Courageous and Avoiding Strategies to Express Opinions on Social Media Against Intolerance to Diversity

• In Event: Paper Session: Designing and Responding to Messages in Learning Technologies

Abstract

Learning to be tolerant is important in multiethnic societies. Based on the premises that tolerance is built through dialogue and that nowadays much informal learning takes place in social media, this paper explores the reactions of young people when they received racist memes through social media, and how they dare to express or not their opinions. Responses of undergraduate students to messages presented in print and Facebook were compared using quantitative and qualitative techniques. Analyses took into consideration their perception of each medium, their self-efficacy, and amount of invested mental effort. A second experiment was conducted using a class discussion forum simulating a group chat of instant messaging. Strategies to express or avoid opinions were analyzed using qualitative techniques.

Authors

• Laura H. Porras-Hernandez, Universidad de las Americas Puebla

• María de Lourdes Navarro-Hernandez, Universidad de las Americas Puebla