Danah Boyd of the Berkeley school of information recently shared her musings about social networking and the results were interesting. She is a researcher who has done a lot of research about the goings on around the internet. She's done interviews, field work and a lot of sociological type work that would bore most people - other than me - to death. From a news article about her work I found this quote illuminating:
"The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes and other 'good' kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college . . . kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school."
The article continued "It's . . . for outsiders—burnouts, punks, emos, Goths and gangstas. MySpace is most likely the site selected by Hispanic and immigrant teens."
Oh, brother! If there is any better way for you to understand why your kid probably doesn't need to be on social networking in the first place this is it. The "study" of who is on these site doesn't look at positives or negatives. There is no discussion of what the users derive that this positive. It is just another way to look at life and discover who is "in" and "out." The last thing parents need is someone else teaching their kiddo about class and social climbing.
Read the article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20010695/site/newsweek/page/0/
Recent Comments