Immersive New Media And Abuse: Should There Be Regulations For How Interpersonal Abuse Is Broadcasted In Online Media?

PYKE, Louise

Abstract

Media effect theorists have debated the extent to which media has influence over its audience with some believing that ‘heavy viewing’ may increase vulnerability, resulting in broadcasters introducing guidelines to reduce potential harm. These moderation tools are only in place for traditional media, however, and with the rise of social media, user-generated content has become increasingly popular with younger consumers. This is concerning as user-generated content is posted to platforms without these strictly enforced regulations. My thesis focuses on how interpersonal abuse is depicted on platforms popular with younger demographics and analyses the effectiveness of the encoding in influencing consumer attitudes towards abusive behaviours, specifically on Wattpad’s After and Twitch’s Dream SMP. I discuss how audiences decode media and the factors present within the content that may strengthen the potential influence, bringing attention to the platforms’ cultural emphasis on direct producer-consumer interaction and the ‘heavy-viewing’ nature of the content. I observe the encoding choices present and infer the dominant decoding of this framing through user comments. This allows me to observe the relationship between a producer intentionally framing abuse as romantic or abhorrent, and the audience’s interpretation of abusive behaviours. I consider whether it would be beneficial for new media platforms to create and enforce regulations on depicting interpersonal abuse due to the potential harm of allowing everyday users to create highly influential media without specific guidelines. I also explore the idea of co-existence between artistic expression, creator responsibility, and audience protection, whilst acknowledging the audience’s right to choose and the fine line between moderation and censorship.

Citation

PYKE, L. (2024). Immersive New Media And Abuse: Should There Be Regulations For How Interpersonal Abuse Is Broadcasted In Online Media?. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: May 1, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2024
• Award Date: May 31, 2024