A Closer Look

Last year I conducted an action research project with a group of 15 youth at the half-way house where I teach. Part of the project included looking at a phenomenon related to youth and technology called, “Sexting.” Kazdin and Ibanga (2009) reported, “There's nothing coy about this 21st century amorous pursuit. Children as young as 12, who aren't sexually active, are sending explicit, provocative and even pornographic images to their peers.” Connecting digital tools and the social implications they have on youth and families, they further reported, “Sex easily and quickly integrated itself into the digital age; and now the teen trend of "sexting" -- where a user sends sexually explicit images or messages via text on a cell phone -- has parents struggling for a way to address the situation.” http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/truth-teens-sexting/story?id=7337547

Indeed, “Mobile Identity” has a significant affect on meaning making in terms of the framing and development of adolescent identity with the context of digital media (Stald, 2008). Stald (2008) appropriately argues, “…young people’s identity is influenced by their use of media, in particular personal communication media such as the mobile phone…it also implies a view of adolescent identity as mobile, changing and developing moment by moment and over time, as very sensitive to changes in the relations between friends and families, and to the emotional and intellectual challenges experienced and mediated through the use of the mobile phone (among other factors)” p.143.

As adolescents are “constantly negotiating who they are,” within “the exchange between friends which is needed in the reflexive process of identity construction” (Stald, 2008), the fact that adolescents often neglect key factors in terms of personal responsibility for the what is sent and received is disregarded.

The consequences of Sexting can have life long negative implications – youth can become registered sex offenders for irresponsible choices, such as sending suggestive photos of friend via email using a cell phone. See an example of one such case on ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7340504

Stald (2008) emphasizes, “The mobile has become the ideal tool to deal with the pace of information exchange, the management of countless loose, close or intimate relations, the coordination of ever-changing daily activities, and the insecurity of everyday life” (p.144). Important questions arise within this context:

• How can the management of the myriad of relationships between and among youth be safeguarded as they maximize appropriate uses of digital tools?
• What are the implications for education in these contexts as students use digital tools inside of classrooms and on school campuses?
• What is the role of educators to guide appropriate processes of identity construction?
  

The Washington Post (Oei, 2009) reported in “My Students. My Cell Phone. My Ordeal,” a case of a principal being arrested for child pornography that involved a cell phone.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR2009041702663.html

Among the four themes that Stald (2008) discusses in “Mobile Identity: Youth, Identity, and Mobile Communication Media,” none address as a critical component the need for appropriate safeguards for youth and educators. In my view this is a grave mistake; mistakes that will continue to have more grievous implications as digital tools permeate every aspect of society.

Learning Without Common Sense

Although, Boyd (2009) states that her “primary goal is simply to unveil some of the common ways in which teenagers now experience social life online” (p.121), her findings have greater implications for what she terms, “the civil society of teenage culture” (p.121) – namely, MySpace.

There is absolutely nothing that is going to convince me that children, teenagers, youth, young people, kids – whatever you choose to call them – should use social networking sites or the Internet to explore their identities. Explore the world, yes; interact with others, yes; but the formation of identity is rooted in the fundamentals of what they value. And I am not ashamed to say that the foundation of a stable identity originates and proceeds from family.

The problem: The “cultural resonance amongst American teens” (Boyd, 2009, 119) today is fraught with parental abandonment/absenteeism, neglect, abuse, divorce, indifference and an overall inability on the part of adults to impart a system of values that does not change with personal preference – what you they feel at the moment.

Let me answer Boyd’s question frankly: Teenagers flock to social networking sites like flies because no one is on the home front paying any attention to them; or guiding them in a direction that ensures them that they exist even if they don’t have a profile on MySpace. What is more, many adults flock to these social networking sites for the same reasons – they need personal affirmation. What a tragedy! Have technological advances clouded our senses? Are we to consent to raising children, guiding young people, and creating a future that we can be proud on the Internet? Via social networking sites? Indeed we, as a nation, are in great need of a transformation – and not a digital one!

A great example of responsibly using social networking sites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZmWI5yTDOc&feature=related

Take a look at this video for parents about why teens use social networking sites from a teen's point of view. I think this teenage epitomizes why we need to help teens keep a safe balance with using these sites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6YT6sEDZiE

Let’s get down to the root of this issue. Boyd makes considerable sense here by posing these questions: What are youth learning from their participation in social networking sites, and what are the implications for youth identities? These two statements are particularly revealing to me, “those with continuous nighttime access at home spend more time surfing the network, modifying their profile, collecting friends, and talking to strangers”; and “Older boys are twice as likely to use the sites to flirt”(Boyd, 2009, p.121).
Adults need to be adults by making sure that teenagers are making safe choices about what they do and say on the Internet – to include the participation in social networking sites.

“To discipline and reprimand a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child” Proverbs 29:15.

At the expense of creating a free space for teenagers to express themselves without restraint, we ignore truth and wisdom. How then can we expect youth people (who should model our behavior) to use sound judgment, when we, as adults, refuse to do so in these matters? I realize that we are discussing these issues in an academic setting, but we cannot become so lofty in our ideas that we loose our common sense.

Link to the article discussed in this blog post (Boyd, 2009): http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/dmal/-/6