Taking Risky Opportunities In Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers' Use Of Social Networking Sites For Intimacy, Privacy And Self-Expression (Livingstone)

Front 1

Two differing opinions on social media:

Back 1

-critical scholars argue that content creation of youth can counter traditional dominance of producers

-public policymakers argue that media literacy skills will protect youth from online risks

Front 2

Popular media discourses lament that young people live_______

Back 2

in a different world than the past (there is a balance of benefits and risks of social media)

Front 3

term: mediation

what's an example?

Back 3

communication via media through which message and relation between sender and receiver are influenced by the constraints and affordances of specific media and genre

example: iphone (constraints: needs wifi, works best with other iphones, no physical contact)

Front 4

term: constraints

Back 4

what the technology prohibits you from doing

Front 5

term: affordances

Back 5

what the technology allows you to do with it

Front 6

method:

Back 6

-open-ended interviews w/ 16 teens
-13-16 yrs old, 50% male
- all members of a social site
- interview schedule:
* choices, motivations, literacies on profile
* se......?

Front 7

Results

Back 7

-enacting identity position of peer networks more
important than actual info shared
* choices made on profiles constrained by:
# norms of peer group
# affordances of technological interface
- transitions in identity development
* younger teens: highly-decorated, elaborate
identities
* older teens: plain aesthetics, authentic
relationships
- creating private spaces for intimacy
* teens desire graduation in levels of intimacy, not
publicity or exhibitionism
* once again, affordances of media are key

Front 8

conclusion

Back 8

-deciding what to share online is an attempt to balance:
-opportunities (identity, intimacy, sociability)
- risks(privacy, misunderstanding, abuse)
- this process is called: self-actualization