Agir contre la cyberintimidation avec la vidéo numérique et YouTube : une étude de sociologie cognitive sur la communication socioéducative médiatisée chez des adolescents

Cyberbullying refers to any situation where an individual or a group uses digital technology and/or social media in order to harm a third party. In Quebec, 22% of teenagers are victims of cyberbullying each year. The major effects of these acts include social anxiety, lower grades, severe depression and the emergence of suicidal ideation. This thesis focuses on the actions favored by amateur videographers and adolescents to fight against cyberbullying, using digital video and YouTube. The research is inspired by the theory of cognitive rationality, which suggests that social phenomena may be explained by the reasons why individuals act in a given context. It also uses the concepts of mediation and mediatization in order to distinguish the relational act of communication and the act of formatting information. In this study, 59 amateur videos have been archived, three interviews with video producers have been conducted and 14 focus groups with 75 teenagers were lead. These three data sets have been subjected to a categorical content analysis, which identified the dominant ideas and the preferred modes of representation in the videos and in the discourses of participants. The results presented show that amateur videos urge the public to act against cyberbullying, but that they offer few concrete solutions. To convince the public to take action, the videos show high rates of victimization, take position against the idea that cyberbullying is less serious than traditional bullying, and argue that this phenomenon can lead to suicide. The videos present a picture of the victims that may seem stereotypical at first glance, but which corresponds to the results of research on cyberbullying. This study also shows that video producers are more motivated by the acquisition of a capital of recognition and by the development of skills in video production than by the desire to help those affected by cyberbullying. The results also show that the idea of ​​producing unrealistic dramatizations to describe cyberbullying is rejected by teenagers, who value instead realism and authenticity. They also reveal that teenagers are not receptive to the idea of ​​using humor or violence to convince an audience, and that they are opposed to the idea of ​​producing a video whose contents are computer-generated or in which there is no human presence. The main contribution of this research to the advancement of knowledge on youth and media is a better understanding of the challenges faced by teenagers when they produce a socioeducational video. Media education programs targeting teenagers could discuss with them the principles of such communication, especially regarding the choice of contents, the intended audience and the preferred mode of diffusion.

Keyphrases: Adolescents, Intervention socioéducative, YouTube, Sociologie cognitive, Analyse qualitative, Teenagers, Youth centers, Cyberbullying, Socio-educational intervention, Mediatized communication, Digital video, Media education, Cognitive sociology, Qualitative analysis