Revista de Investigaciones Universidad del Quindío,

34(S2), 103-111; 2022.

ISSN: 1794-631X e-ISSN: 2500-5782


Esta obra está bajo una licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0 Internacional.


JUVENILE MEDIA POTENTIAL FOR FOSTERING VALUES OF GENERATION Z TEENAGERS AND YOUTH


POTENCIAL DE LOS MEDIOS JUVENILES PARA FOMENTAR LOS VALORES DE LOS ADOLESCENTES Y JÓVENES DE LA GENERACIÓN Z



Larisa А. Kosolapova 1 *; Diana I. Miasnikova 2 ; Margarita A. Mosina 3 ; Larisa S. Tihomirova 4 .


1. Perm State University, Russia. la_kossolapova@list.ru

2. Perm State University, Russia. kosodi@yandex.ru

3. Perm State Humanitarian Pedagogical University, Russia. margarita_67@inbox.ru

4. Perm State Humanitarian Pedagogical University, Russia. tikhomirova.lar@yandex.ru


* Corresponding author: Larisa А. Kosolapova, e-mail: la_kossolapova@list.ru



ABSTRACT


The study aims to justify the educational potential of juvenile media, identifying methods of fostering values of adolescents and youth of generation Z in the process of creating media materials. Based on the comparative analysis and questionnaire survey conducted to meet the study’ aims, it is concluded that the educational potential of juvenile media is based on the correspondence between the functions of juvenile media and the functions of the pedagogical process: educational (juvenile media) and teaching (pedagogical process); communicative and, accordingly, educational; creative and developing. In the pedagogical process, it is possible to implement the game function of juvenile media to solve the problems of professional and personal self-determination and to purposefully smooth out the risks associated with implementing the information/propaganda function of juvenile media. Juvenile media are the optimal environment for fostering values of modern adolescents and young people (generation Z) because they rely on their willingness to work with any information (find, transmit, create) and comprehend global problems; help to learn how to work painstakingly and bring things to an end, to remember important facts and patterns for the community.


Keywords: juvenile media; educational potential; media material; patriotism development; adolescents; youth.


RESUMEN


El estudio tiene como objetivo justificar el potencial educativo de los medios juveniles, identificando métodos de fomento de valores de los adolescentes y jóvenes de la generación Z en el proceso de creación de materiales mediáticos. Con base en el análisis comparativo y la encuesta de cuestionarios realizados para cumplir con los objetivos del estudio, se concluye que el potencial educativo de los medios juveniles se basa en la correspondencia entre las funciones de los medios juveniles y las funciones del proceso pedagógico: educativo (medios juveniles) y enseñanza (proceso pedagógico); comunicativa y, en consecuencia, educativa; creativa y en desarrollo. En el proceso pedagógico, es posible implementar la función de juego de los medios juveniles para resolver los problemas de autodeterminación profesional y personal y suavizar deliberadamente los riesgos asociados con la implementación de la función de información/propaganda de los medios juveniles. Los medios juveniles son el entorno óptimo para fomentar los valores de los adolescentes y jóvenes modernos (generación Z) porque se basan en su disposición para trabajar con cualquier información (encontrar, transmitir, crear) y comprender los problemas globales; ayudar a aprender a trabajar con esmero y poner fin a las cosas, a recordar hechos y patrones importantes para la comunidad.


Palabras clave: medios juveniles; potencial educativo; material mediático; desarrollo del patriotismo; adolescentes; jóvenes.


INTRODUCTION


At the beginning of the second decade of the XXI century, it is obvious that 1) education is provided not only by social institutions (school, family, public organizations, etc.), but also through a targeted influence on the personality of the socio-cultural and information space; 2) a significant channel for fostering values is a person’s own (including reflexive) activity, which traditional educational institutions are not always ready to support (Chassiakos & Stager, 2020; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021).


How to carry out educational work with “Generation Z”, whose representatives work perfectly with any information (find, transmit, create); think about global problems early; distribute attention, but do not bother memorizing both facts and patterns; do not seek to take responsibility; want to get results quickly and do not tend to long painstaking work; rather immersed in themselves, respecting the personal space of other people, looking for their own path, their own answer to emerging questions?


Analysis of publications (Kosolapova, 2015; Lebedeva, 2014; Gonnet, 2001; Kelly et al., 2018; Throuvala et al., 2019) confirmed the hypothesis about the significant educational potential of juvenile journalism and juvenile media as a source of valuable content that contributes to the choice of vital landmarks by children and adolescents.


The term “juvenile” (lat. “Juvenilia” – youthful) goes back to the literary tradition, denotes the early (“trial”) works of the author, created by him or her in childhood and adolescence. Assuming the existence of an independent “culture of childhood” (Dunn et al., 2021; Magis-Weinberg et al., 2021), one should recognize the existence of “juvenile”, “amateur press”, which is fundamentally different from “adult” journalism, as well as juvenile media, in which children and adolescents act as creators and consumers of information content (Kosolapova, 2015).


