Study: Time Kids Spend Online Not Wasted After All

[war ensemble]

There have been a steady stream of worries about the dangers that Internet use could pose to children, and many have dismissed these worries as overblown parental concern. The latest group to weigh in is the MacArthur Foundation, best known for handing out the so-called "genius" awards. The Foundation has funded a sprawling set of studies that looked into how the US youth population is using the Internet, and has just released a document that ties them all together. Overall, the conclusion is that, at worst, the Internet generally enables the same old social interactions in a new medium; at its best, however, it enables them to participate in something close to a meritocracy, where their age isn't a concern.

The new report is based on studies that have been performed over the last several years; the entire list of data sources takes up a large paragraph, but includes over 5,000 observation hours, nearly 700 interviews (both individual and focus groups), diary studies, 10,000 social networking profiles, and more. The authors take what's termed an ethnographic approach, eschewing a controlled look at a single facet of behavior in favor of a global picture of how kids are using the Internet.

What they found is that behavior broke down into two general categories: normal social interactions, primarily pursued with other people in the same location, and interest-focused socializing, which tended to occur across wide geographical areas.

In the first case, the social interactions primarily occur with people the kids are already familiar with. "With these friendship-driven practices, youth are almost always associating with people they already know in their offline lives," the authors wrote. "The majority of youth use new media to hang out and extend existing friendships." Texting, e-mail, chat, and even online gaming have simply been integrated into the normal social routine. In fact, the report cites a number of cases where friends in the same room would use some sort of online service to extend the circle of people they could interact with.

For the most part, children are just as protective of this sort of communication as they are with more traditional forms. Just as they would with a phone call, kids want the parents to stay off the line when they're socializing. Although many seem to view the emoticons and radical abbreviations used in online chat as a sign that these venues don't fully develop social skills, the report says that most online communities have clear social boundaries that kids learn by exploring: "Youth online communication is conducted in a context of public scrutiny and structured by shared norms and a sense of reciprocity."

In fact, online media seem to provide youth the chance to hone their communications skills; many kids described how they were able to take as much time as they needed to craft carefully ambiguous messages (often flirtatious) for posting at places like Facebook.

But parents aren't being completely frozen out. Many kids reported using computers (though not necessarily social tools) for interactions with their parents. A number mentioned having set "family gaming" hours each week, and the more artistically inclined worked on family projects, such as editing videos of major events.

This sort of activity blurred into the second major social aspect, which is involvement in interest groups. "Online groups enable youth to connect to peers who share specialized and niche interests of various kinds, whether that is online gaming, creative writing, video editing, or other artistic endeavors," the report notes. Since this social circle is defined by interest, membership tends to be geographically diffuse.

In this environment, adults appear to have a key role, in part because participation is often based on expertise. "On the interest-driven side," the authors write, "we saw adult leadership in these groups as central to how standards for expertise and literacy are being defined."

But, once those standards are set, these communities tend to judge members by them, rather than age. As such, youth are able to obtain social currency within these groups in a way they were unlikely to manage in the offline realm. As such, these groups have the potential to significantly enhance the maturation process.

If the report sees significant risks in the explosion of online communications, it's that the technology gap may enhance all the other gaps that tend to pop up during the teen years. "A kid who is highly active online, coupled with a parent who is disengaged from these new media, presents the risk of creating an intergenerational wedge," warn the authors. Which, of course, is just an extension of a more general warning: you should not only pay attention to what your kids are doing, you should make sure you know how they're doing it.

Per: ArsTechnica

Thought it was interesting. Here's the full PDF about the report: The MacArthur Report

[Larz]

I can't agree with the conclusion

if we all (and I include myself) stopped posting and surfing, the GDP would go up 30%

there are some benefits, but I find people to be a lot meaner and more agressive online than they would ever be in real life, which has to have a negative effect

[war ensemble]

I can't agree with the conclusion

if we all (and I include myself) stopped posting and surfing, the GDP would go up 30%

there are some benefits, but I find people to be a lot meaner and more agressive online than they would ever be in real life, which has to have a negative effect

If I stopped surfing the internet, I would've never read any books by Orwell (rather than reading all of them), never would have had the inclination to read War and Peace, and would've never had a place where I can talk casually and anonymously where everything is based on merit, leaving me on an even keel with adults from the start. I like the internet, very handy indeed.

People are certainly more assertive in their beliefs, but they have the time to formulate rational opinions that you couldn't get from a mass audience in person. Some places are cool and some aren't with stuff like that.

[JohnnyHector]

Stop justifying the habits of your generation of slackers, who never see daylight except for being in transit from one building to another. Being well-read is fantastic, but not at the expense of muscle atrophy.

