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Teens depend on social media to form and maintain relationships. Without social media, it becomes more difficult to navigate staying in touch with friends, and teens feel as though they lose connections.

Quote: “For many contemporary teenagers, losing access to social media is tantamount to losing their social world” (boyd, 2010, p. 79).

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Social media can lead to social hierarchies because of the visibility of connections and platforms that encourage the user to rate friendships which can cause tensions in peer groups.

Quote: “One of the ways in which social media alter friendship practices is through the forced – and often public – articulation of social connections” (boyd, 2010, p. 93-94).

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Oftentimes, teens feel the pressure to accept friend requests because of the way that they will be perceived by their peers, so they act on the peer pressure rather than their own judgments.

Quote: “By facing decisions about how to circumscribe their friends lists, teens are forced to consider their relationships, the dynamics of their peer group, and the ways in which their decisions may affect others” (boyd, 2010, p. 100).

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Social media platforms can heighten arguments and drama in peer groups because of the convenient accessibility and the social connections among teens.

Quote: “…there is a greater potential for gossip to spread much farther and at a faster pace, making social media a catalyst in teen drama. While teen gossip predates the Internet, some teens blame the technologies for their roles in making gossip easier and more viral” (boyd, 2010, p. 105-106).

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Yes, the author made an argument that expanded my thinking quite a bit. I guess I never really thought about peer pressure to accept specific friend requests because of peer group dynamics (boyd, 2010, p. 100). Growing up, I never really experienced that pressure, and I have always been the type of person to leave someone on pending or decline if I don’t want them on my social media. I think it’s very important for me to remember that many teens don’t always feel like they have a choice, but rather they are constrained by their friend groups or acquaintances. This is important to recognize in the classroom because we might have students who have each other on social media, but they still might feel anxious around each other because although they have a deeper glimpse of each other’s lives, they might still feel uncomfortable.

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I don’t feel like I fully disagree with the arguments that the author posed, but I would expand on the argument regarding how some teens turn to social media as a way to build online connections that solely remain online (boyd, 2010, p. 91). Although I do think that there is a hierarchy to how teens should make friends, many teens today seem to think it’s cool to randomly add people and find some sort of way to connect with them. I have heard many teens today share that they have met some of their closest friends online, and they share the online part in a confident manner, so I don’t think it’s always frowned upon. In other words, there are many factors at play depending on the context.

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This article focuses on how young people engage in “participatory politics” online.
Cohen&Kahne (2012) define participatory politics as “...interactive and peer based acts in which individuals and groups seek to exert both voice and influence on issues of public concern” (Cohen&Kahne, 2012, p. VI).
However, the distinction is also made that participatory politics does not need to be an act among elites only, any group can participate regardless of class, sex, gender, or race (and this study had some very interesting findings about race in relation to participatory politics.)
Some examples of participatory politics include: “starting a political group...writing a blog post...forwarding a funny political video to one’s social network” (Cohen&Kahne, 2012, p. VI).

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Young peoples participation in “participatory politics” online marks a huge shift in how young people are engaging with politics:
Young peoples engagement in participation politics online is largely “interest driven” which includes such practices as: “posting online content...creating media to share online...use the internet to organize an online group or discussion...” (Cohen&Kahne, 2012, p. 9)
Young people whose participation online are primarily interest driven are more likely to participate in “partipatory politics” (Cohen&Kahne, 2012, p. 16).

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Participatory politics online amongst young people cannot be considered an “alternative” or subversive way of participating in politics.  In fact, Cohen&Kahne, 2012) argue that it is in addition to traditional ways people usually paricipate in politics.  They write:
“The data we collected here indicate that participatory politics are better viewed as in addition  to an individuals engagement rather than an alternative to other political activities.” (Cohen&Kahne, 2012, p. 13).

