“Reinforcing that it’s a good thing, but there’s dangers”: Exploring Young People’s Advice on Digital Resilience

This document encloses three parts: a literature review paper, an empirical paper, and a reflective account. ‘Part I: Literature Review Paper’ gives a detailed introduction into the topic of social media. It critically examines the literature related to social media use within the population of CYP and highlights key theories that underpin this. The significance of social media use by CYP is also discussed, drawing on the benefits and risks of its usage and the role the adolescent stage of development can play in this. Subsequently, resilience to the risks on social media is considered, which is known as digital resilience. Lastly, how digital resilience can be promoted in society today within different contexts is highlighted. Part I ends by considering what further research is needed into the topic of digital resilience within the population of CYP. ‘Part II: Empirical Paper’ contains an account of this current research that explores the advice young people would give to children about being resilient living their lives online. It starts with an outline of the significant literature related to social media use and digital resilience, which contributes to the rationale of this research, in addition to its aims. The methodology is explained, which highlights the participatory approach that used focus groups and thematic analysis with co-researchers. The subsequent results and discussion section examines the five themes that detail the advice young people would give to children about being digitally resilient. Lastly, how this research contributes to the knowledge base is discussed, in addition to its implications for the practice of EPs and future research. ‘Part III: Reflective Account’ shares a reflective and reflexive account of the process of this research. It includes critical discussion on the reasoning behind choices made within the research design, whilst also considering alternative options. It considers difficulties that arose throughout the research process and how this has contributed to the development of research skills. Part III reflects on the impact of this research and how it has added to the knowledge base. Lastly, it details how this new knowledge can be disseminated and further explored in future research