Adolescents in Virtual Forum: Playing, Socializing, or Engaging in Public Issues?

Authors

  • S. Rouli Manalu Universitas Diponegoro
  • Rafky Muhammad Universitas Diponegoro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18196/jkm.12300

Keywords:

Adolescent, Entertainment, Public Issues, Socialization, Virtual Community.

Abstract

This research examines how adolescents perceive their memberships and involvement in virtual forums and whether the young generations see this involvement facilitate their engagement with public issues surrounding them. The increase of political discussions and political debates over the Internet and social media in Indonesia has become the trigger of this research to see whether adolescents as the group of new voters, even first-time voters, use virtual forums to be critically engaged in a discussion of public issues. Alternatively, this research would see whether their engagement in virtual communities is mainly related to entertainment, social connections, and other matters not directly related to politics and discussion of public issues. By interviewing a group of adolescents from at least eight provinces in Indonesia, this research examines the phenomenological experiences regarding their action, perception, and evaluation of their involvement through various virtual communities. This research highlights the importance of understanding adolescents’ experiences in virtual communities to understand better their tendency and attitude in relating to issues in their online and offline environments. 

Author Biography

S. Rouli Manalu, Universitas Diponegoro

S. Rouli Manalu is a lecturer in Communication Department, Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia.

References

Aisya, A., Priana, A., Ardiningrum, S., & Safitri, D. (2019). The Use of Instagram on Political Participation of Communication Students in Universitas Negeri Jakarta. PETANDA: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi Dan Humaniora, 2(1), 28–35. https://doi.org/10.32509/jhm.v2i1.987

Arnett, J. J. (1995). Adolescents’ uses of media for self-socialization. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24(5), 519–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537054

Bailey, J. O., & Bailenson, J. N. (2017). Chapter 9—Immersive Virtual Reality and the Developing Child. In F. C. Blumberg & P. J. Brooks (Eds.), Cognitive Development in Digital Contexts (pp. 181–200). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809481-5.00009-2

Baumgartner, J. C., & Morris, J. S. (2010). MyFaceTube Politics: Social Networking Web Sites and Political Engagement of Young Adults. Social Science Computer Review, 28(1), 24–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439309334325

Boulianne, S., & Theocharis, Y. (2018). Young People, Digital Media, and Engagement: A Meta-Analysis of Research. Social Science Computer Review, 0894439318814190. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439318814190

Büchi, M., & Vogler, F. (2017). Testing a Digital Inequality Model for Online Political Participation. Socius, 3, 2378023117733903. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117733903

Cruz-Neira, C., Fernández, M., & Portalés, C. (2018). Virtual Reality and Games. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 2(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti2010008

Digital 2019: Global Internet Use Accelerates. (2019, January 30). We Are Social. https://wearesocial.com/blog/2019/01/digital-2019-global-internet-use-accelerates

Dilliplane, S. (2011). ALL THE NEWS YOU WANT TO HEAR: THE IMPACT OF PARTISAN NEWS EXPOSURE ON POLITICAL PARTICIPATION. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 75(2), 287–316. JSTOR.

Downs, C. (2011). Playing in a virtual bedroom: Youth leisure in the Facebook generation. [https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Playing-in-a-virtual-bedroom%3A-youth-leisure-in-the-Downs/5d56769cffe11a132c02204b25269e33a9561020?p2df]

Fung, A., Russon-Gilman, H., & Shkabatur, J. (2013). Six Models for the Internet & Politics (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 2374822). Social Science Research Network. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2374822

Gil De Zúñiga, H., Puig-I-Abril, E., & Rojas, H. (2009). Weblogs, traditional sources online and political participation: An assessment of how the internet is changing the political environment. New Media & Society, 11(4), 553–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809102960

Göttlich, U., & Herbers, M. R. (2014). Would Jürgen Habermas Enjoy The Daily Show? Entertainment Media and the Normative Presuppositions of the Political Public Sphere. https://www.peterlang.com/view/9781454196402/xhtml/chapter005.xhtml

Kim, Y., Russo, S., & Amnå, E. (2017). The longitudinal relation between online and offline political participation among youth at two different developmental stages. New Media & Society, 19(6), 899–917. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815624181

Kushin, M. J., & Kitchener, K. (2009). Getting political on social network sites: Exploring online political discourse on Facebook. First Monday. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v14i11.2645

Macafee, T., & De Simone, J. J. (2012). Killing the bill online? Pathways to young people’s protest engagement via social media. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 15(11), 579–584. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0153

MASTEL. (2017, February 13). Infografis Hasil Survey MASTEL Tentang Wabah HOAX Nasional | Website Masyarakat Telematika Indonesia. https://mastel.id/hasil-survey-wabah-hoax-nasional-2017/

Moy, P., Manosevitch, E., Stamm, K., & Dunsmore, K. (2005). Linking Dimensions of Internet Use and Civic Engagement. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(3), 571–586. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900508200306

Rheingold, H. (1993). Global Networks (L. M. Harasim, Ed.; pp. 57–80). MIT Press. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=166925.166930

Saud, M., Ida, R., Abbas, A., Ashfaq, A., & Ahmad, A. (2020). The Social Media and Digitalization of Political Participation in Youths: An Indonesian Perspective. https://doi.org/10.33019/society.v8i1.160

Saud, M., & Margono, H. (2021). Indonesia’s rise in digital democracy and youth’s political participation. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 18(4), 443–454. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1900019

Schlozman, K. L., Verba, S., & Brady, H. E. (2010). Weapon of the Strong? Participatory Inequality and the Internet. Perspectives on Politics, 8(2), 487–509.

Siniwi, R. M., & Herman. (2016, October 24). More than Half of Indonesians are Internet Users. Jakarta Globe. https://jakartaglobe.id/opinion/half-indonesians-internet-users

Smith, J., Hewitt, B., & Skrbiš, Z. (2015). Digital socialization: Young people’s changing value orientations towards internet use between adolescence and early adulthood. Information, Communication & Society, 18(9), 1022–1038. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1007074

Sokowati, M. E. (2019). Questioning Public Participation in Social Media Activities in Indonesia. Komunikator, 11(2), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.18196/jkm.112025

Valenzuela, S., Kim, Y., & Gil de Zúñiga, H. (2012). Social Networks that Matter: Exploring the Role of Political Discussion for Online Political Participation. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24(2), 163–184. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edr037

Vitak, J., Zube, P., Smock, A., Carr, C. T., Ellison, N., & Lampe, C. (2011). It’s Complicated: Facebook Users’ Political Participation in the 2008 Election. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(3), 107–114. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2009.0226

Willis, S., & Tranter, B. (2006). Beyond the ‘digital divide’: Internet diffusion and inequality in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 42(1), 43–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783306061352

Downloads

Published

2021-11-13

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2021)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright

The Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that if accepted for publication, copyright of the article shall be assigned to Komunikator as publisher of the journal. Copyright encompasses rights to reproduce and deliver the article in all form and media, including reprints, photographs, microfilms, and any other similar reproductions, as well as translations.

Authors should sign Copyright Transfer Agreement when they have approved the final proofs sent by Komunikator prior the publication. Komunikator strive to ensure that no errors occur in the articles that have been published, both data errors and statements in the article.

Komunikator keep the rights to articles that have been published. Authors are allowed to use their works for any purposes deemed necessary without written permission from Komunikator with an acknowledgement of initial publication in this journal.

License

All articles published in Komunikator are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA) license. You are free to:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms:
  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
  • No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.