Shipping on Social Media – Early Adolescents Playfully Exploring Relation <i>ships</i>

Shipping, a play on relationship, is a novel, yet ambiguous, social media practice. Shipping is a practice of playful, romantic pairing of peers on social media platforms, typically on anonymous accounts. At times, shipping is illicit, particularly when pictures are shared without consent. Research on shipping is scarce despite its legal, privacy and datafication issues, and the potential of ensuing bullying. This article seeks to understand why and how young people in Norway dis/engage in shipping as a practice. Theoretically, the article draws on meaning, competence and material as the three elements of social practice theory and how identity performances focus on enactments of age and gender. Empirically, the article builds on 37 semi-structured interviews with 29 early adolescents aged 10–13 about their everyday digital lives in Oslo. The findings suggest that early adolescents dis/engage based on consideration of the meaning of shipping for their social relations, exploring romance, entertainment and play. Young people in the study share peer group norms centered around consent and social closeness. At times, some of them test and transgress social and legal boundaries, leading to issues of privacy, choice, and bullying, and raising questions about teachers’ involvement. Shipping is ambivalent as it can create a sense of belonging yet also lead to feelings of exclusion.