Relevant Literature
Bashir, Hilal and Shabir Ahmad Bhat. 2017. “Effects of Social Media on Mental Health: A Review.” The International Journal of Indian Psychology 4(3):125-131. DOI:10.25215/0403.134
The purpose of this article is to assess the effect that social media has on mental health. The increased use of social media among younger generations has become a worry for parents and society. Bashir and Bhat provide an overview on past literature that looks at how younger generations are active social media users which leads to increased mental health problems among these individuals.
Balakrishnan, Janarthanan and Mark D. Griffiths. (2017). “Social media addiction: What is the Role of Content in YouTube?” Journal of Behavioral Addictions 6(3):364-377. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.6.2017.058
In this study, Balakrishnan and Griffiths discuss YouTube, a very popular social media platform and the addictions that come from creating and viewing content on this site. The way that users decide to use the site has an impact on the likelihood of their addiction. Content creating is something that many online users are passionate about, leading to an addicting amount of time spent on YouTube making new things. As shown in the results, content creators were more likely to see this social media addiction when compared to content viewers. Along with that, both content creating and content viewing are linked to content, process, and social gratifications which impact social media addictions. The main focus of the article is to understand how YouTube impacts the three gratifications, similarly or differently in relation to your activity.
Boer, Maartje, Gonneke W.J.M.Stevens, Catrin Finkenauer, Margaretha E. de Looze, and Regina J.J.M. van den Eijnden. 2021. “Social Media Use Intensity, Social Media Use Problems, and Mental Health Among Adolescents: Investigating Directionality and Mediating Processes.” Computers in Human Behavior 116(1):1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106645
This study focused on examining social media usage and the effect that it has on mental health, communication and interaction, achievement and bullying. Many people have started to raise concern with the amount of social media that adolescents have accounts on today and the way that it is going to impact them. When adolescents feel victimized online, or have a negative experience this often makes them compare themselves to what they see, and think that what is seen online is what is right. This is one of the many ways that it affects mental health and leads to depressive symptoms. Evidence was not found on social media decreasing mental health, correlating the idea that social media negatively impacts its users. Respondents indicated on many different scales the direct impact of usage within the last year to see how that year has changed the way that they view themselves, others, and their lives.
Clark, Meredith D. 2020. “Drag Them: A Brief Etymology of So-Called “Cancel Culture”.” Communication and the Public 5(3-4):88-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/2057047320961562
In this article, the author researches into Black Twitter, where she talks about anger as used by minorities on social networks. In terms of cancel culture, Clark discusses it in terms of being used when people want to critique their social positions. Along with that she discusses specific celebrities who have crossed the line and called out in an attempt to bring down people of color. Racism is one of the main things that accounts for celebrities to be canceled and held accountable for their actions, and in this article, we can see how social media is a place that allows for those things to occur.
Gerhart, Natalie. 2017. “Technology Addiction: How Social Network Sites Impact Our Lives.” The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline 20(1):179-194. http://www.inform.nu/Articles/Vol20/ISJv20p179-194Gerhart3423.pdf
Many people in society today are still learning to understand what it means to overuse technology. Social media is something that is mostly seen among younger generations, having a stronger impact on their lives. After significant usage, this extensive addiction can become a huge distraction that ends up taking a toll on life and personal feelings. Research on technology and addiction from the past has linked the two to show what it means to be addicted to your devices. In this study, the authors discuss that there was not a particular relation between technology addiction and life satisfaction. One limit to the study was only looking into usage on one media platform, Facebook, which is not as popular today, instead of the other platforms that are more geared toward the younger generations who consume social media more than ever before.
Goffman, Erving. 2002. “Chapter Ten: Erving Goffman on the Presentation of Self.” Pp. 209-229 in Self, Symbols, and Society: Classic Readings in Social Psychology, edited by N. Rousseau. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Goffman discusses the presentation of self, and how individuals present themselves in society in specific ways based on who they are interacting with. The interactions that people have with others influence our individual actions to be a certain way. For example presenting yourself in a more serious, professional manner when talking to your boss, versus acting goofy when speaking with friends.
