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. 2020 Dec 23:16:e3264.
doi: 10.18294/sc.2020.3264.

Online challenges among children and adolescents: Self-inflicted harm and social media strategies

Suely Ferreira Deslandes  1 , Tiago Coutinho  2 , Taiza Ramos de Souza Costa Ferreira  3 , Roberta Matassoli Duran Flach  4
Affiliations

Online challenges among children and adolescents: Self-inflicted harm and social media strategies

Suely Ferreira Deslandes et al. Salud Colect. .

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Challenges are in line with the risk-taking practices frequent in child and youth culture. However, online challenges take on new meanings when mediated by digital sociability. To analyze this phenomenon, 122 challenge videos in Portuguese that had been made by Brazilian children or adolescents were recovered from the YouTube platform, of which 35 were selected and transcribed. Twelve types of challenges were analyzed; all involved potential self-inflicted injuries to participants, with risks ranging from minor to lethal. The discourse analysis led to an interpretation based on the theory of self-image and ethos. Online challenges appear as a powerful communicative resource to reaffirm belonging, recognition, and audience adherence, and so constitute a media strategy adopted by youth in the construction of an Internet-mediated identity in which risk and violence are decisive devices in building a self-image capable of retaining an audience. The enunciator's body sacrifice assumes a bargaining role in this media adherence.

Los desafíos son parte de las prácticas de riesgo frecuentes en la cultura infantil y juvenil. Sin embargo, los desafíos en línea adquieren nuevos significados cuando están mediados por la sociabilidad digital. Para analizar este fenómeno, se recuperaron 122 videos de desafíos de la plataforma YouTube, videos en portugués realizados por niñas, niños y adolescentes brasileños de los cuales se seleccionaron y transcribieron 35 videos. Se analizaron 12 tipos de desafíos que implicaran posibles lesiones autoinfligidas por sus participantes: desde riesgos menores hasta letales. El análisis del discurso llevó a una interpretación basada en la teoría de la imagen de uno mismo y del ethos. Los desafíos en línea se presentan como un poderoso recurso comunicativo para reafirmar la pertenencia, el reconocimiento y la adhesión de las audiencias, y constituyen una estrategia mediática adoptada por los jóvenes en la construcción de una identidad mediada por Internet, en la que el riesgo y la violencia se convierten en dispositivos determinantes en la construcción de una imagen de sí mismos capaz de retener una audiencia. El sacrificio corporal del enunciador asume el papel negociador en esta adhesión mediática.

Keywords: Adolescent Health; Brazil; Communications Media; Internet; Self-Injurious Behavior; Wounds and Injuries.

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