Phew, that was a slew of emails to plod through - but what an interesting discussion! Given that I'm researching the domestication of the internet, I'd like to throw my 2 Canadian cents in... I don't believe that teens problematize their internet use (whatever the weapon of choice/fad may be) the way that we are in this conversation. Many teens - if not most - have always had internet (within a certain demographic of course) - it's a part of their lives; it's ubiquitous - it's invisible; it's part of their domestic ensemble - much like the telephone, tv, and so forth. So while it seems that teens have appropriated internet, domesticated it - made it their own - others are not far behind, and by others I mean the parents of the teens. From the research I have conducted with the NetLab research team, I see that families (in any shape or form) are integrating internet in their daily mundane tasks - this is not surprising - whether it be looking for recipes, information about an itchy rash, what kind of washing machine to purchase, IMing and Webcam-ing with families overseas or catching up on Amazing Race. People are less concerned about internet taking over f2f because their experience tells them that it just doesn't happen that way, and we certainly have enough research to support the fact that people don't replace f2f with CMC. So the 'older generation' will soon catch up :) So in a nutshell - I don't think teens perceive their CMC as problematic - it's just what they do - in addition to other ways of interacting (my favourite of course is the group of teens all standing together - and all using their mobile phones and/or texting). This is not to say that their experiences with internet is all positive - certainly not the case, but it's just part of the package for them. Tracy ******************************************** Tracy L. M. Kennedy PhD Candidate - Department of Sociology Graduate Fellow - Knowledge Media Design Institute Research Associate - NetLab - Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 725 Spadina Ave. Toronto, ON M5S 2J4 tkennedy@netwomen.ca www.netwomen.ca www.kmdi.utoronto.ca/collaborative ******************************************** -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Nancy Baym Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:11 AM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] teens and myspace I have a question for those of you working with youth culture, particularly but not just around MySpace. I have been interested recently by what I perceive as a gap between the ways in which most of us *use* the internet socially (ie, often without big issues about it) and the way we *think* about using the internet socially (ie, a poor substitute for more meaningful face-to-face interaction). Recently a number of adults have said to me that this gap between action and perception, which they acknowledge in themselves, is completely gone with teens, what with myspace and all. My question is whether youth really perceive their online communication to be completely non-problematic compared to face-to-face communication, or if even amongst teens there is a sense that it might be a little pathetic or embarrassing to use the internet socially (even amongst those who do). Is the stigma around online socializing really completely gone for youth? Of course, adults always perceive kids as way better and more comfortable with the net than they are, which makes me wonder if this sense that kids have no sense of stigma is adult perception vs youth reality. Thanks for your thoughts, Nancy _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/