The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future

273 Pages·2009·1.43 MB·English

by  S. Craig Watkins

The young and The digiTal

The Young and
the Digital
What the Migration to Social-Network Sites, Games,
and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future
S. Craig Watkins
Beacon Press
BosTon
Beacon Press
25 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892
www.beacon.org
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 2009 by S. Craig Watkins
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper
ANSI/NISO specifications for permanence as revised in 1992.
Text design and composition by Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Watkins, S. Craig (Samuel Craig)
The young and the digital : what the migration to social-network sites, games, and
anytime, anywhere media means for our future / S. Craig Watkins.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8070-6193-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Mass media and youth—United States. 2. Technology and youth—United States.
3. Digital media—Social aspects—United States. 4. Teenagers—Social networks—
United States. 5. Internet—Social aspects. 6. Online social networks—United States.
I. Title.
HQ799.2.M352W37 2009
303.48'3308350973—dc22 2009010400
Many names of people mentioned in this work have been changed to protect their
identities.
To Cameron Grace Watkins,
daughter, friend, digital native, and fellow author

ConTenTS
inTroducTion The Young and the Digital ix
one Digital Migration:
Young People’s Historic Move to the Online World 1
Two Social Media 101:
What Schools Are Learning about
Themselves and Young Technology Users 19
Three The Very Well Connected:
Friending, Bonding, and Community in the Digital Age 47
Four Digital Gates: How Race and
Class Distinctions Are Shaping the Digital World 75
Five We Play: The Allure of Social Games,
Synthetic Worlds, and Second Lives 103
six Hooked: Rethinking the
Internet Addiction Debate 133
seven Now! Fast Entertainment and
Multitasking in an Always-On World 157
eighT “May I have your attention?”:
The Consequences of Anytime, Anywhere Technology 171
conclusion A Message from Barack:
What the Young and the Digital
Means for Our Political Future 193
The Making of This Book:
Research, Methods, and Acknowledgments 209
Notes 219
Index 243
InTroDuCTIon
The Young and the Digital
[Facebook is] a big part of our lives . . . in this day and age.
And if you’re not a part of that, then you’re missing a huge
part of your friends’ lives also.
—Erica, twenty-two-year-old college student
In 2004, Rupert M. Murdoch, chairman of the third-largest media con-
glomeration in the world, News Corporation, saw the future—and it
was digital. Murdoch’s life in the media business began in 1953 with
the purchase of a small newspaper in his native Australia. Over the span
of his legendary career, Murdoch built a fortune and a global media
empire by buying up print and television properties all across Europe,
Asia, and North America. But Murdoch’s empire was showing signs of
aging. New media technologies like the Internet were eroding the once
taken-for-granted power of the old media guard. The print business, for
instance, was steadily decreasing in value as digital content and citizen
journalism ascended. Television too was appearing more like a relic in
the age of interactive and user-generated media. In a Washington, D.C.,
speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Murdoch
openly acknowledged his troubles.
“I didn’t do as much as I should have after the excitement of the late
1990s,” he told the gathering. “I suspect many of you in this room did
the same, quietly hoping this thing called the digital revolution would
just limp along. Well it hasn’t, it won’t, and it’s a fast-developing reality
that we should grab.”
The man Time magazine called “The Last Media Mogul” and the
self-described “digital immigrant” spoke like a technology convert. “We
may never become true digital natives but we can and must begin to
assimilate to their culture and way of thinking.” In a tone that matched
ix