As the researchers note, “juvenile journalism is an independent type of mass media system and can be defined as the communicative and socially adaptive activity of children and adolescents to collect, process and transmit personally colored information” (Kosolapova, 2015; Wu et al., 2021; Bulger et al., 2021).


If in the twentieth century it was mainly about the juvenile press, now it is appropriate to use the broader concept of “juvenile media”. It includes the entire set of information tools and techniques that serve to design and transmit a personality-coloured message to the audience: printed word, video material, photo, audio text - posted both on material media (newspaper) and in the Internet format (social networks , blogs, personal sites).


The purpose of the article is to determine what are the methods of fostering values of adolescents and youth, if the upbringing process is carried out based on the potential of juvenile media.


To achieve the goal, the following tasks are solved:


  1. to reveal what the educational potential of juvenile media is based on for modern adolescents and young people (generation Z);
  2. how to use the potential of juvenile media to foster the values of adolescents and youth.


The hypothesis is the following: the preparation of material for juvenile media contributes to the fostering values of adolescents and young people, since a) it coincides with the understanding of the essence of upbringing in accordance with the ideas of the humanistic approach, b) is carried out in accordance with the methods of upbringing in the logic of the activity approach; c) the algorithm of work corresponds to the specific characteristics of generation Z.


MATERIALS AND METHODS


The basis for the development of the research concept was the humanistic and activity-based approaches to the process of educating adolescents and youth.


In accordance with the humanistic approach (K.R. Rogers, A.G. Maslow, Sh.A. Amonashvili, O.S. Gazman), education is the creation of conditions for self-actualization of the individual. Juvenile media can become a medium for revealing positive personal potential. The child is active in the preparation of the press material. They get to know life and new people, learn new facts and, most importantly, form their own attitude towards them. This is necessary because otherwise the material will not captivate the reader.


It is the formation of the value-motivational sphere in the process of activity that constitutes the essence of the activity approach to education (L.S.Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein, K.S. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, Z.I. Vasilyeva, I.P. Ivanov). A person is formed as a person when they engage in activities: they define a goal, plan, implement a plan, analyze the results and reflect on the reasons for success and failure. Of particular importance is the complication of the actual activity (content, form), and the development of the motivational sphere in the direction of self-knowledge, self-development, self-actualization.


Research methods are defined in the logic of the indicated approaches.


1. Comparative analysis of the functions of juvenile media and the functions of the educational process based on scientific publications.


2. A questionnaire survey carried out in 3 states from 2007 to 2021, allowing to identify the motives for participating in journalistic activities (longitudinal research).


At the first stage, 120 young journalists aged 12 - 17 were interviewed, from 36 juvenile media outlets in Perm and the Perm Territory (participants of the Festival of school and electronic press “Golden Pen - 2007” and the VIII rally of juniors), as well as 58 students I, II and III courses (Faculty of Philology, PSU; specialty “Journalism”, 2009).


At the second stage, 100 young journalists became respondents: participants of the Forum of Children’s and Youth Media “Breakpoint - 2011”, the Festival of school print and electronic press “Golden Pen - 2011”, correspondents of the juvenile publication “Dvorovy Vestnik” Perm (2011 - 2012 academic year). The sample is quota and corresponds to the structure of the segment in the Perm region: 73% girls, 27% boys; by age: 40% - 14 - 15 years old, 37% 16 - 17 years old, 17% - 12 - 13 years old, 6% - 7 - 11 years old.


At the third stage, a survey was conducted on the Internet (GOOGL-form - docs.google.com/forms), in which 120 people took part in the events of the League of Young Journalists OODO and UNPRESS ROO TO 2021. The participants represented 26 territories of Russia, were residents of the Republic of Buryatia; Altai, Transbaikal, Krasnodar, Perm, Stavropol regions; Amur, Belgorod, Voronezh, Irkutsk, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Saratov, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk regions; cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol.


The sample consisted of 82% girls, 18% boys; by age: 40% - 14-15 years old, 33% - 16-17 years old, 23% - 12-13 years old, 4% - 7-11 years old.


3. Content analysis of materials published on the pages of juvenile publications; it was conducted in order to reveal the problem-thematic characteristics of the publications of young journalists. The texts of juvenile media were analyzed in two categories: from the point of view of the scale of the social environment (micro-, meso-, macroenvironment) and from the point of view of the subject of publication (personality, event, phenomenon).


4. Conducting focus groups with the participation of experts (heads of associations of young journalists, public, scientific figures - 9 participants) to identify the method of educating adolescents and young people in the process of creating media material and getting readers / viewers familiar with it.


