Danah Boyd writes about the connection between teenagers and social networking sites and how it all relates to the term “public”<\/p>\n
Danah Boyd is a researcher at Microsoft Research and also a researcher\/professor at New York University and Harvard Law School. \u00a0Her main focus in her research is\u00a0social media, youth practices, tensions between public and private, social network sites, and other intersections between technology and society.<\/p>\n
In the study she does with teeneagers and their participation with social networking sites, she finds a lot of great data by interviewing the subjects as well as doing field research online on the actual sites.<\/p>\n
She makes a lot of good points of mediated and unmediated publics and how these teenagers don’t really understand the difference between the two. \u00a0I feel that as a young adult that has gone through the Myspace stage when you had to have a profile because it was the cool thing to do, audience and having yourself out in the public does not even cross your mind. \u00a0For most people, it is hard to grasp the idea that everything you put on the Internet will be there forever. \u00a0Teenagers, being their rebellious selves, would care less about the long term effects and more about what is happening in the moment. Boyd further investigates the situation by seeing how these teenagers are monitored and if there is a better way of doing it. \u00a0Obviously, parents are going to want to know everything and anything that has to do with their child. \u00a0However, is this right? \u00a0Will this allow them to make a mistake and learn from it? \u00a0With today’s technology, is it worth it for a teenager to make a mistake online that will last forever? \u00a0I really don’t know. \u00a0Today’s generation of teenagers growing up will experience things completely different than the next generation. \u00a0With technology constantly updating and improving, it is really hard to tell what to expect, what is right, and what these kids should be allowed to do. \u00a0One thing, though, that should be made clear is the risk of putting themselves in the public and what kind of consequences it may have in the future.<\/p>\n
Read the study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Danah Boyd writes about the connection between teenagers and social networking sites and how it all relates to the term “public” Danah Boyd is a researcher at Microsoft Research and also a researcher\/professor at New York University and Harvard Law … Continue reading