TY - GEN
T1 - Generational differences in social media use, gender identity, and sexuality among young LGBTIQ+ people in Australia
AU - Robards, Brady
AU - Churchill, Brendan
AU - Vivienne, Son
AU - Hanckel, Benjamin
AU - Byron, Paul
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - ![CDATA[For LGBTIQ+ people, the internet and social media are key channels for communicating and connecting with queer peers, and learning about queer life and queer experiences. While digital social spaces have evolved over the past 20 to 30 years, many of the motivations for using these platforms remain the same. This paper draws on data from the Scrolling Beyond Binaries study, centred on a national Australian survey of 1,304 young LGBTIQ+ people. We present key findings from the study examining generational differences across our four age cohorts of our young respondents: 16–20, 21–25, 26–30 and 30–35. Even among this group of young people, we find stark differences by age in self-identification related to gender and sexuality, and also patterns of difference in the social media platforms they use. Our younger respondents identify with much more fluid forms of gender and sexuality, and also tend to favour dating and hook-up apps that are more inclusive. We seek to foreground the ways in which the internet continues to be significant for our respondents for social connection and learning. We also add to our understandings of the complex and evolving ways in which young LGBTIQ+ people use and thus (re)produce digital social spaces, returning to Nina Wakeford’s (2000 [1997]) consideration of ‘cyberqueer spaces’.]]
AB - ![CDATA[For LGBTIQ+ people, the internet and social media are key channels for communicating and connecting with queer peers, and learning about queer life and queer experiences. While digital social spaces have evolved over the past 20 to 30 years, many of the motivations for using these platforms remain the same. This paper draws on data from the Scrolling Beyond Binaries study, centred on a national Australian survey of 1,304 young LGBTIQ+ people. We present key findings from the study examining generational differences across our four age cohorts of our young respondents: 16–20, 21–25, 26–30 and 30–35. Even among this group of young people, we find stark differences by age in self-identification related to gender and sexuality, and also patterns of difference in the social media platforms they use. Our younger respondents identify with much more fluid forms of gender and sexuality, and also tend to favour dating and hook-up apps that are more inclusive. We seek to foreground the ways in which the internet continues to be significant for our respondents for social connection and learning. We also add to our understandings of the complex and evolving ways in which young LGBTIQ+ people use and thus (re)produce digital social spaces, returning to Nina Wakeford’s (2000 [1997]) consideration of ‘cyberqueer spaces’.]]
KW - sexual minority youth
KW - gender identity
KW - sex
KW - social media
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:58554
U2 - 10.5210/spir.v2019i0.11027
DO - 10.5210/spir.v2019i0.11027
M3 - Conference Paper
BT - Selected Papers in Internet Research 2019: 20th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, 2-5 October 2019, Brisbane, Australia
PB - Association of Internet Researchers
T2 - Internet Research Conference
Y2 - 2 October 2019
ER -