MySpace and the needs of youth
My buddy Jon Husband today blogged a fascinating piece by danah boyd on why and how youth are using MySpace. Her conclusion…
Youth are not creating digital publics to scare parents – they are doing so because they need youth space, a place to gather and see and be seen by peers. Publics are critical to the coming-of-age narrative because they provide the framework for building cultural knowledge. Restricting youth to controlled spaces typically results in rebellion and the destruction of trust. Of course, for a parent, letting go and allowing youth to navigate risks is terrifying. Unfortunately, it’s necessary for youth to mature.
Youth are in constant need of spaces, both physical and virtual, and it is the practice of western societies to generally deny them those spaces for reasons of trust and control. I’m interested in how youth are creating space despite the efforts of adults to prevent them for having it.
I’ve written before about the Aboriginal youth I know who are a part of Building Our Legacy Together, a network dedicated to staying connected, supporting each other’s work for bringing a new community-based youth leadership voice to Aboriginal communities in BC. These guys are meeting online all the time, mostly using MSN and other forums and through various websites and message boards.
Any one working with youth networks needs to know how these modes work and needs to find ways of supporting and participating with them.
It is precisely because our youth are living in a controlled world that they gravitate to the chaos of MySpace. These virtual spaces provide them with outlets for creativity and innovation in the same way that older generations used notebooks, sketch books and so on.
This means that young people are using technology not just as a tool, but as an integrated and essential form for communicating and expressing their identities.
Absolutely…watch an adult and a teenager on the net and you will see one who sees tools and the other who is just being.
This has now expanded into more websites/outlets. Things like youtube where youth all over the world can express in a freedom through actual conversations (albiet, a monologue). Blogger, myspace, youtube a places for young people to run free and wild.
Although my parents never were controlling in a stricter sence, it was harder for my mind to find any kind of freedom in this house, family, or community. Thus I gravitated towards learning because I could use knowledge for something new. I would then grow more and more. This is how I learned so much about so little. If it wasn’t for the web, and website like google, wikipedia, blogger, myspace, youtube, and a few other forum sits, I’m not sure how knowledgeable I would be. I agree, when I have my laptop with me, it’s just ME, not anything else.
I’m wondering though if this strength will become our weakness because that’s what tends to happen. We get confident and it turns into arrogance. And in this case, cutting ourselves off from life, from living. Playing Halo 2 for 16 hours a day. Chatting with people, friends, strangers, for 10 hours a day. Reading things on, nothing.
I don’t think it’s a problem, but something that is happening.
(PS. I wanted to put a comment on this post when I found it a couple weeks ago. Old post I know, but I really like it…lol)