This study investigates the interactional aspects of selfies created on Snapchat by Swedish teenagers in a vocational school environment. Despite Snapchat's popularity among Swedish youth, discourse analytic perspectives on its use have been limited. By employing a discourse analytic lens, this study seeks to unravel the nuanced interactional aspects of selfies produced by Swedish teenagers on Snapchat within a vocational school context. Through the integration of video recordings and screen-captured smartphone interactions, we aim to shed light on the complex dynamics of this visual communication medium. Additionally, our examination encompasses broader cultural and social implications, emphasizing the significance of impression management in shaping self-presentation and identity construction within the realm of visual culture. Additionally, the concept of impression management, as proposed by Goffman (1990), is applied to analyze the processes of self-presentation within these visual interactions.

Data are drawn from 75 hours of video data concerning Swedish students in upper secondary vocational education engaged in smart phone usage in school. In line with previous research on selfies in educational settings, the study sheds light on the transformative potential of selfies as a tool for reimagining and enriching the educational experience.

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The present study examines interactional aspects of Snapchat use by Swedish teenagers in a vocational school setting, based on a combination of video recordings of classroom activity and screen-recorded smart phone use. The data for this article is drawn from a larger collection of video and screen recordings of youths’ smart phone usage in Swedish upper secondary schools (“Uppkopplade klassrum”, VR/UVK, Dnr 2015-01044) and consists of approximately 75 hours of recordings of students in two upper secondary classes; learners of hairdressing and building- and construction work. Larsen & Sandbye (2013) suggest that we need to “look at photos not just as images but as material and social objects that mould and create identity and social relations between people”. Thus, we approach the images and interactions in the data by applying a framework inspired by the works of Erving Goffman on impression management (Goffman, 1990); specifically concerning interactional aspects of self-presentation and processes of situated identities.

The results from this study gives us important insights into digital youth culture in general, and more specifically about the very image loaded lives youths live, in and through their use of smartphones. The study goes in depth to show how the use of images is done in actual practice and when it occurs in interaction in an institutional setting. The use of selfies among youths has often been described as narcissistic (Sorokowski et. al., 2015), but by showing when and how the actual production and consumption of images is done, this study aims to differentiate and make visible the different kinds of actions made by the users; self-presentations, self-representations and masquerade, thus emancipating the youths and giving them a certain amount of agency. More specifically, we note that the use of smart phone cameras and images mirrors different aspects present in these vocational classroom cultures, as have been found by previous research (Nyström, 2012), and the anti-school culture that can be seen in these vocational education data stands in stark contrast to what can be found in similar data concerning upper secondary schools preparing for ensuing studies.

Goffman, E. (1990[1959]). The presentation of self in everyday life. London: Penguin. Larsen, J., & Sandbye, M. (Eds.). (2013). Digital Snaps: The New Face of Photography (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003103509 Nyström, A.-S. (2012). Att synas och lära utan att synas lära : en studie om underprestation och privilegierade unga mäns identitetsförhandlingar i gymnasieskolan (PhD dissertation, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis). Retrieved from https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-21868