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Participatory politics used to be constrained to communities such as church, socials, clubs, etc.  Now, thanks to technology, young people have the ability to reach a much larger field and a greater amount of people thanks to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more.  Cohen and Kahne write:
“While in the past our attempts at outreach through our networks were often bound by physical constraints-to those in our church, in our class, or no our block whom we see occasionally-today...email and planforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn and Twitter, participants have the opportunity to engage with...a much larger group of people” (Cohen&Kahne, 2012, p. 18).

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The argument the author made in the beginning of the article about Obama made this article seem a bit dated.  Cohen&Kahne wrote, “The Obama campaign’s use of social media in 2008 helped to produce record turnout, epsepcailly among young blacks and Latinos.  In the 2012 elections, all those involved in campaigns are relying more heavily than ever before on social media” (Cohen&Kahne, 2012, p. V).  What the authors did not write about was how quickly participatory politics would change due to the 2016 election.  Not only has Trump inflamed the amount of young people participating in participatory politics, but there is now a more hyper vigilant focus on what is and is not fake news thanks not only to the President (who is constantly perpetuating what is and isn’t fake news) but also Facebook itself who has been accused of spreading fake news that Russia set out to influence the election.  The authors do touch on the fact that many young people feel that they need to be more aware of what is and isn’t fake news.  But now this issue is hotter than ever as fake news is consistently spread on all platforms and is extremely harmful.

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It was predicted that the digital divide would continue to grow, but smart phones upended expectations due to the rapid adoption by black /brown youth.

Quote:  "Today, black and Latino youth spend more time using social and mobile media than their white counterparts, a fact that no one would have dared to predict just a few years ago." (Watkins 2018, p. 22).

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"Whether it is to hang out with friends, pursue specific interests, or partake in new modes of civic and political activity, what teens do with the Internet is inextricably linked to the social, educational, and economic currents that are always at work in their lives." (Watkins, 2018, p. 25)

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We speculate that robust involvement in participatory culture is mediated by the many dimensions of cultural capital such as in-group knowledge, familiarity with community norms and communication styles, and reputation." (Watkins 2018, pg 41)

I think this was the key to the article. Tech and the internet have resulted in greater connection, but also greater fragmentation. From someone who only ever uses Reddit, and has never even downloaded Snapchat or someone that never uses a smart phone but his Facebook for hours a day. Each person, community, generation finds there own way, much like water finds its own level.

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It is no longer simply enough to provide young people access to computers and the Internet; they also need access to the resources—social and educational—and opportunities that develop the skills and dispositions that are associated with more dynamic forms of tech adoption and engagement." (Watkins 2018 P. 26)

I think this emphasis on skills that surround the internet. The ability to use the physical tech, the ability to navigate software with multiple, changing interfaces, the ability to take an image, transform it creatively via the specific cultures of the target site is an overlooked skill. For example, someone would present an image to Imgur differently than 9gag. And something shared on Twitter would have different flavor than one on IG.

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The concept of “media ecology” to describe “the everyday practices of youth, existing structural conditions, infrastructures of place, and technologies” (Ito et al., 2010, p. 31) This for me sounds like a fancy term to explain the phenomena of technology usage by youth and teens and the social impacts that this has on their relationship development based on media and technology production. This concept is further divided into three “genres of participation” “hanging out,” “messing around,” and “geeking out” that are subcultures and the authors try to explain each subculture and and what their values and cultures are based on. (Ito et al., 2010, p. 31).

Main Idea #2

“Hanging out” might be described as social interactions through major media sites like facebook, myspace and through texting in order to develop relationships with other people. As noted this usually happens through general forms of media production and  usage “Playing games, making videos and listening to music may well be the focus when teens are hanging out,” (Ito et al., 2010, p. 49).    What I thought was relevant within the “Hanging Out” is how teens develop  identity and develop relationships “by setting up sites defining ‘ who they are’ what they can maintain and deepen romantic relationships; and they can make new friends, play and be creative” (Ito et al., 2010, p. 53) In essence general forms of social media and technology usage such as texting are instrumental in helping youth create social relationships and help define and create identities through media production.

