What Blocking Social Media Really Means for Teens and (Digital) Equity

The Children’s Internet Protection Act requires all schools receiving Federal funding to block or filter internet access to pictures that are: (a) obscene; (b) child pornography; or (c) harmful to minors. However, many schools enable filters which also block access to embedded videos and video channels as well as all social media sites. While schools justify this decision on the premise that social networking is a distraction in the classroom and that videos may contain inappropriate content, the fact is that blocking social media blocks a multitude of opportunities for students. The goal of this paper is to assess and analyze the effects of blocking social media in high schools. Our research takes place in an at-risk, economically disadvantaged, and ethnically diverse (majority Hispanic and African-American students) high school in Texas. For many of the students school is the only place they can consistently access high quality computers and internet; many of the students either have no internet at home, outdated computers, and unreliable access to cell phones. Thus, for these students school provides an imperative space for access, participation, and engagement online and should reduce rather than exacerbate digital inequities. However, because of restrictive district policies this is not happening to the degree to which it could and should. The purpose of this paper is twofold: One, how do restrictive technology policies in school affect learning, literacies, and digital equity? Second, how do students cope with and respond to restrictive media technology policies? The ethnographic design of the research is based on a Media and Learning Ecologies approach to understanding the role of media in the lives of youth (see Ito et al., 2010). We are a team of seven researchers dedicated to understanding how teens use media for learning, communicating, socializing, and attaining social capital. Our study employs a multi-methodological and multi-disciplinary approach. To date we have conducted more than 150 individual interviews with our 17 high school participants (diverse in class, ethnicity, language, and media engagement), interviewed teachers, parents, and mentors, spent more than 100 hours observing elective technology classes and an after-school digital media club, analyzed school technology policies, and analyzed students’ communication and media practices (e.g. text messaging, online searches, etc.). Preliminary findings demonstrate that blocking social media and videos blocks more than social opportunities, but rather blocks opportunities for learning, network literacy, and social capital. For example, while many of the students could be described as highly engaged with digital media and media production, what we are observing is that many of these students lack basic network literacy skills. They either do not know how or are afraid to share their work in online spaces for the purposes of networking and critique, a skill that is vital for closing participation gaps and inscribing equal opportunities for disadvantaged students. At the same time students’ ingenuity leads to workarounds and unintentional skill attainment as a result of restrictive policies, however these literacies are not equally distributed and many students still experience disadvantaged learning ecologies.While some schools are beginning to allow social networking and videos, many districts like this one do not see the benefits of incorporating social media in the classroom and worse do not acknowledge the harm. For students such as these the internet can provide new pathways for success and learning, yet restrictive policies contribute to rather than lessen (digital) inequalities. More empirical evidence such as ours is needed in order to convince school districts that social media are no longer a privilege but a right; all students deserve the opportunity to fully participate and engage with media cultures and technologies.