Emerging in a Digital World

Abstract

This article reviews the recent literature on uses, effects, and gratifications of media during emerging adulthood. We examine traditional media forms, including television, films, video games, music, and books, and also newer media, such as cell phones, social networking sites, and other Internet use. We find that emerging adults spend more time using the media than they spend doing any other activity, with the most time being spent on the Internet and listening to music. We also find that exposure to certain types of media content can influence both positive and negative outcomes in emerging adulthood, including, aggressive and prosocial behavior, body image, sexual behavior, friendship quality, and academic achievement. We also show that emerging adults use the media to gratify certain needs; key among these are for autonomy, identity, and intimacy needs. Finally, we discuss areas for future research involving media and emerging adulthood.

Generation Me in the Spotlight: Linking Reality TV to Materialism, Entitlement, and Narcissism

“…Generally, susceptibility tends to decrease with age (Coyne et al, 2013). This was confirmed by our findings.…”

“…Cultivation effects of reality TV viewing on youth's materialism, entitlement, and narcissism are likely to be second-order effects, as youth not only show great interest in reality TV shows (Bartsch, 2012;Nielsen, 2009;Roe, 2000) but also have a clear goal orientation while watching these shows-either wanting to educate themselves on how to act in various types of relationships (i.e., friendships, romantic relationships) and what it means to be a "real" man or woman, or wanting to be entertained and beat boredom (Arnett, 1995;Coyne et al, 2013). However, despite their name, reality TV shows provide a distorted image of reality.…”

“…Both adolescence and emerging adulthood are periods of identity exploration, in which youth are trying to establish their values, abilities, and hopes for the future. Previous studies have indicated that youth use media to form ideals about gender, relationships, family, work, and politics (Arnett, 1995;Coyne et al, 2013).…”

“…However, as idolization decreases with age (Raviv, Bar-Tal, Raviv, & Ben-Horin, 1996), the people in these casts are likely to have a bigger influence on adolescents than emerging adults. Because other scholars have also found evidence that youth's susceptibility to media decreases with age (Coyne et al, 2013), the following may be expected:…”

“…The differential susceptibility to media effects model can be used to predict who, in particular, are most vulnerable to these effects. Among other factors, vulnerability depends on developmental stage and tends to decrease with age (Coyne, Padilla-Walker, & Howard, 2013;Valkenburg & Peter, 2013). The second aim of this study is to examine whether the effect of reality TV on materialism, entitlement, and narcissism is stronger for adolescents than for emerging adults.…”