The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
lindy_b's review against another edition
5.0
Although I have read and enjoyed boyd's other work for some time now, I put off reading this book. I needed emotional distance.
This is because boyd conducted her fieldwork for this book between 2005 and 2012. I graduated high school in 2012, so the teens she interviews are my peers. I too was subjected to constant hand wringing about message boards, Blogger, and MySpace would lead to a lonely life of mindless distraction unless a serial killer nabbed me first. I remember being frustrated because while I could tell that there was a fundamental misunderstanding, I could not articulate it. I didn't necessarily want to revisit that feeling. As I settle into my adult life, however, I keep finding myself in positions where I need to defend younger peoples' interactions with technology as, well, weird, but also developmentally important and probably harmless to the broader workings of society.
As boyd wryly notes, portions of this book were already out of date by the time it went to print, and three years after its publication, this is even more true. However, as boyd herself concludes, her work does provide a record of several specific events and junctures in time; the MySpace/Facebook divide of 2006-2007 is one example. I do think that the book's central thesis regarding teenagers' desire for and creation of public lives driving most of the consternation around their use of the internet still stands, and likely will for the foreseeable future. I also want to take the chapter dispelling the myth of "digital natives" and send it to everyone who works in university administration.
boyd shows more understanding issues of race, class, and sexual orientation than many writers who approach the teenagers-0n-the-internet topic, and I appreciate it. However, discussion of how gender structures non/engagement in networked publics was missing entirely.
This isn't negative or anything but it's not in the title or cover copy and it's worth knowing before you read, but It's Complicated is explicitly about American teenagers.
This is because boyd conducted her fieldwork for this book between 2005 and 2012. I graduated high school in 2012, so the teens she interviews are my peers. I too was subjected to constant hand wringing about message boards, Blogger, and MySpace would lead to a lonely life of mindless distraction unless a serial killer nabbed me first. I remember being frustrated because while I could tell that there was a fundamental misunderstanding, I could not articulate it. I didn't necessarily want to revisit that feeling. As I settle into my adult life, however, I keep finding myself in positions where I need to defend younger peoples' interactions with technology as, well, weird, but also developmentally important and probably harmless to the broader workings of society.
As boyd wryly notes, portions of this book were already out of date by the time it went to print, and three years after its publication, this is even more true. However, as boyd herself concludes, her work does provide a record of several specific events and junctures in time; the MySpace/Facebook divide of 2006-2007 is one example. I do think that the book's central thesis regarding teenagers' desire for and creation of public lives driving most of the consternation around their use of the internet still stands, and likely will for the foreseeable future. I also want to take the chapter dispelling the myth of "digital natives" and send it to everyone who works in university administration.
boyd shows more understanding issues of race, class, and sexual orientation than many writers who approach the teenagers-0n-the-internet topic, and I appreciate it. However, discussion of how gender structures non/engagement in networked publics was missing entirely.
This isn't negative or anything but it's not in the title or cover copy and it's worth knowing before you read, but It's Complicated is explicitly about American teenagers.
battybookworm's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Interesting topic but it took me forever to finish. Can feel a bit repetitive but it was also the basis for a class I took so I was sorta familiar with it all. Still recommend if anyone’s curious about their teens internet use or if you’re like me and wanting to look back at your own teen experience in 2010 :)
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Child death, Incest, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, and Racism
library_kb's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This book's examples definitely show it's age, and I would be really interested in seeing what current research with new social media platforms look like. However, the arguments underlying the examples I think is still very applicable. I know that part of the reason I enjoyed this book is because it aligns with my perspective on social media as a helpful and positive part of life, even with some negative aspects of them. I would recommend this to adults trying to understand why teens gravitate toward social media (and maybe are forced toward online spaces) as well as why media portrayals of the dangers of teens on their phones causing the failure of society is overblown. As an educator, I particularly liked the couple of pages that talked about the way that Wikipedia can be highly useful rather vilified in the education realm. I would recommend, even though as far as technology nonfiction goes it is an old book!
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Vivien
Check our catalog:
https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1481371__Sits%20complicated__Orightresult__U__X7?lang=eng&suite=gold
Check our catalog:
https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1481371__Sits%20complicated__Orightresult__U__X7?lang=eng&suite=gold
jim96's review against another edition
3.0
It is rare to see adults write about the nuances of social media with such accuracy, boyd's efforts in interviewing American teens reflects in her observations and insights. That said, the book is very repetitive and, while accurate, its accuracy inevitably renders its subject matter pretty boring to an audience already familiar with her topics.
laylajohnston's review against another edition
4.0
Highly recommended for librarians and other information professionals, especially ones working with teens.
gmeluski's review against another edition
3.0
Main takeaway: parental concerns over technology actually create more issues than the technology itself.
carolynf's review against another edition
4.0
Danah Boyd offers convincing explanations about why teens do what they do on the internet. She uses both sociological studies and interviews with teens from a variety of backgrounds. The anecdotes and examples are fascinating, but here are a few key points:
1) Teens are not "addicted" to the internet in most cases. They socialize on the internet because their lives are over-structured and there are few opportunities to just hang out with a group of friends. Plus groups of teenagers are banned from many places, even if they had the transport to get there.
