For many young people, social media is more than a place to scroll.

It can be a place to find information, build community and explore parts of their identity. These are all that Mount Allison student Oliver VanBuskirk (’27) is examining through an undergraduate research project focused on the experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.

An Honours Sociology student with a minor in Drama Studies from Rothesay, NB, VanBuskirk spent the summer researching how proposed social media age restrictions in Canada could specifically affect queer youth under the age of 16.

The research comes as the federal government considers Bill C-34, the proposed Safe Social Media Act, which includes a minimum age requirement for accounts on certain social media services.

To explore the issue, he is conducting semi-structured interviews with queer-identifying young adults between the ages of 19 and 23, asking them to reflect on their experiences with social media, coming out and the connections between the two.

“Social media has been expressed in literature as a place for queer youth to connect to community, education and affirmation,” VanBuskirk says. “This Bill could be removing a potentially vital resource to many queer youth, so I hope that this research can represent a queer perspective and advocate for them.”

Much of the summer has been spent reviewing academic literature, recruiting participants and conducting interviews. With interviews nearing completion, he has turned to transcribing the conversations and preparing to analyze what participants shared.

VanBuskirk hopes the research can add nuance to conversations about online safety by considering not only the potential risks of social media, but also the role these spaces can play in young people’s lives.

“I anticipate that this research will offer a different perspective of social media and more articulately describe its issues,” he says, with the hope that future policy can support safer online spaces for youth while recognizing the connections and resources they may find there.
 

The experience has also given VanBuskirk a first-hand introduction to independent academic research — from setting deadlines and recruiting participants to developing stronger interviewing and communication skills.

“This experience has reinforced my passion for sociology,” he says. “It has introduced me to the process of independent research and solidified my goal of pursuing a Master’s in Sociology.”

He also credits Mount Allison’s broader liberal arts experience with helping develop those skills, including an unexpected influence: time spent working as a stage manager at the Motyer-Fancy Theatre.

“I attribute a lot of my success in communication and organization to my time working as a Stage Manager,” he says.

For VanBuskirk, those experiences — across the classroom, theatre and research — are helping shape what comes next: graduate studies in sociology.

This summer research was funded by 46 Fund through Mount Allison's Independent Summer Research Grants.