December, a month known in Belgium for its cold weather outside, its cosiness inside and of course celebrations such as ‘Sinterklaas’ and Santa’s visit on Christmas. These festivities have in common that most people, but especially children, will be spoiled with gifts.
Effects of online advertisements on children and teenagers
In the months before, advertisers try to seduce the children (and their parents and family) even more than usual with their campaigns on multiple platforms (both offline and online). This is exactly what the topic of my PhD was about, namely the effects of online advertisements on children and teenagers.
I investigated what we can and should do to inform children, teenagers and even their parents about advertising. As advertisers are playing hide and seek with their audience, and advertising is intertwined within media and information content, recognizing and understanding the specific purpose of a commercial message that is disguised as information becomes a challenge, especially for the younger ones amongst us.
“Therefore I also investigated how children and teenagers process media content containing commercial messages.”
August 31th 2018
As December might be a ‘symbolic’ reference to the topic of my dissertation, August 31th 2018 – the day of my public defense –also meant the end of the research project I was involved in and became the symbolic day marking the end of an ‘era’.
During this ‘era’ of being a PhD student, a person learns a lot and obtains several skills; writing in a structured manner, planning your own research path while experiencing flexibility and freedom, stimulating students to deliver a Master’s thesis they can be proud of, and passing on insights from your research to other scholars by presenting on (international) conferences.
New resolutions
At the end of the year, people tend to make a list of resolutions they have for the new year to come and reflect on what they have done over the past year. I noticed that people also tend to do this when their public defense is approaching or when they think back at their PhD journey.
Speaking for myself, I can safely say one of the main drivers that made me accomplish my PhD was perseverance. Just as your grandparents might not have a clue about what you are doing, you might sometimes doubt the value of your work and you might wonder whether this is the best situation you to be in, just realize that it is a privilege to have the chance to write a PhD. People always tend to see everything through rose coloured glasses when looking at other people forgetting how lucky they actually are.
“Reflecting on my time in Antwerp, I notice that, having lived here for 9 years as a (PhD)student, Antwerp did not only became the city where I work, but also the city that became my ‘home’, a city I do not want to leave.”