Dating apps as public health ‘problems’: cautionary tales and vernacular pedagogies in news media

Albury, K; McCosker, A; Pym, T; Byron, P

Dating apps as public health ‘problems’: cautionary tales and vernacular pedagogies in news media

Albury, K McCosker, A Pym, T Byron, P

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Publisher:: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Health Sociology Review, 2020
Issue Date:: 2020-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Albury, K
dc.contributor.author	McCosker, A
dc.contributor.author	Pym, T
dc.contributor.author	Byron, P https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6591-3060
dc.date.accessioned	2020-09-24T04:00:04Z
dc.date.available	2020-09-24T04:00:04Z
dc.date.issued	2020-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Health Sociology Review, 2020
dc.identifier.issn	1446-1242
dc.identifier.issn	1839-3551
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/142843
dc.description.abstract	© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In this paper we examine how popular media reporting positions dating and hookup app use as a ‘social problem’ that impacts on health and wellbeing. The paper adopts a mixed-methods media studies approach to create and analyse a dataset of over 6,000 international news articles published within a 12-month period, drawing on thematic content analysis and inductive and deductive techniques. These analyses are framed in relation to online consultations with Australian sexual health professionals and app users. Applying Briggs and Hallin’s theory of biocommunicability (2007)–which proposes that contemporary health professionals’ scientific framing of public health problems are, in part, shaped by popular media discourses–we identify a significant category of supportive discussions of safer app use within social news and lifestyle reporting. This discursive space features what we have termed ‘vernacular pedagogies’ of app use, revealing app users’ safety strategies, and their experiences of pleasure and playfulness. We argue that an analysis of popular media can provide valuable insights into how everyday experiences of safety, risk and wellbeing are being shaped and contested with dating and hookup app use, and that these insights can be used to develop meaningful health promotion strategies.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
dc.relation.ispartof	Health Sociology Review
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1080/14461242.2020.1777885
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.subject	1117 Public Health and Health Services, 1608 Sociology
dc.title	Dating apps as public health ‘problems’: cautionary tales and vernacular pedagogies in news media
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1117 Public Health and Health Services
utslib.for	1608 Sociology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/IKM and Digital Studies Program
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2020-09-24T04:00:02Z
pubs.publication-status	Published

Abstract:

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In this paper we examine how popular media reporting positions dating and hookup app use as a ‘social problem’ that impacts on health and wellbeing. The paper adopts a mixed-methods media studies approach to create and analyse a dataset of over 6,000 international news articles published within a 12-month period, drawing on thematic content analysis and inductive and deductive techniques. These analyses are framed in relation to online consultations with Australian sexual health professionals and app users. Applying Briggs and Hallin’s theory of biocommunicability (2007)–which proposes that contemporary health professionals’ scientific framing of public health problems are, in part, shaped by popular media discourses–we identify a significant category of supportive discussions of safer app use within social news and lifestyle reporting. This discursive space features what we have termed ‘vernacular pedagogies’ of app use, revealing app users’ safety strategies, and their experiences of pleasure and playfulness. We argue that an analysis of popular media can provide valuable insights into how everyday experiences of safety, risk and wellbeing are being shaped and contested with dating and hookup app use, and that these insights can be used to develop meaningful health promotion strategies.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/142843