Being Mobile

As the parent of an adolescent I cannot ignore, nor deny, the importance given to mobile phones by teens. Every one of my daughter’s friends, females or males, has a phone which is constantly used. However, I have to say that I have noticed a higher preference, by my daughter and her friends, for texting. I have referred to a mobile phone jokingly as “a life line” on many occasions. After reading Stald’s article and description of a mobile phone as, “an ubiquitous, pervasive communication device which young people find it difficult to be without, whether they like it or hate it, or feel something in between” (p. 146), I consider that perhaps my description is not that far out there. 

As I have been reading these articles for our blogs, I continue my journey trying to understand how technology helps adolescences morph and shape their own identities. It seems that communication with peers and self-expression are vital for the development of self-concept and the process of becoming individuals (Individuals very similar to their peers). 

Visiting with my husband, a psychotherapist, I asked him about adolescents wanting to be able to communicate and be available to peers 24/7. He told me that during this period, adolescents consider other peers the only ones that can understand what they are going through (As a mother I have come across this comment a few times). Stald made reference to it when he stated Jacob’s comment, “Your true friends-those with the label ‘real good friends’ in the address book-they’re the ones you call or text at 2 a.m. and say” ‘Hey, I’m in trouble. You’ve got to help me!” (p.151). This comment made me think about Tracey’s last blog and the consideration of parental involvement in our children’s life and use of technology. We, parents, supervise and talk to our teens about other interactions they are involved in, such as gatherings, friendships, going to movies, etc. Technology is another area in which we can offer guidance and support. I think that children will listen to their peers for feedback and interactions to make sense of things, no matter what. However, the easy access to technology, in this case mobile phones, demands more involvement in our children’s life.

Furthermore, teens, as human beings, need to fulfill the sense of belonging they experience. Mobile phones contribute to the ability to maintain those ties to others like them.

G. Stald’s (2008) final statement in this article caught my attention, “The mobile is an important tool that allows one to be in control-which is an essential ability for adolescents in general-but simultaneously it is becoming more and more important to be able to control the mobile” (p. 161). This past Friday my husband and I attended parent teacher conferences for our daughter (Barbara). We made the comment to her Algebra teacher that Barbara will soon be driving on her own. Her teacher, who is the SADD coordinator at her school, asked us to please talk to Barbara about “Driving and Texting”. She said that research is showing that it is more dangerous to drive while texting than driving under the influence of alcohol. She mentioned that when someone drives under the influence of alcohol, they are more conscious about a cop seeing them and try harder to keep control of the car as opposed of someone texting. We and our teens need to learn to control the “urgency” to answer the mobile phone for safety and courtesy.

Why Youth Love Social Network Sites?

As the parent of a teenager who is involve in social networking I find that the article Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Public in Teenage Social Life, Danah Boyd provided me with a better understanding behind the reasons why teens engage in this kind of activity. For example, we live in a small community where places for teenagers to hangout are limited (although it seems that there are limited spaces for teens even in urban areas) and social network site (SNS) provide a venue for teens to hangout. Moreover, according to the author, social interaction with peers, in a SNS helps teens develop an identity and social skills by making decisions on what to post and how to interpret what is being said by others. I see that communication and interactions in cyberspace are not radically different than those in the “real” world. I see how teens would post on their pages things that can be outrageous to parents, but they say them too outside of a social network site. As I read the article by Boyd I see that the “drama” of social interactions among teens is not different in these places. Furthermore, bullying is another problem that takes place in these sites as well as outside of them. The difference is the persistence property of SNS. A hurtful comment or an embarrassing photo find posterity in these sites and kids can be humiliated by many in a perseverative way. Here is where one of my concerns lies under a recent event of children taking their own life after being bullying in these networks. 

As I read the story of Sabrina and her father I wonder how teens felt about being friends with authority figures in their life. I came across the posting “Should Large Social Networks Give Teens Their Space Back?” in ypulse.com (http://www.ypulse.com/should-large-social-networks-give-teens-their-space-back). Although there are very few comments posted it seems that the controversy over having their own space is an important one for teens.

Lastly, I thought about the book “21st Century Skills. Learning for Life in our Times” by Trilling and Fadel (2009) in which the world in twenty years is described as, “A “smaller world,” more connected by technology and transport” (p. XXV). However, as reported by Boyd interactions among different cultures, languages, and even social status are not the norm. I understand that teens become friends online with those friends offline, but I wonder if they would be willing to befriend teens from other backgrounds and develop the 21st. century social skills of communication and collaboration that Trilling and Fadel mentioned are necessary to “work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams” (p. 55).

Trilling, B., and Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills; Learning for life in our times. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Producing Sites, Exploring Identities: Youth Online Authorship.

I would like to start my posting with a conversation I had with my daughter a few years ago when we bought her a cell phone. I told her that I was her age when my family got our first home telephone. She was amazed and after a big smile she told me, “Things change.” She is right and not. However, I think that we both accomplished something with different technology; communicate with our peers.

Susannah Stern in her article Producing Sites, Exploring Identities: Youth Online Authorship explores what teens are using as channels to communicate with others and express themselves and why they are doing it. Blogs and web pages provide those channels and the reasons for creating them vary from curiosity, challenge, peer pressure, self-expression, and self-reflection among others. Blogs and web pages seem to be journals and dairies (p.98), however the first ones have an audience (p. 99) which could provide comments, responses or opinions.

As I read this article I thought of the implications blogging may have in different areas. For example, teens are able to tell their stories and thoughts to an audience that perhaps they do not know. They allow others to enter their lives as they reflect about themselves. As a mother, I have concerns about privacy and how much a teen should post in blogs or web pages for safety reasons (p.95). I see the educational value, and even the emotional help blogs provide to teens. However, I wonder if teens view personal (face to face) communication as a threat to who they are or who they are becoming. 

Also, technology provides an outlet for teens to exercise their creativity. As Trilling and Fadel (2009) one of the critical learning skills of the twenty-first century is creativity. Teens are able think creatively as they write, place images and sounds on their blogs, webs and social networking sites.

It is encouraging to see that through blogging, web pages and social networking sites teens are writing, reflecting, and determining an audience for their writing. Visiting with my teen daughter she told me that she visits a site where teens post their writing and she is learning so much about how to write. However, she has not been brave enough to post her own. As a teacher I see the value of all the skills being learned and practice through blogging and social networking, but I wonder how much of those skills are being transferred to other learning activities in school assignments. Moreover, in the area of education, my concerns arise in the topics of bullying, dating violence and stalking (especially among teens) and how, as a society, is that we are going to deal with this situation. It seems that through technology we have found new ways to oppress others.