Social Media and Youth: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Social Media Use Among Teenagers

The New Zealand Government has drafted a bill that will raise the social-media account creation age from 13 to 16 years old, following the Australian Government’s social-media ban. To provide nuance against a total blanket ban and to bring the importance of teenager’s perspective of social-media use, this dissertation uses an autoethnographic documentary film artefact to analyse the benefits of using social media as a teenager. These benefits include learning and enhancing content creation skills, identity curation and finding community. Reflecting on my social-media use has shaped my skills in navigating social platforms, developing my creativity, improving my language skills as a dyslexic person and discovering my LGBTQIA+ identity; these aspects have formed my identity as an adult creative practice researcher.