Guo, Lei and Summer Harlow. 2014. “User-Generated Racism: An Analysis of Stereotypes of African Americans, Latinos, and Asians in YouTube Videos.” Howard Journal of Communications 25(3):281-302. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2014.925413
YouTube is a platform that is one of the most widely used video-sharing sites. In this article, the authors conducted a study to see if racial stereotypes are presented in YouTube videos. Specifically, they looked at how African Americans, Latinos, and Asians were presented. Much of what was seen on YouTube contained content that showed racial stereotypes. This content often comes from ordinary individuals who are creating their own content and sharing it online with the world. The videos that show these types of things often were also the most popular videos. Mainstream stereotypes are presented all over the media.
Hattingh, Marie. 2021. The Dark Side of YouTube: A Systematic Review of Literature. London:InTechOpen. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99960
This systematic review of literature identifies dark themes that arise from young adolescents using social media. There were eight themes that emerged in this study from the literature being the glamorization of smoking, the promotion of alcohol use, videos that focused on body image/health, videos on bullying, self-harm/suicide, advertising, drugs and general vulnerabilities. The results showed that there is an increased call for awareness that is needed as well as more guidelines and regulations in order to reduce the risks associated with inappropriate content that could be found online.
Hawi, Nazir S. and Maya Samaha. 2016. “The Relations Among Social Media Addiction, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction in University Students.” Social Science Computer Review 35(5):576-586. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316660340
This study examines the relationship between social media use, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in order to see the impact that is has on every users life. The results showed that when using social media addictively, there was a negative association with self-esteem. This association and self-esteem directly related to ones overall life satisfaction.
Kadar, Daniel Z., Puyu Ning, and Yongping Ran. 2018. “Public Ritual Apology – A Case Study.” Discourse, Context & Media 26:21-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.01.003
This article focuses more on public apology in general, rather than just on social media. It gives a good idea of how people use public apologies everywhere as a way to gain back respect from the public. Rather than asking for forgiveness, it is a way for someone to show that they feel badly for their actions to resolve conflict. The idea of public apologies relates to those we see online, because those are also public for us to view. Ritual apologies are a little different which can relate to social media in that public figures are publicly apologizing to take accountability for their actions and express how they feel, rather than ask their audiences to forgive them.
Lawson, Caitlin E. 2021. “Skin Deep: Callout Strategies, Influencers, and Racism in the Online Beauty Community.” New Media & Society 23(3):596-612. https://doi-org.ezpro.cc.gettysburg.edu/10.1177/1461444820904697
Lawson looks at how influencers in the beauty community have been called out and canceled for racism. Throughout the article, the authors looked at cases where beauty companies were called out on social media platforms for acts of racism, such as only offering shades of white in their foundation colors. Many audiences were critical about the situations that were going on, to the point where other influencers got involved, which does not happen often. This article takes into account many of the different aspects that come into play when getting canceled, and what happens when you do.
Lucinda, Austin, Brooke Fisher Liu, and Yan Jin. 2012. “How Audiences Seek Out Crisis Information: Exploring the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 40(2):188-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2012.654498
The authors of this article talk about how social media has become one of the main sources to find crisis coverage, and how social media users are more likely to obtain this information from these platforms rather than the traditional news. People often use the type of media that is most relevant to their lives, and in a society like today, social media is one of those main forms. This article relates to my research question in that people turn to YouTube to find the answers to why people were canceled, or the drama going on. When a video gets posted, the link is shared by thousands of people getting individuals so involved. This leads us to often spend hours on the platform clicking through similar types of videos to find out more information.
Manika, Danae, Savvas Papagiannidis, and Michael Bourlakis. 2015. “Can a CEO’s YouTube Apology Following a Service Failure Win Customers’ Hearts?” Technological Forecasting and Social Change 95(2015):87-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.12.021
YouTube apologies are used for people other than influencers, where the authors looked at CEO’s apology videos and how that impacted their company and the way that people viewed it. After conducting their research, they found that there was often increased satisfaction with the company and CEO after the apology videos were released. Many people that get involved in watching these videos are people that are already familiar with the company, and know what is going on. This relates to influencers in that people keep up to date with what is going on in their lives keeping them so on track with everything that is happening to them online.
McFadden, C., 2020. “YouTube’s History and Its Impact on the Internet.” Interesting Engineering. Retrieved February 11, 2022. https://interestingengineering.com/youtubes-history-and-its-impact-on-the-internet
This website provides history on YouTube and the impact that it has had on the internet. The website shares the original purpose of YouTube, who founded it, how it was created and got its name, and how YouTube makes money.
