Danah Boyd: It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens

Danah Boyd is a researcher at Microsoft Research and a Research Assistant Professor at New York University, as well as a Fellow at the Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She has spent years conducting research, examining today’s adolescents’ use of social media and the implications it has on society. She has examined countless past research and conducted hundreds of interviews with teenagers, as well as adults across the country. Boyd has compiled the findings of her research in an easy-to-read book, It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. In her book, Boyd argues that today’s adolescents do not differ much from those of past generations, but they have very different avenues for expressing these values and needs. Boyd addresses the main fears and anxieties adults have in regards to teens and social media, and proceeds to thoroughly address each fear to reveal how adults’ responses to these fears ultimately hinder adolescents’ ability to learn and grow through the use of social media. Teens are looking for more privacy, more trust, and a place to spend time with their peers, free from adult supervision. Teens are also looking for ways to let their voices be heard. Boyd argues social media provides youth with a way to accomplish these goals, and while they need guidance, restraining adolescents denies them the opportunities to learn and grow on their own. In chapter one, Boyd examines how teenagers use social media to not only construct their identities but also to express them as well. Boyd argues that most of the dangers and negative aspects adults see when teens use social media is being taken out of context. Teens post a variety of information online but, to an outsider, the intentions behind the shared information is unclear. When a teenager takes online quizzes such as ‘‘What Drug are You?’’ their parent may see this and assume they are doing drugs, when in reality they are not. Teenagers take these quizzes and post them online because they are ‘‘fun’’ and just another way to express their identity. Another example Boyd gives is a top recruiting prospect in athletics who was discounted because college scouts found evidence of gang membership on his Facebook. The young man explained to Boyd that the information posted on his Facebook was false. He did not belong to a gang, but in the area of LA he lived in, it was vital for his own safety to make the appearance of supporting a certain gang. Teenagers can also create and express their identities through avatars (online versions of themselves) and decorating their MySpace pages. The latter is compared to what media scholars call ‘‘the bedroom culture.’’ This is because the idea of teens decorating their social media pages to reflect themselves is similar to how youth choose to decorate their bedroom as a form of personal expression. Boyd explains how, when they use social media to portray their identity, teens must navigate different contexts. For example, how a teen chooses to express themselves on Twitter can be very different from Facebook, based on the perceived audience. A teen may choose to treat his Facebook as more of a resume and Twitter as a social outlet, sharing anything with no filter. Boyd explains that problems arise when there is a breakdown of these contexts. This does not usually happen by accident, but from other individuals not knowing where the context boundary lines are. For example, a teen who uses their Facebook as a resume may run into problems when his friends post inappropriate pictures or statements on his wall. Boyd offers many examples like these, which helps to give readers a different perspective on teens’ use of social media as a means of expressing their identities. A. Deogracias (&) Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA e-mail: acdeogra@indiana.edu