Black Protection: Black Social Media Competency and Urban, Black Adolescents on Social Media
While urban, Black adolescents interact with racial identity content on social media, their identity is primarily shaped through offline experiences and later reflected or reinforced online. Through the concept of Black social media competency (B-SMC), this study examined the relationships between Black urban adolescents’ social media use, exposure to race-related content, and experiences navigating the digital environment. The study used a qualitative design, grounded in the phenomenological and ecological frameworks, with 21 adolescents recruited from two urban, Midwestern schools and programs to participate in semi-structured interviews, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns in how the participants engaged with and interpreted digital content. Findings from this study indicated the participants demonstrated three different analytical groupings of B-SMC: high B-SMC, characterized by intentional Black-centered engagement; emerging B-SMC, with mixed interpretations; and low B-SMC, associated with avoidant or entertainment-focused use that shaped how they processed racialized experiences online. Participants in the high B-SMC group demonstrated stronger critical reflection and racial identity development. Across all groups, participants indicated protective factors, such as family, peers, and cultural socialization, supported the development of resilience. As such, B-SMC functions as an additional protective process that enables adaptive navigation of online racial content. Implications include that clinicians should assess adolescents’ digital environments and incorporate culturally responsive, strength-based interventions that promote identity development and effective coping with racialized experiences.
Clinical Psychology, Community Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Multicultural Psychology, Race and Ethnicity, Social Psychology
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