Morris, Max and Eric Anderson. 2015. “‘Charlie Is So Cool Like’: Authenticity, Popularity, and Inclusive Masculinity on Youtube.” Sociology 49(6):1200-1217. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038514562852
The authors studied three of Britain’s most popular influencers on YouTube to see how they created an environment that is inclusive for everyone, which is not particularly common. Many influencers show traditional forms of masculinity, what they think their fans may like, which leaves out a lot of inclusivity for viewers. This research connects to how there are so many online celebrities out there so caught up in attributing the traditional forms of masculinity with the fear of being perceived as “unmasculine.” The environment that the influencers have created that the author focuses on is a way for influencers to reflect what truly is inclusive for everyone. Especially in a crisis, like being canceled, it is important to address that and create an inclusive environment for all.
Ng, Eve. 2020. “No Grand Pronouncements Here…: Reflections on Cancel Culture and Digital Media Participation.” Sage Journals 21(6):621-627. https://doi-org.ezpro.cc.gettysburg.edu/10.1177/1527476420918828
The author discusses how social media, and mainly Twitter, are commonly misused, leading to culture and people on Twitter being targeted. Cancel culture has a huge effect on the people that are directly impacted. There are so many other ways that users online can use these platforms that are not harmful and how what is seen now as cancel culture can be transformed into a more empowering place. This media spreads around the world so rapidly that it becomes empowering to the criticized individual or group. Although there are some platforms out there that do monitor what is put onto their sites, many people have still been directly impacted by this culture, and there continues to be a debate on digital media participation.
O’Reilly, Michelle, Nisha Dogra, Whiteman Natasha, Jason Hughes, Seyda Eruyar, and Paul Reilly. 2018. “Is Social mMedia Bad for Mental Health and Wellbeing? Exploring the Perspectives of Adolescents.” Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 23(4):601-613. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104518775154
In this study, adolescents expressed their increased negative views with the way that social media usage impacts their mental health. Adolescents have become a huge part of the social media community as an everyday part of their life. So many of the platforms that children used were directly expressed to be damaging with all of the different posts that you are exposed to. Social media usage is linked to stress, anxiety, depression, and suicide, where these negatives often outway the few positives that come from it. It is so easy for individuals to engage in negative behavior online, cyberbullying being so common. This influences children that are just starting to grow up and the way that they feel about themselves. Social media can become such an addiction in our lives that people spend excessive hours losing track of time while playing on their technology. It is a place that adolescents depend on.
Ouvrein, Gaelle, Charlotte J.S. De Backer, and Heidi Vandebosch. 2018. “Online Celebrity Aggression: A Combination of Low Empathy and High Moral Disengagement? The Relationship Between Empathy and Moral disengagement and adolescents’ online celebrity aggression.” Computers in New Behavior 89(1):61-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.07.029
Adolescents are often found to be involved in online aggression, whether that is cyber bullying or targeting people. Most studies have shown how this occurs when adolescents interact with others, but the authors here specifically look at how adolescents are aggressive online to celebrities. There are many negative comments on celebrities posts online coming from strangers all over the world, and much of it comes back to adolescents posting that material. There are socio-cognitive characteristics that relate to the correlation of this, and with further research it could help reduce this aggression by fostering, and developing those characteristics.
Pound & Grain. 2020. “Cancel Culture Part 2: The Case of the Canceled YouTube Stars.” Medium. Retrieved February 11, 2022 (https://medium.com/@poundandgrain/cancel-culture-part-2-the-case-of-the-cancelled-youtube-stars-45bb782e805a).
This website discusses the phenomenon of cancel culture, and what it means for influencers and advertisers who are at risk of being canceled. Along with that, it provides overview of three YouTube influencers that have been canceled, Jeffree Star, Jenna Marbles, and Shane Dawson, and the impact that had on their careers.
Press, The Associated. 2006. “Google buys YouTube for $1.65 Billion.” NBC News. Retrieved April 21, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15196982
This website provides a background to Google buying YouTube in 2006. It gives an overview of the story behind purchasing YouTube and the deals made between YouTube and Google in order to do so.
Sandlin, Jean Kelso and Monica L. Gracyalny. 2018. “Seeking Sincerity, Finding Forgiveness: YouTube Apologies as Image Repair.” Public Relations Review 44(3):393-406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.04.007
Sandlin and Gracyalny did a study on Youtube public figures that posted public apology statements. After looking at 32 public apologies through a period of time they found many relationships regarding the apology and the reputation that was associated with the figure. This was looked at through the comments of these videos. They found that these apologies are a very used strategy for public figures to try and repair the damage that they caused. Many of the people that comment on YouTube platforms come there to express their biases about the figure, and get the confirmation of other users that they feel the same way. They discussed confirmation bias, and how the comments did prove that was there, where people were responding to these videos with opinions and comments they’ve already had on that public figure, rather than on the actual situation that is occurring.
