Program
Teaching M.A.
Number of Pages
65
Year Approved
2026
First Advisor
Joel Olson
Second Reader
Mary Shulze Michener
Abstract
Many adolescent boys are using social media each day for a variety of reasons. How social media is being utilized by these students, what they are being potentially exposed to online, and how it is impacting their offline lives has raised questions and concerns for many educators. This literature review explores how teaching media literacy skills to adolescent boy students impacts their empathy. This review specifically focuses on research done around the impact of social media use on the development of empathy and masculinity, how the impacts of boys’ exposure to the manosphere are being felt and perpetuated in schools, the importance of measuring how boys are using social media, and how media literacy may be a tool to mitigate the negative impacts of social media use in adolescents. Findings from these studies suggest that media literacy education may increase adolescent boys’ empathy and that media literacy may be a crucial aspect of education in our increasingly digital world.
Degree Name
Teaching M.A.
Document Type
Masterʼs thesis
Recommended Citation
Betzler, K. A. (2026). Boys Will Be Empathetic: How Does Media Literacy Education Impact Adolescent Boys’ Empathy? [Masterʼs thesis, Bethel University]. Spark Repository. https://spark.bethel.edu/etd/1309
Terms of Use and License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.