Emotional Sharing by Teenagers in the Space of a YouTube Vlog: A Discourse Analysis

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Curriculum in Out-of-School Spaces

Abstract

This discourse analysis examines emotional sharing among teenagers in the space of a YouTube video blog (vlog) with 200 comments, that resides outside of classroom curricula. As a vlog on hating the news, the analysis attends to the possibility of difficult learning. While the literature spans explanations on emotions in education, this study also considers literature about a disruption of dominant emotional rules. The analysis reveals emotion among commenters that weighs most heavily in the area of empathy. The comments appear to echo and amplify the vlogger’s transcript about emotional breakdowns in the face of disturbing and overwhelming news. Through a poststructural lens, this study also ponders free-flowing emotion amidst slang and profanity in an unmediated curricular space.

Author

• Leslie Smith Duss, Citrix