Dissertation committee:
Δημοσθένης Δασκαλάκης, Καθηγητής Π.Τ.Δ.Ε. Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Αλέξανδρος-Σταμάτιος Αντωνίου, Καθηγητής Π.Τ.Δ.Ε. Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Γεώργιος Αλεξιάς, Καθηγητής Τμήματος Ψυχολογίας Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου
Κωστόπουλος Τρύφων, Καθηγητής Τμήματος Κοινωνιολογίας Παντείου Πανεπιστήμιου
Λύτρας Ανδρέας, Καθηγητής Τμήματος Κοινωνιολογίας Παντείου Πανεπιστήμιου
Κακάμπουρα Ρέα, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Π.Τ.Δ.Ε. Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Κουτρομάνος Γεώργιος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Π.Τ.Δ.Ε. Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Summary:
Aim of the present thesis is the study and research of the role of social networking sites practice in relation to the new ways of communication imposed on adolescents by the invasion of technology in their social, family and personal relationships, as adolescents are a highly active age group in today's online environment. Specifically, we studied the ways in which communication functions between teenagers on online social networking platforms, the degree of their impact on their social, family and personal relationships, the factors that shape their online identity, the influence that teenagers receive as consumers from social media, their level of awareness and preparedness to deal with the dangers lurking on online platforms, but also the imprint of all these factors on the wider structure of society. In order to achieve these goals, a case study of the male and female students of the 4th General Lyceum of Katerini was prepared with semi-structured individual interviews of 19 male and female students, as well as a quantitative survey with a questionnaire as a research tool, on a sample of 500 teenagers aged 15 to 18 with snowball sampling. Regarding the case study, a thematic content analysis of the individual interviews was carried out, while the research data of the quantitative research was analyzed with SPSS statistical analysis software. In addition, a "bottom up" content analysis was performed on the open questions of the questionnaire, which gave a qualitative tone to quantitative data.
Triangulation as a methodological choice provided clear, integrated, spherical and in-depth answers to the under-research phenomenon, illuminating every aspect of the impact of social networking sites on adolescence. The results of both researches are identical, which allowed us to generalize the conclusions to the general population of teenagers of the studied age range, while we observed with great interest, the fact that the research data obtained from the two prepared researches, did not lead to the conclusion that social media, even if they have penetrated into everyone's daily life, have the power to change the status and structure of the relationships that teenagers develop with each other, but also with their family and school environment, as we initially assumed. On the contrary, it seems that teenagers are a very powerful age group, which demonstrates tremendous dynamics on social media, in which it imposes itself and possibly dominates, as a meta-analysis of research findings shows that new media tend to adapt to the characteristics of their most dynamic audience and not the other way around.
Keywords:
Adolescence, Communication, Impact, Social Media