Main Idea # 3

“Messing Around” is a concept that describes how youth in a low stakes environment are able to play around with technology and in the process become more competent with those tools. “Whether in media production, game play or other media contexts, opportunities to experiment, play and fail with minimal consequence can support young people in developing problem-solving skills and learning to use resources wisely and creatively” (Ito et al., 2010, p. 63) The one pitfall in becoming truly competent in technology using this method is that it is both time consuming and resource dependent and to become truly adept in any one resource, such as video editing and production, as this form of technology usage is mostly learned through trial and error.

Main Idea # 4

My favorite concept as it serves as the the one I feel most connected to is “geeking out” that might be summed as “intensive and frequent use of new media, high levels of specialized knowledge attached to alternative models of status and credibility and a willingness to bend or break social or technological rules” (Ito et al., 2010, p. 66). This boils down to a counter culture that is immersed in technology use as a form of expression and relationship development that might outside of the norm structures presented in “hanging out”. The most prominent forms of social interactions are through IM chat which are instant messengers, gaming especially on large platform games like MMORPGS (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) think WoW, and alternative culture platforms that express interest in non-mainstream cultural interests such as Anime (Japanese cartoons). “Geeking Out” also establishes its credibility through non-traditional forms of sourcing so for instance going to a fan made website instead of reading an article on a product or show from a more “reliable news source” or movie criticism being valued from a video on Youtube rather than an established critic are all aspects of how geeking out seeks to define itself as a counter to more traditional forms validation.

Stretched Thinking
“Online sites, forums, and search engines augment existing information resources by lowering the barriers to looking around in ways that do not require specialized knowledge to begin.  Looking around online and fortuitous searching can be a self-directed- activity that provides young people with a sense of agency, often exhibited in a discourse that they are ‘self-taught’ as a result of engaging in these strategies (see chapter 6). The autonomy to pursue topics of personal interest” (Ito et al., 2010, p. 57).

I really liked this quote.  And felt that this is very true for the those who have both the time and resources that the accessibility of technology is what makes it an equalizing force but it is so consuming in both time and resources to learn through trial and error that it may be an inefficient way to learn a subject.

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I did not have many quarrels with the article as a whole. What I was frustrated with is how dated it is. I mean I think the reason why I took all of the arguments to heart is that they are talking about my generation and for me I felt completely immersed in the 'geeking out' subculture. I became totally involved in the P2P file sharing services like BitTorrent and Limewire and Lemonwire before they got shut down. I remember tinkering with Youtube and spending hours just messing around with buttons to get a general sense of how to edit a video for my video game tutorials (I played a lot of MMORPGS. I do not do a whole bunch of texting but I remember when Myspace was still a thing and is now a living relic of the social media wars .

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Zack Chaykin

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Stretched Thinking:

The article itself wasn’t new but it did lead me to try and find out more about the media of Gen Z.

I learned that, “Those born from 1996 – 2012 are the newest generation on the block. They are just starting to enter and disrupt the workforce, but by 2020 they will represent the largest group of consumers worldwide.”

Generation Z, does not use social media to show off but rather as a place to be entertained, have greater privacy concerns as shown by greater reliance on Snapchat, Whatsapp and other apps that promise greater control, are less susceptible to FOMO, less fake,

Here are some interesting personality comparisons between both groups from Ryan Jenkins by way of Inc.:

Gen Z

Realistic: Grew up in a recession and the 9-11 era, not as coddled, and harder to sell to. This creates a very different mindset as their world has been consistently buffeted by major events, most recently 2016.

Independent: More likely to want their own workspace.

Generation Zs are much more likely than their older cohorts to embrace a “side hustle” to supplement their regular job.

Private: More cognizant of privacy, tend to prefer timebound content sharing. Snaps, stories and live video all create an ephemerality.

On-Demand Learning: More likely to pursue online or piecemeal learning.

They prefer to be entertained and spend an average of 11 hours a week on mobile.

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Its a good article. It was an interesting intro to the topic. I think if you look at these issues from the perspective of a marketer rather than a teacher a great deal more data is available of the social, emotional, media ecology.