Sandlin, Jean Kelso and Monica L. Gracyalny. 2020. “Fandom, forgiveness and future support: YouTube apologies as crisis communication.” Journal of Communication Management 24(1):1-18. DOI 10.1108/JCOM-06-2019-0096
The author discusses how the way that people apologize has an impact on the way that the audience will take it. People think about how sincere someone sounds, or if they truly mean their apology after being canceled, which is why public figures really have to think before they put anything out there. Another finding is that audiences who like the public figure are more likely to forgive them for something they have done because of that prior reputation they had. This is important to consider when someone is being canceled because the audience’s preconceived opinions will impact their decisions, rather than if it is a truly sincere apology that they heard. It is not just about the apology video, but it is also about the person who is posting it and their reputation that decides whether they will be forgiven. Having a positive reputation, being supportive and attractive and other similar factors will often lead to more forgiveness.
Singer, Jenny. 2019. “Here Are All The Famous Men Who Have Tried To Come Back From #MeToo.” Forward. Retrieved April 21, 2022. https://forward.com/schmooze/420038/here-are-all-the-famous-men-who-have-tried-to-come-back-from-metoo/
This website looks into male celebrities who were canceled during the #MeToo movement. It provides an overview on the celebrity, the accusations they received, and their attempts to come back from this movement.
Taneja, Nidhima. 2021. “Between #MeToo Second Chance and Cancel Culture, Apple TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ Finds its Feet.” The Print. Retrieved April 21, 2022. https://theprint.in/features/reel-take/between-metoo-second-chance-and-cancel-culture-apple-tvs-the-morning-show-finds-its-feet/769531/
This website discusses cancel culture overall and when it first became widely used online after the #MeToo movement. It discusses The Morning Show, on Apple TV and the world that was created from #MeToo after many women spoke out about allegations.
Velasco, Joseph Ching. 2020. “You are Canceled: Virtual Collective Consciousness and the Emergence of Cancel Culture as Ideological Purging.” Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities 12(5):1-7. https://dx.doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s21n2
In this study, the other focuses on the meanings behind cancel culture and why it happens. Often when well known public figures do not abide by the norms within a society or have opposing views, in any aspect of like, of their followers, they receive serious backlash and hate for their actions. This culture is detrimental to the lives of those that are canceled, building a world around them full of hate. Social media has become so widespread across the world it has created an environment full of shaming others for some of the smallest things. It has become another dimension of public humiliation for one contradictory move. The lives of public figures are so present in the lives of others with an eye on their every move, that could lead a small misconception into something that makes the news.
Verga, Dinara, Gracia Irene, and Rizaldi Parani. 2021. “The Use of Cancel Culture to Raise Social Awareness on Youtube.” International Journal of Social Science Research 3(4):210-222. https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijssr/article/view/16704/8791
Public figures are the big names that we see all over the internet, being one of the biggest targets for bullying and cancel culture. These figures are continuously slandered by audience members which has a very large impact on not only their lives, but the viewers that are involved as well. Cancel culture can be used as something to bring social awareness to users to know what some of their role models have done that have caused them backlash, and to be aware of those things in your own life. The author looks at actual cases of cancel culture, and the reasons behind what caused this to happen to them, and why people thought they were wrong. Subscribers have the power to choose who they want to see on the internet, which almost puts the public figures into place when deciding what content to post in order to keep their following as high and positive as they can.
Walsh, Grace. 2022. “What is Cancel Culture – And Who Has Been Canceled in 2021?” Good to Know. Retrieved April 21, 2022. https://www.goodto.com/entertainment/what-is-cancel-culture-607262
This page provides a background and explanation of what cancel culture is as well as who had been cancelled in 2021. It talks a lot about what it means to be cancelled and what certain celebrities have done that caused them to get cancelled.
Wikipedia. 2022. “History of YouTube.” Wikipedia. Retrieved February 11, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_YouTube
This website provides the historical background of YouTube. It includes a timeline and explanation of the continued growth of the platform since it was first created.