SNS and the Lived Experiences of Queer Youth

Abstract

Technology design has not adequately included a queer perspective, even though digital technologies such as social networking sites (SNS) have been shown to play vital roles in the lives and well-being of queer people. SNS provide queer people with a means to explore their identities, learn about queerness and connect to others with similar experiences. However, SNS use can also have detrimental effects, exposing queer people to harm and victimisation. To date, there is not much effort in HCI to understand the experiences of queer people with SNS. As a result, we lack understanding of how SNS and other social technologies could be designed in ways that are supportive of queer people's well-being. The findings from this exploratory study reveal how particular digital technologies can have complex effects in shaping queer people's experiences and their well-being. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI; • Social and professional topics → Sexual orientation.

Wearable Identities: Understanding Wearables’ Potential for Supporting the Expression of Queer Identities

“…Our findings exemplify the importance of authentic queer expression and how it affords queer individuals opportunities to experience heightened senses of comfort, euphoria, and pride while simultaneously promoting queer acceptance and acting as a social lubricant for those within the community [8,86,128]. Despite these benefits and a rapidly growing trend toward greater adoption of wearables [159], queer identity management research has primarily focused on the queer SNS user [5,21,34,58,97] and leaves a gap for similar exploration of physical emerging technology. On the other hand, to our knowledge, HCI research in expressive wearables has yet to provide an in-depth insight into queer lived experiences and opinions.…”

“…This aligns with the paradigm shift from sexuality and gender as rigid, uniform characteristics to complex experiences that exist along a personal, everchanging spectrum [3,4,8]. Queer HCI has already placed several emphases on the importance of designing for queer fluidity in SNS [5,34,58,67]. With a growing potential of unique wearable applications such as gameplay [95], fashion [150], and group fitness [96], wearable designers must similarly consider and apply the evolutionary nature of queer identities and expression to ensure society does not further exclude the queer population.…”

“…Research on queer identity management in human-computer interaction (HCI) has grown in recent years, investigating how queer individuals might navigate the intricacies of queer identity expression and sharing [34,56,57,61]. It has made particular strides investigating the online queer persona, often through topics such as identity disclosure [39,110] and social media usage patterns [5,22,34,56]. Yet, we have noticed a lack of existing HCI literature investigating queer expression outside of online contexts.…”

“…Queer individuals have also popularized gender symbols as ways to represent either one's sexuality or gender, depending on the orientation and overlay of symbols. Figure 2 With the growing popularity of online communities and SNSs, prominent user experience discussions for queer communities have begun to focus on the online queer persona [5,60,97,144]. One of the leading avenues for online identity expression comes in the form of SNS use, with a rise in research investigating how queer users utilize sites like Facebook and Tumblr to navigate their identity disclosure [110].…”

“…Beyond identity disclosure, research has also explored the use of SNS as an avenue for queer identity discovery [5,21,43]. For instance, Haimson et al [56,58] examination of Tumblr transition bloggers brought to light an existing and extremely common practice of using Tumblr as a means of "transition work," where engaging in activities like expressive writing allowed users to explore their gender identities.…”