RESULTS


As the analysis has shown, the main functions of juvenile media identified in journalism research are consonant with the essence of the pedagogical process:



All the designated functions of juvenile media are consistent with the functions of the education process: a) teaching (formation of knowledge about the world); b) developing (stimulating positive changes in thinking, speech, creativity, communication skills); c) educational, associated with the transmission of general cultural and national values.


Consequently, the implementation of the game function contributes to the solution of problems of professional and personal self-determination, and based on the functions of educational and informative (close to the teaching function of the pedagogical process), communicative (corresponds to the educational) and creative (close to the developmental) and leveling the risks of the information / propaganda function of juvenile media, it is possible to ensure fostering meaningful personal characteristics of generation Z


As shown by the analysis of the results of the survey (Table 1), in the first place in 2007-2021 creative and educational functions come out (media activity as a space for self-expression and creative tests), satisfaction of cognitive interest through communication. The results of a longitudinal study confirm the conclusion about the great educational potential of adolescent activity in the creation of juvenile media.


Table 1. Motives for participating in journalistic activities ( %)

Perm region

2007-2009

Perm region 2011-2012

Russia 2021

This is a way to express yourself (self-expression, self-realization)

23

10

4,5

It is good for me (self-development, communication)

5

14

6

It’s interesting

30

16

15

This is my future profession (self-determination)

12

6

7,5

It helps to know life.

5

This is an opportunity to meet new people (communication)

0

15

12

It helps broaden your horizons.

0

13

11

It’s good for society

10

6

5

This is an opportunity to take part in the life of the school

5

6

3

This is an opportunity to learn how to correctly express your thoughts

5

0

11

It helps to learn better in Russian.

0

4

3

This is an opportunity to become famous

5

3

3

This is an opportunity to receive diplomas and certificates

3

3

3

It’s nice to get the final product with your material

2

0

7,5

It helps to take up free time.

0

4

3

Other

0

0

0,5

100

100

100


Content analysis of materials published on the pages of juvenile publications made it possible to clarify the qualitative characteristics of content that is significant for children and adolescents.


The texts of the juvenile media were analyzed on two grounds: from the point of view of the subject of publication (personality, event, phenomenon) and from the point of view of the scale of the social environment (micro-, meso-, macroenvironment).


The most popular subject of publications in the juvenile media was current events in the lives of media groups close to the authors (47%). At the same time, among these publications, events of various scales were clearly distinguished: events in the immediate environment (microenvironment) were in the center of attention in about a third of the analyzed materials (36%). These are events of school life - sports competitions, celebrations, anniversaries of the school and teachers, meetings of school government bodies, trips of school students to events of an urban (rural), regional, Russian scale. Events of the meso-environment are described in 10.5% of the analyzed content - rural, regional holidays, actions that had nothing to do with the school environment. Macro-environment events accounted for 0.5% of publications - these are all-Russian news, national holidays.


The second most important subject of publications in the texts of juvenile mass media was materials devoted to various social phenomena and processes that affected the interests of a teenager (25.5%). Quite expectedly, phenomena on the scale of the microenvironment dominated (15.5%): the educational process, the problems of the school, the problems of the local society (for example, the fight against smoking within the school), reflections on their own future.


Phenomena unfolding in the meso-environment were less common (4%); they included environmental problems in the countryside, the youth policy of the district and the region, and local social processes in a historical context. Phenomena at the macro-environment level (6%) are devoted to articles on philosophical issues (love, friendship, the meaning of life), materials on the health of the nation, world ecology, etc.


The third most important in juvenile publications was a thematic block of materials characterizing specific people (typical for 18% of analyzed materials). These are most often personalities from an environment close to the authors. The most “popular” were personalities of the “school scale” (11%), primarily teachers and “stars” of the educational institution.


Among people of the level of the meso-environment, young journalists wrote about urban veterans, school graduates, who showed themselves in a village or region (the share of such materials is 6.5%). Materials about the personalities of the macro-environment of great people were extremely rare in the juvenile press (0.5%).


The fourth group includes materials (9.5%) that do not have an explicit subject characteristic: humor, rebuses, and crosswords.


As our analysis has shown, most of the materials of juvenile publications present news stories on the scale of the microenvironment (62.5%). These data confirmed the conclusion that the purpose of communication in juvenile journalism was the transmission of not socially significant (in the meso- and macro-environment), but personally coloured information.


The peculiarity of the texts lies in the evaluative nature of the information supplied. Even in texts of information genres, the author is subjective both at the level of style and at the level of facts. The young journalist writes about moments that are personally interesting to them: when describing the forum of youth media “The point of separation”, the child does not report the date of its holding or the geography of the participants, it is more interesting for them to say that the jelly in the dining room was purple (Sanci, 2020’ Sakdiyakorn et al., 2021).


