Dr. Danah Boyd attended Brown University where she earned her bachelor’s in computer science and then attended MIT and received her master’s degree in sociable media. In 2008 Boyd received her Ph.D. in Information from UC Berkeley. She is a researcher and professor at many different universities around the world, such as University of New South Wales and New York University. She has numerous publications and is currently writing a book.
Boyd’s article, Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life, addresses the privacy and barrier issues teens are facing on the Internet. Boyd explains that there have always been mediated and unmediated spaces for teens to interact with each other, but before the widespread use of the internet most teens were mostly under constant surveillance from adults. The internet provides a public unmediated space for teens to explore their identity and transition into the adult sphere. Contradiction arises when parents want to view their teens’ online profiles and teens object. Adolescents believe that although they are posting about their personal lives in the public arena of the internet, it does not mean that everyone should be reading it. One young girl expresses her frustration of parental interaction on her social network site:
“My mom always uses the excuse about the internet being ‘public’ when she defends herself. It’s not like I do anything to be ashamed of, but a girl needs her privacy. I do online journals so I can communicate with my friends. Not so my mother could catch up on the latest gossip of my life.”– Bly Lauritano-Werner, 17
Boyd continues the discussion of private versus public into the conversation of identity. Social norms are created by social interaction with peers and the environment. Teens today must learn to “write themselves into being” through their online profiles. While teens want to display their identity and creation of self to friends, they also want to keep their identity hidden from their parents and other adults. As teens express their personalities online, they often put forth images and expressions that will make them cool with mainstream ideals of teens. However, these characteristics can conflict with the image they want to portray to their parents, teachers, and employers. There is importance in gaining input from peers because they help socialize us into what is acceptable amongst our peer group. However, only receiving input from our peers can hinder our growth because it prevents us from socialization into adult life:
While peer socialization is obviously valuable and important, it is fundamentally different from being socialized into adult society by adults themselves; generations emerge and norms rapidly change per generation. By segregating people by age, a true dichotomy between adult and teen emerged.
Boyd argues that adults want to have control over their children because they want to prevent them from making mistakes. She says that this is dangerous because teens need to learn how to make mistakes and learn from them. Facebook and Myspace provide a good place for teens to grow and develop their identities through thought out messages and pictures. Although I agree with Boyd that mistakes are important, I also believe that it is important to be cautious of the comments are made online because those actions are forever recorded in a digital footprint for all to see. Before the internet, when teens made mistakes people usually only heard of it through word of mouth or by witnessing it. Now, teens’ mistakes are open for all to see and analyze. As the socialization culture changes more rapidly than ever before, we must look at the impact it is having on our society. Should internet mediation be more prevalent? Or do parents need to relax and allow their children to create their own identities and learn from their mistakes in the process?
I agree with your suggestion that it may be dangerous for our future that our comments are recorded in a digital footprint. I have heard horror stories of young adults being turned down from a job after a potential employer did a background check on the individual’s Facebook activity. So in that respect, it may be a good thing that a parent monitor’s the activity of their 16 year old who may, 4 years down the line, be applying for a job that checks their Facebook. A 16 year old probably does not have a concept of how their words and actions on Facebook may actually affect their future.
This is a great article. I like how you introduced the author and your use of Boyd’s examples of the two teenagers to highlight her points.