Drugs, complicity and belonging. Messages by young people on social networks about the use of addictive substances

Abstract

This article presents the main characteristics and conclusions of a research focused on the comments made by young Spaniards who spread and share on social networks regarding drug use. The interest of the study is focused, on the one hand and attending to the material object of analysis, in knowing which is the dominant discourse of said young people about this practice. And to the other, attending to its formal object, in evaluating the relevance of applying properly communicative techniques based of the messages analysis to a user generated content, instead of others traditionally used for the research of primary sources in the quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (in-depth interviews, focus group) methodological fields. The results obtained highlight a mostly positive assessment of the consumption of psychotropic substances, compared to the usually negative treatment that drug addiction receives in mass communication spaces. In the messages we have analysed the perception of drugs as enhancers of fun prevails, as well as a palliative for character and social deficiencies. Young people are aware of the health risks of drugs use, but they give more importance to the inconveniences that affect them immediately, as an impediment to their relational, work and intellectual aspirations. According to these results, it might be asked whether the media messages against drug use manage to sufficiently influence the perception of potential users or if, on the contrary, these messages are far between their interests, desires and concerns.