Analyzing the results of the conducted content-analytical research, we can draw a conclusion about the problem-thematic content specificity of juvenile media. Their dominant function lies not so much in the formation of the information space, but in the creation of conditions for self-realization and self-knowledge, both for young journalists and readers. The focus was on impressions of life, small discoveries, achievements significant only for the author and their microenvironment: “My grandmother and I went to the zoo. There the girl smoked and threw the cigarette to the monkey through the cage. The monkey smoked it, and then gutted it and ate it!” (Abdullah et al., 2018; Riehm et al., 2019; Chassiakos & Stager, 2020).


Juvenile publications act as a kind of forum, serve for self-presentation and exchange of views of children, adolescents and their immediate environment.


Thus, as a typologizing feature of juvenile media, one can single out the choice of news stories by young journalists on the scale of the microenvironment. It can be argued that the goal of juvenile journalism is to convey not socially significant, but personally coloured information. The predominance of information genres, their syncretism, subjectivity, both at the level of style and at the level of choice of facts, has been revealed. These features bring the process of creating juvenile media closer to the process of upbringing, which (in the context of the humanistic approach) is based on the adolescent’s reflection on their own activities and behavior, is aimed at finding meanings, value self-determination.


Based on the proximity of the processes of education and the creation of a media product, it is important to comprehend what should be the actions of a “significant adult” - a media educator, head of the association of young journalists, head of a children’s television studio? What is the method for making optimal use of the educational potential of juvenile media?


This issue was discussed during the work of a focus group with the participation of experts - heads of associations of young journalists, public, scientific figures from different cities of Russia, who gathered at the Boomerang media forum at the Orlyonok All-Russian Children’s Center in October 2021 (9 participants ).


Experts confirmed that details, emotionally charged stories, “living facts”, a story about the events in which they participated are important for young journalists.


At the initial stage of activity, an adult helps to captivate a meeting with an interesting interlocutor, who becomes the hero of the media material, asks questions about the development of events (helps to maintain interest). Children become conductors of socially significant ideas, acquaint their peers with their thoughts and discoveries. At the final stage (based on the results of creating a media product), an adult acts as a moderator of reflection for both the author of the media material and readers / viewers (consumers of media content).


In this case, the essence of the actions of a media educator helps to understand the classification of methods of education, proposed back in the 80s of the twentieth century by Professor Zinaida Ivanovna Vasilyeva (Vasilyeva, 1981).


Based on the activity approach, the scientist identified 5 methods of education: 1) goal-setting (children themselves learn to set a goal); 2) communication (children learn to interact, understand each other, coordinate their plans); 3) orientation-activity (children plan, work in a team); 4) informational and educational (children tell each other about important things); 5) evaluative (children master the experience of analyzing the course and results of their actions, reflecting on their progress).


Analyzing the statements of the focus group participants, we can conclude that the most often used chain of methods of education is the following: goal-setting - informational and educational - evaluative. These methods that reflect the logic of the activity approach, make it possible to develop the potential of generation Z adolescents who are ready to work with information, look for their own path and their own answer to emerging questions, immersed in themselves, reflecting to the greatest extent.


CONCLUSION


Summing up the results of the study, the following conclusions can be drawn:


1. The educational potential of juvenile media is based on the correspondence between the functions of juvenile media and the functions of the pedagogical process: educational (juvenile media) and teaching (pedagogical process), communicative and, accordingly, educational, creative and developmental. In the pedagogical process, it is possible to implement the fame function of juvenile media to solve the problems of professional and personal self-determination, as well as to purposefully smooth out the risks associated with the implementation of the information / propaganda function of juvenile media.


2. Evidence of the possibilities of the process of preparing media material for fostering values of the young generation (including love for the Motherland) are empirically revealed: the focus of young correspondents on the analysis of events taking place in the immediate environment (microenvironment), the emphasis on the reflection of their own impressions, emotional involvement in the described events. This allows to implement a humanistic approach to education and use a chain of education methods that are relevant to the logic of the activity approach: goal-setting - informational and educational - evaluative. Relying on the potential of juvenile media makes it possible to successfully use these methods of fostering values of adolescents and youth.


3. Juvenile media are the optimal environment for fostering values of modern adolescents and young people (generation Z) because they rely on their willingness to work with any information (find, transmit, create) and comprehend global problems; help to learn how to work painstakingly and bring things to an end, to remember important facts and patterns for the community; help to feel responsibility to older and future generations for the preservation of cultural traditions of peoples of their country, nature and the world in general, to find their own way.


Acknowledgments


The research is carried out with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research: Competition for the best scientific projects of fundamental research in the field of social and political sciences, jointly conducted by the RFBR and EISS, 2021, application No. 21-011-31793


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