First year student brings fresh take to social media privacy research

If it seems like teenagers these days are glued to their phones, you’d be right.

But, adds Andrea Bishop, it’s a mistake to think that means teens are unengaged. In fact, while they’re talking with their friends on social media, they’re also looking out for each others’ wellbeing.

“Social media is still a way for people to talk to each other. It’s fast as anything. Most people’s interactions happen on social media,” she said.

She’s in a unique position to know; Bishop is both a researcher studying social media and one of those teens with a phone in her hand. A freshman majoring in political science at UWM, Bishop is working with associate professor of sociology Celeste CamposCastillo to study how Latinx teens in Milwaukee handle their friends’ online privacy.

Andrea Bishop

“We’re trying to figure out the privacy norms nowadays on social media, how adolescents go about managing mental health, and how they help their friends with those issues,” Bishop said. “Eventually, we’re trying to create a ‘guidebook’ for teachers, principals, parents, and guardians to show them the average teenager’s thought process concerning social media.”

A breakdown of privacy

To conduct their research, Bishop and Campos-Castillo recorded interviews with 40 Latinx teenagers drawn from a Spanish-speaking community center in Milwaukee. Why Latinx youth?

“When you’re doing research, adolescents are a very underrepresented group,” Bishop noted. “The Latinx community is one of the least-represented communities in research. (Campos-Castillo) thought it would be good to focus on Latinx teens specifically just to have that demographic start to be covered more.”

The interview covered teens’ backgrounds and asked them about their own social media use and that of their friends. Each interview also asked questions surrounding important issues like suicide, self-harm, bullying, or problems with parents or teachers.

“Some specific questions would ask, ‘If you saw a friend was posting about signs of an eating disorder, how would you react to that? Would you be A) not worried; B) worried but you wouldn’t tell an adult or teacher; or C) worried and you would tell an adult or teacher?’” Bishop said. “That second one, where you’re worried but wouldn’t tell an adult or teacher, is a gray area. That’s where we’re focusing.”

Bishop and Campos-Castillo are now analyzing responses to see how teens handle their friends’ privacy. So far, Bishop says, whether they choose to tell an adult about a friend’s problems seems to correspond with the severity of the issue.

“For the severe issues … like self-harm, like suicidal thoughts and actions, they rate themselves completely worried and would tell (an adult). So there’s a good bit of people who want their friends to get help,” Bishop said. “Some kids, for some issues, used word the ‘snitch.’ So, we’re trying to find the line, the unspoken rule of what gets reported and what doesn’t. Where does everyone draw that line?”

A social media research maven

As a young researcher, Bishop brings her own set of skills. She’s able to explain to her older colleagues what social media platforms are currently popular (Snapchat is in; Facebook is out) and how people her age typically treat their online privacy.

She’s stepped into that role beyond her UWM research as well; Bishop sits on the Youth Advisory Board for the Technology and Mental Wellness research group, a group of UW System faculty interested in researching the role technology, including social media, plays in youth mental health. Bishop, the oldest board member, meets with other teens who hear researchers’ study proposals and offer feedback based on their own experiences.

“It’s been really fun,” Bishop said. “It’s a way to get a younger influence into proper research. High schoolers don’t get the opportunity to work with 40-year-old researchers, usually.”

Usually, but once again, Bishop bucks the trend. She began undergraduate research before she was even an undergraduate. UWM’s UR@UWM summer program invites exceptional students accepted to the university, including Bishop, to work with faculty mentors on a research project the summer before they begin college. Bishop worked with Campos-Castillo and continued when she matriculated this past fall.

Bishop says her experiences have been wonderful, and have made her think about her own social media use.

“I think that social media is like a double-sided coin,” she said. “One side is so positive and loving. You can make friends and meet incredible people. But there’s that other side, where if you fall into those negative Instagram and Snapchat and Facebook groups, you can spiral and fall into depression.

“Everything still happens in real life; it’s not a horrible thing to put the phone down.”

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science