Besides, I don't think the average teenager (or 30-something for that matter) is spending countless hours on the internetz reading the works of Tolstoy.

[war ensemble]

Stop justifying the habits of your generation of slackers, who never see daylight except for being in transit from one building to another. Being well-read is fantastic, but not at the expense of muscle atrophy.

Besides, I don't think the average teenager (or 30-something for that matter) is spending countless hours on the internetz reading the works of Tolstoy.

Yeah, but the average teenager fifty years ago also wasn't spending countless hours reading the works of Tolstoy, so it's all relative. It's just the new social medium: with its benefits and drawbacks, although the end picture remains the same.

I'd like to meet these people who never see "daylight except for being in transit from one building to another." I work out and play sports, as do many others my age, and the internet certainly has not impeded on that in any way. It's just a different way to communicate.

[JohnnyHector]

Yeah, but the average teenager fifty years ago also wasn't spending countless hours reading the works of Tolstoy, so it's all relative. It's just the new social medium: with its benefits and drawbacks, although the end picture remains the same.

I'd like to meet these people who never see "daylight except for being in transit from one building to another." I work out and play sports, as do many others my age, and the internet certainly has not impeded on that in any way. It's just a different way to communicate.

Google "busting balls" to see what I was doing in my original post.

[war ensemble]

Google "busting balls" to see what I was doing in my original post.

I was figuring that. Damn, lol.

[Larz]

If I stopped surfing the internet, I would've never read any books by Orwell (rather than reading all of them), never would have had the inclination to read War and Peace, and would've never had a place where I can talk casually and anonymously where everything is based on merit, leaving me on an even keel with adults from the start. I like the internet, very handy indeed.

People are certainly more assertive in their beliefs, but they have the time to formulate rational opinions that you couldn't get from a mass audience in person. Some places are cool and some aren't with stuff like that.

but

are most kids discussing literature on the innerwebz ?

on the whole, if you could see what all the kids are doing, it's very wasteful, and what's worse, negative

lets be honest here. most tweens and tennagers are mostly looking at porn, going to social networking sites and looking for funny pics and videos on collegehumor.com

not every innerweb experience is a waste, but I'll never buy for a second some esoteric concept of rapid maturation offsets the porn and trolling

[war ensemble]

but

are most kids discussing literature on the innerwebz ?

on the whole, if you could see what all the kids are doing, it's very wasteful, and what's worse, negative

lets be honest here. most tweens and tennagers are mostly looking at porn, going to social networking sites and looking for funny pics and videos on collegehumor.com

not every innerweb experience is a waste, but I'll never buy for a second some esoteric concept of rapid maturation offsets the porn and trolling

It's the same thing as the previous generation in regards to positives vs negatives. It's just a commonly held notion throughout history that the current generation must look down upon the next generation's new ways.

The previous generation, people just hid their porno magazines they found under the bed mixed in with the comics or used their imagination. Most people would be doing the exact same things they were doing before, but just now in a more readily accessible area for both the good and bad content. No difference, in my opinion, between how wasteful society has become because of the internet. It's just the new medium.

[Larz]

It's the same thing as the previous generation in regards to positives vs negatives. It's just a commonly held notion throughout history that the current generation must look down upon the next generation's new ways.

The previous generation, people just hid their porno magazines they found under the bed mixed in with the comics or used their imagination. Most people would be doing the exact same things they were doing before, but just now in a more readily accessible area for both the good and bad content. No difference, in my opinion, between how wasteful society has become because of the internet. It's just the new medium.

I agree the basic behaviours are no different, but the ease of access the innerweb brings results in an increase in activity, thus more wated time.

you simply can't argue that american kids aren't fatter than ever, it's a simple fact, and a leading cause is the internet

porn has been around forever, but the internet made it mainstream and acceptable. that in itself is negative and dangerous.

anywho, I'm not saying all you young kids are wasting your lives, I'm just saying I disagree with the conclusion that as a whole, the internet isn't a waste of time

[war ensemble]

I agree the basic behaviours are no different, but the ease of access the innerweb brings results in an increase in activity, thus more wated time.

you simply can't argue that american kids aren't fatter than ever, it's a simple fact, and a leading cause is the internet

porn has been around forever, but the internet made it mainstream and acceptable. that in itself is negative and dangerous.

anywho, I'm not saying all you young kids are wasting your lives, I'm just saying I disagree with the conclusion that as a whole, the internet isn't a waste of time

I actually agree with you here. As everything is more readily accessible, those who choose to read and do other productive things on the internet can in an easier fashion, while those who want to waste time can just as easy. Sort of magnifies both sides of the coin, but as the majority of kids prefer to waste time it will just end up with the negatives outshining the positives.