we had the idea of talking directly to the students about their experiences and views: How often do they come into contact with war content? And what role does it play in their everyday media use?
Read the full interview (in German) in the online magazine LEIBNIZ
Photo by Josh Felise on Unsplash