2) Teens gain power in relationships by telling secrets about their friends. So many teens will post embarrassing photos themselves so that they can control the spin, rather than risk someone else making it worse.
3) Teens expect people to know if they are the intended audience for a FB post. If you don't know the context of a post, it isn't meant for you and you should not comment on it. Teens sometimes intentionally obscure context in order to have a private conversation in a public space.
4) Minors who are at risk for victimization by an online predator show at risk behaviors offline as well. Girls who get involved in inappropriate relationships online and then offline are not tricked, kidnapped, and raped. They usually engage in explicitly sexual conversations and voluntarily pursue relationships offline because think that they are in love. The predator in the relationship is usually the teen's own age, or in their early 20s.
5) Teens don't see harassment and cruelty as bullying unless it happens repeatedly. Even if they have their feelings hurt, they are more likely to call it "drama" or "pranking" and to avoid labeling themselves as victims. 9% have used the internet to anonymously bully themselves, in a digital form of self-harm.
6) Due to the filter bubble and stranger danger, communities online tend to be even more homogenous and isolated than communities in real life.
7) "Digital natives" are really appallingly ignorant about technology and how it works.
Reading Boyd's book is an education about WHY teens do what they do online, but she doesn't offer solutions. Instead, she points out that online behaviors are a result of circumstances in teens' lives offline, and so there won't be any easy fixes here. But we can at least start by no longer vilifying teens, or the technology.
1) Teens are not "addicted" to the internet in most cases. They socialize on the internet because their lives are over-structured and there are few opportunities to just hang out with a group of friends. Plus groups of teenagers are banned from many places, even if they had the transport to get there.
2) Teens gain power in relationships by telling secrets about their friends. So many teens will post embarrassing photos themselves so that they can control the spin, rather than risk someone else making it worse.
3) Teens expect people to know if they are the intended audience for a FB post. If you don't know the context of a post, it isn't meant for you and you should not comment on it. Teens sometimes intentionally obscure context in order to have a private conversation in a public space.
4) Minors who are at risk for victimization by an online predator show at risk behaviors offline as well. Girls who get involved in inappropriate relationships online and then offline are not tricked, kidnapped, and raped. They usually engage in explicitly sexual conversations and voluntarily pursue relationships offline because think that they are in love. The predator in the relationship is usually the teen's own age, or in their early 20s.
5) Teens don't see harassment and cruelty as bullying unless it happens repeatedly. Even if they have their feelings hurt, they are more likely to call it "drama" or "pranking" and to avoid labeling themselves as victims. 9% have used the internet to anonymously bully themselves, in a digital form of self-harm.
6) Due to the filter bubble and stranger danger, communities online tend to be even more homogenous and isolated than communities in real life.
7) "Digital natives" are really appallingly ignorant about technology and how it works.
Reading Boyd's book is an education about WHY teens do what they do online, but she doesn't offer solutions. Instead, she points out that online behaviors are a result of circumstances in teens' lives offline, and so there won't be any easy fixes here. But we can at least start by no longer vilifying teens, or the technology.
jbojkov's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting read concerning how teens use social media. It also discusses how society (adults) interpret that use and also how teens are still doing what they have been doing for decades- it is just morphing in relation to parental and societal norms as well as the evolution of social spaces. Very easy read- lots of anecdotes keeps the discussion moving forward. If you work with teens, you may want to put this on your TBR list. BTW- it's available as a free PDF from the author on her website.
anetq's review against another edition
3.0
For the most part very common sense advice that teens are just teens and the internet is not a place full of child-snatching paedophiles. But it's nice to see an American pointing out the all that fear & angst they wallow in is mostly in their heads...
Thus went the first five chapters: Identity, Privacy, Addiction, Danger & Bullying.
The last chapters: Inequality, Literacy and the finale Searching for a Public of Their Own - was more interesting, and there was great ammunition to fight the next old american white dude at a conference preaching his new book on how to deal with those all-knowing "digital natives".
There might not have been that many new points to me, but she is an academic, so there are plenty of good notes and references for future reading.
Thus went the first five chapters: Identity, Privacy, Addiction, Danger & Bullying.
The last chapters: Inequality, Literacy and the finale Searching for a Public of Their Own - was more interesting, and there was great ammunition to fight the next old american white dude at a conference preaching his new book on how to deal with those all-knowing "digital natives".
There might not have been that many new points to me, but she is an academic, so there are plenty of good notes and references for future reading.