Summary And Conclusion

In answering my hypothesis, “to what extend does the media influence the formation of youth’s identity,” it has become apparent that the media does not fully contribute to the formation of different aspects of an adolescent’s identity. In fact, there are actually other factors that contribute, such as the peers around an individual. This could include people like family, friends or even teachers just to name a few. However, in saying this, it is clear that different forms of media are in some ways leading to young individuals in today’s society feeling the pressures of “what is expected” from them, specifically in relation to “beauty ideals,” such as having media’s perception of “the ideal body.” The main trends that have resulted from my research are that:

≥ Across all gender categories, ‘Social’ media proved to be the most influential, in relation to how much time each day was spent on these platforms and what individual’s perceived to be the “ideal image” in same and opposite sexes.

≥ The usage of “print” media such as magazines and newspapers has declined since the boom of different forms of digital media which is considered more easily accessible.

≥ Students at Glenwood High School overall didn’t seem to be as fazed by “celebrity culture” and youth marketing as the media makes adolescents out to be.

≥ Half of all females surveyed would go as far as having cosmetic surgery done in the future, which overall concludes that the females surveyed seemed to be more vulnerable to media’s pressures, more so than males.

Evaluation

All primary research undertaken will unfortunately have its limits, as did mine. Because there is only a certain amount of resources available to students conducting the IRP, there were further improvements made to my method of collecting primary data, these included:

≥ Handing out more questionnaires to more students across all grades. This would’ve allowed for more accurate data and obvious trends and elements to analyze.

≥ Giving myself more time to get the questionnaires back to me, as it did feel a little bit rushed trying to get as many back as possible.

≥ conducting another methodology to gain a further variety of results.

≥ While I know that my secondary research was perfectly adequate in gaining information to help me fulfill the requirements to complete this IRP, it could’ve been further improved if I had utilized even more sources of information.

I believe that this IRP has been worthy in not only helping myself to gain a better understanding into the topic of “media and youth” but hopefully others who get to read this will learn about the different ways in which the media can impact on an individual’s wellbeing, regardless of how significant the issue seems to be.

I also believe that the information and data conducted in this IRP will be of use to others, as through my primary and secondary research, there have been different factors brought up that will hopefully open the eyes of many others, not just mine. The data collected is of currency and is a relevant topic that is constantly discussed in today’s society. This IRP provides the information of “to what extend does the media influence the formation of youth’s identity.”

If I were to undertake further study, I would ensure that I had a clearer timeline set out. During the early stages of the IRP I felt as though I was fine with how I was tracking, but as soon as it came time to hand out the questionnaires and I didn’t initially get the results I wanted, I didn’t realize at the time but I started to fall behind and lose focus. I also wished I had utilized my time during the holidays better to complete more of the IRP, as I have felt more pressure towards the competition of the IRP, but I do believe that I work better under pressure. However, this changed when a file on my USB became corrupted, which cause a lot of unnecessary stress and forced me to have to re do some of my work, as I couldn’t recover the work I had done previously. Also, I should’ve taken into account that there was the possibility of someone identifying as a gender other than “male” or “female.” This is something that I did not take into consideration when proposing my questionnaire, and this was an unexpected outcome when someone identified as “gender fluid."