“Sense of belonging is defined as the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment.” ¹
One of #Datass research terms was a sense of belonging, how one fits into a group, why and even when. We wanted to know how to strengthen the sense of belonging in the digital world, specifically in live streaming. In order to do so, we had to understand the term itself. It seems Sense of belonging is when one person becomes part of something, a group, maybe, and also feels like they are an important part of the group. The second part of the sentence is important, as the knowing part is what makes it a sense of belonging, and not only the fact that you belong.
Based on the article “Sense of belonging: A vital mental health concept.” ¹, we based those two assumptions;
There are two dimensions of belonging:
- Fitting – one feels his characteristics work well and fit the system or environment. It could be in geographical terms, gender, age group etc.
- Valued involvement – being needed, accepted and valued. One needs to feel acknowledged by the group, for what he brings to the table and who they are.
What affects the level of sense of belonging:
- Energy one is willing to put in of the involvement, in sense of time and effort.
- The desire and potentiality for something meaningful in the involvement, like what you can learn or get from this involvement.
- The potentiality for shared characteristics.
Those Values combined can change the level of Belonging.
Sense of Belonging Changes when the group changes
The sense of belonging change when the group changes. And when you became part of the group for certain common grounds and they have changed, your sense of belongings change as well. This happens in a lot of places where there are group growth and changes.
In order to still belong you need to adapt and evolve.
“…The college provided a social media site where students could “mingle” and meet each other prior to selecting roommates and arriving on campus. He was able to develop a sense of belonging before he had attended his first class…” ²
Social media creates belonging in the virtual space to help and strengthen the creation of sense of belongings in the physical space. This works the other way around, Physical worldconnections strengthen the socil media sense of belonging.
In the end, sense of belonging is an important part in creating a group. We would like to use data for creating a sense of belonging in the digital world.
Until next time,
#DATASS
- DAT Rotem
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Hagerty, Bonnie M. K., Lynch-Sauer, Judith, Patusky, Kathleen L., Bouwsema, Maria, Collier, Peggy (1992/06).”Sense of belonging: A vital mental health concept.” Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 6(3): 172-177. Read it here.
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Julie Willcott “A Sense of Belonging In A Digital World “. Read it here