Friesem, Duff & Sloane-Hendricks (2023).

Youth media literature celebrates youth voice but rarely discusses the power dynamics between adult mentors and youth. This case study explores these power dynamics in cultivating trust between teenagers creating community media and their adult mentors on Chicago’s South Side. The authors identified three self-determination themes relating to these power dynamics between the youth and adults in the production process during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) generating routines to foster a sense of competency; (2) having a sense of belonging by creating caring interactions; (3) allowing participants to voice their opinion to increase their sense of autonomy. Being Black teenagers in the middle of the pandemic along with the social unrest was challenging. Creating their own media for a specific target audience in their community, instead of a cable TV channel, supported the youth’s sense of power to come intrinsically and not from the adult facilitators.

In 2021, the hashtag #ADHD gained traction on TikTok, reaching over 2.5 billion views, with some top videos reaching over 2 million views each. This study examined the messages, identities, and representations of the most popular videos under the hashtag #ADHD on TikTok. Using the hashtag (#ADHD), a sample of 160 TikTok videos was collected from videos that received the most engagement.

With the changes to media education during the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning, youth media nonprofit True Kids 1 and I wanted to investigate youth engagement, sense of competency in media production, sense of agency, and impact on their community during their 2021 Summer Camp. This research explored these topics through interviews with camp mentors, observations collected during camp meetings, and analysis of student work.