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A review by carolynf
It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens by Danah Boyd
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.