danah boyd, a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research explains the social phenomenon of teenagers’ use of the Internet in her article “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites”. This article was written for MacArthur Foundation for Digital Learning, which reflects that boyd wrote this article for educational purposes, in order to inform her educated, adult audience.She explains how today’s teenagers are not children, yet still not considered adults. In this transition to adulthood, where they are trying become adults, they are not socially accepted. Because of this social exclusion and their limitations to public access, they find a way to become involved and active in their own way through the use of Internet social network sites, such as Myspace.

This teenage culture is a fairly recent innovation. In fact, a hundred years ago, teenagers did not exist. When the social structure began segregating different age groups, people that were not yet adults but no longer considered children fell into this teenage category. I think the creation of this category has led to a lot of issues, especially a harder transition into adulthood. It is upsetting to think that today’s teenagers have to go on the Internet to express themselves freely, without any parental controls. Other than the parent factor, I think there is a considerable amount of peer pressure involved. During the teenage stage, one is often stuck in a perfect world of their own, often shaped by the media. If one can’t physically conform to this image,he/she can create such an image and persona on the web. Although boyd considers the use of social sites as gaining access to a public life, I consider it to be a way in which teenagers shape their identities. They try to find themselves in a public sphere. Of course, this does not relate to all teenagers. It depends on a multitude of factors. It would be interesting to study how different factors affect social interactions on the Internet.

Read the study here