The virtual environment: an ecosystem of online and offline interactions for socialisation
Abstract
The socialisation process of young people today is mediated by online and offline interactions. For them, online environments are spaces where they can express and construct their own identity with others. This does not mean that they renounce the offline world, which is equally relevant. Method. This article presents the results of qualitative research carried out with 36 young people aged between 12 and 16 to investigate the social dimension of cyberbullying. The study aims to analyse interactions in online environments to identify the motivations, barriers and facilitators that contribute to the development of solidarity actions in defence and support of victims of cyberbullying. Results. Technology-mediated communication is characterised by its public dimension and is based on content that becomes permanent, replicable and easily distributable. The results also show how aggression that can be considered cyberbullying can originate in one context and move to another, as well as coexist and feed back into face-to-face, online and hybrid interactions. Conclusions. Beyond the interactions that occur in an aggression with an online component, communication among young people today takes place in a continuum of face-to-face, technology-mediated and hybrid interactions that give rise to a comprehensive experience that is difficult to divide into places, contexts or devices. These elements lead us to define the virtual environment as an ecosystem of online and offline interactions, which means for the adolescents a socialisation space.
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