Social Media: a New Religion?
1 Social Media: A New Religion? A Masters Thesis by Ashleigh Nicola Clarke 41044098 Department of Sociology, University of Canterbury 2 Acknowledgements I would first and foremost like to express my deepest gratitude to my two supervisors Mike Grimshaw and Zita Joyce for your inspiration, invaluable feedback, pushing me above and beyond my limits, offering constructive criticism and advice, and continuous support throughout all the meetings, emails, pestering, and questions. Your insights have helped strengthen my knowledge, writing, and research skills. Thank you. Thank you to all the people in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at the University of Canterbury, as well as the two administrators, Pat and Denise, for all your hard work. Thank you to everyone I met throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate studies who encouraged me to keep going to pursue my academic dreams, even when times were tough, confusing, and ambiguous. Thank you for listening, understanding, and always being there to support me as your peer, your equal, and your friend. Thank you to my Mum, Nikki, for always having a space for me in your home while I pursued my university career, offering support when you could, encouraging me to live my best life, your compassion for others, and for just being my mum. I would also like to thank the rest of my family, my Dad Phil and his wife Christine, my Grandma Avis, Cath, my Nana Barbara, my Grandad Trevor, and Sandra for all your support during my years of studying. A special thank you to Micaela, Alex, Liv, Tayler, Lizzie, Darryl, Leon, and “the boys” for your friendship over the years, life advice, support, acceptance, banter, encouragement, taco nights, and always believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself.
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