4 reasons why teenagers take part in challenges on social media

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Studies show the key factors that motivate young people to participate in a challenge. 4 reasons why teenagers take part in social media challenges Getty Images Social media challenges are very varied – both in the stunts they involve and in the reasons why people do them. But why do teenagers accept challenges that are threats to their health, well-being and, occasionally, their own lives? Professors Kapil Chalil Madathil, an engineer specializing in understanding how humans interact with computers, and Heidi Zinzow, a psychologist with experience in mental health, traumatic stress and suicide, conducted a series of research on the subject. Together with their research team, they carried out studies to try to understand what motivates teenagers and young people to participate in different challenges. For these studies, carried out between January 2019 and January 2020, they interviewed dozens of high school and college students in the United States and southern India who participated in social media challenges. They also analyzed 150 news stories, 60 public YouTube videos, more than a thousand comments on those YouTube videos, and 150 Twitter posts – all specifically about the “blue whale challenge.” This challenge, much talked about in 2015 and 2016, was reported to involve progressively more intense acts of self-harm that culminated in suicide. We identified four key factors that motivate young people to participate in a challenge: social pressure, the desire for attention, entertainment value, and a phenomenon called the “contagion effect.” Read also: ‘He wanted to annihilate me alive’: find out what revenge porn is and learn about victims’ stories Extreme heat can affect cell phone functionality; see tips for preserving the device 1. Social pressure Social pressure normally arises when a friend encourages another friend to do something, and the person believes that they will achieve acceptance within a certain social group if they do what is expected of them. Participation in challenges that promote a good cause, such as the “ice bucket challenge”, is often the result of direct encouragement. Participants in this challenge, for example, completed the activity and then publicly nominated others to do the same. However, young adults who took part in riskier challenges mainly wanted to feel included in a group that had already participated in a specific challenge. This was the case with the “cinnamon challenge”, where participants quickly sniffed cinnamon and sometimes suffered lung damage and infections. For example, 38% of survey participants who engaged in this challenge acknowledged that they were seeking peer acceptance rather than being motivated to participate for more individual reasons. “I think I participated because everyone I went to school with participated at the time,” said one student who thought the challenge was popular among his peers. “And I realized it must be interesting in some way if everyone was doing it.” Yellow September: campaign reinforces the importance of mental health 2. Desire for attention An attention-seeking behavior observed only among participants in the “ice bucket challenge” was the desire to be recognized for supporting a laudable cause. However, the attention-seeking behavior observed among teenagers and young adults often led participants to perform a more dangerous version of a dare. This included accepting the risks associated with the challenge for longer than other participants. For example, one participant in the “cinnamon challenge” swallowed ground cinnamon longer than his peers. “(The reason) was definitely my colleagues and, like I said, the attention,” said the young man. “It was because I saw other friends posting videos and to see who could do the challenge the longest.” Apple announces the launch of the iPhone 15 and other news 3. Entertainment Many young people participated in challenges for fun and curiosity. Some were intrigued by the possible reactions of people witnessing their performance. “It sounded fun, and personally, I liked the artist singing the song,” said one “Kiki challenge” participant. It involved dancing while hanging from the side of a moving car to the song In My Feelings, by American singer Drake. Others were interested in experiencing the sensations associated with performing the challenge. They wondered if their reactions would be the same as other individuals who observed the challenge being made. One participant said it was “mostly curiosity” that motivated him to do the “cinnamon challenge.” “Seeing other people’s reactions, I kind of wanted to see if I would have the same reaction,” he said. Elon Musk gets angry when asked about his ex-wife 4. Contagion effect Challenges, even those that seem benign, can spread quickly through social media. This is due to the contagion effect, where behaviors, attitudes and ideas spread from person to person. The way content creators portray these challenges on social media also contributes to the contagion effect, encouraging others to participate. After analyzing digital media content related to the “blue whale challenge,” we found that YouTube videos about this challenge frequently violated the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s nine recommendations. This means that the posts presented risk factors to promote the spread of harmful behaviors. Specifically, of the 60 YouTube videos we analyzed about the “blue whale challenge,” 37% adhered to fewer than three guidelines, classifying them as unsafe. The most commonly violated recommendations involved failure to avoid detailed or glorified portrayals of suicide and its victims, failure to describe resources for those needing help, and failure to emphasize effective mental health treatments. Suicide prevention: knowing risk factors and seeking help can save lives The research also explored how participants viewed the challenges after agreeing to participate. Half of those who took part in a risky challenge said that if they had understood the physical danger or the potential risk to their social image, they would have chosen not to participate. “I wouldn’t have done the ‘cinnamon challenge’ if I had known someone ended up in the hospital because of it,” one interviewee told us. Based on the study, it is possible to conclude that if more information about the potential risks of social media challenges were offered to students in schools, communicated to parents and shared on social media, teenagers and young adults would reflect more and make better decisions. informed. This could even dissuade them from participating. *Heidi Zinzow is a professor of psychology at Clemson University, in the United States. Kapil Chalil Madathil is a professor of civil and industrial engineering at Clemson University. **This text was originally published on the science news website The Conversation and is reproduced here under a creative commons license. Read the original version here (in English).

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