Youth and social media: the affordances and challenges of online graffiti practice

Abstract

The impact of social media use on youth subcultures, such as graffiti writers, has been rapid and dramatic, bringing with it a number of significant transformations that present both opportunities and challenges. This paper explores the impact of the Internet and social media on a community of graffiti practitioners. I argue that the rise and uptake of online social networking platforms such as Instagram and You Tube have offered a range of affordances to the practice of graffiti writing. These affordances include: greater accessibility to graffiti culture; learning opportunities; and opportunities for wider distribution and curation of graffiti pieces. Simultaneously, social media challenges the significance of ‘community’, that is, the physical social interaction afforded by participation in real world graffiti crews. The findings suggest that while there are tangible benefits from the use of the Internet and uptake of social media by the graffiti writing community, it is the physical communal bonds experienced within a graffiti crew that are vital to the wellbeing and continuity of the culture. This paper contributes to our understanding of how social media affects youth more broadly and specifically how social media platforms are transforming the experience of youth subcultural practice.