Exploring children and young people’s critical thinking: the case of YouTube

<p dir="ltr">In this thesis I focus on the critical thinking of young people aged 12-14 years living in England in relation to YouTube. I explore how young people are influenced on YouTube, how they perceive the concept of influencing and what role critical thinking plays in their digital lives. In my exploration of critical thinking, I draw on the following theoretical tools: Polanyi’s (1958) theory of post-critique, as a way to transform critique towards empathy and creativity in order to understand the truth and reality of young people’s use of YouTube; Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development theory, as a way to learn from more knowledgeable and skilled others; Hall’s (1979) reception theory, which focuses on negotiation and opposition by the audience; and Gibson’s (1979) affordance theory, latterly developed by scholars like Jenny Davis (2020), who proposes a shift from universal understanding of what technologies afford, to a more critical approach that uses affordances as a conceptual tool, allowing me to examine how technology itself shapes use and the possibility of critical use.</p><p dir="ltr">The study contributes to a burgeoning literature on social media and the digital lives of young people. It offers new perspectives on the role adults play in young people’s YouTube digital lives, new understanding of young people’s critical thinking in relation to YouTube and new understanding of how young people might critically respond to YouTube content. The empirical basis of the research is produced through a mixed method research design, consisting of ethnography, an online survey of 66 parents and 10 young people aged 12-14, joint online interviews with 7 young people and their mothers, and an online focus group with 3 young people.</p><p dir="ltr">The findings of the study are in line with the latest existing research on young people’s digital lives, especially in terms of the content young people watch and shifts towards watching rather than producing and sharing content online. My research presents original findings around how the idea and phenomena of ‘influencing’ is perceived amongst adults and young people, including contestation of the term by young people themselves in relation to the impact on them of following YouTubers. In order to make sense of my findings I develop an analysis of ‘critical thinking’ as an education objective and a personal skill. In particular, I focus on how emotion is central to the formation of critical thinking in relation to notions of influence, and from young people’s accounts I propose the value of ‘concern’ and being ‘concerned’ as a productive approach to understanding the expression of criticality in relation to ‘influence’. Lastly, I explore the generational shifts in play in the emergence of new kinds of criticality through an analysis of differences between adults’ and young people’s understanding of YouTube as a platform.</p><p dir="ltr">On the basis of these findings, I argue for the value of participation as a methodology for understanding the meaning of influence in relation to YouTube, including the benefits and risks of using this social media platform, and to help shape young people’s critical thinking. Influencing is a contentious term, and I argue that through accounts of young people and their parents we can discern a critique that rejects ‘influence’ as understood through an earlier media paradigm. My final argument begins with the affordances of the new media, and the personalisation inherent within its practices which undermine shared understandings of the messages conveyed. Every user experience YouTube differently, based on their preferences and participation. This needs to form the starting point for a new approach to critical thinking and media literacy.</p>