"Keeping your composure": A digital ethnography of gendered alcohol norms on Instagram.
Int J Drug Policy
; 112: 103936, 2023 02.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2278703
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The increase in alcohol consumption among young women has been the most striking change in drinking culture in Spain in recent years. This study sets out to examine how images and stories about alcohol consumption are presented on Instagram, the strategies for constructing them, and the impact of social norms, including gender norms, on the strategies of making alcohol consumption visible.METHODS:
We have carried out a digital ethnography study in which different research techniques have been applied. We held 13 discussion groups, conducted a three-month period of observation on Instagram, and 38 in-depth interviews of young Spanish men and women between the ages of 15 and 24 (N = 118).RESULTS:
The representation of alcohol consumption on Instagram by young people shows fashionable party spaces for shared disinhibition, fun and youth gatherings. This social network permits different types of alcohol advertising and promotion of the image associated with its consumption, and is thus a space that brands and influencers exploit. Young people avoid the diffusion on Instagram of images related to their heavy use of alcohol through particular strategies. They untag, delete or avoid using their smartphone; and they choose the audience to whom images are directed, and the areas of publication. The desire to be posting and exhibiting constantly converges with embarrassment and precaution with (un)known audiences. Gender is a key element for understanding the differences in the way in which posts on Instagram related to drinking and drunkenness affect young people.CONCLUSIONS:
Our data show that Instagram fosters the spreading of an ideal model of "alcohol consumption" online that tends to conceal the adverse effects of the substance, and that the online diffusion of behaviour concerning drinking is not gender-neutral.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Alcoholic Intoxication
/
Social Media
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Int J Drug Policy
Journal subject:
Public Health
/
Substance-Related Disorders
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
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