Social Networking and Young People: Privileging Student Voice

Abstract

Young adolescents today are growing up in an environment rich in digital technology. They are highly connected with their technology always on and always on them. In this digital culture there are consistent concerns regarding the impact of this new way of being, and adult-generated concerns include perceived diminished childhood, bullying and fear which dominate much of the widely held understanding of the digital culture which these young people inhabit. In this culture of fear and in the context of schools, adult-generated strategies for enhancing the experience of young people engaging with social networking is generally the norm and student voice is repressed. In contrast, this study set out to explore the experience of young people with respect to their engagement with social networking, through the privileging of student voice rather than assuming that adult knowledge be applied. Specifically, students aged from approximately 12-16 years, in the middle years of schooling (Years 7-9), are the subject of this study as they constitute the years where rapid growth and development, identity formation and establishing practices associated with social networking occur.