‘Hyperpublic’ youth identity
is social networking, facilitated by sites like Bebo, MySpace and Facebook, a democratic development? Or does the corporate ownership of these sites and the way that personal information is shared with advertisers compromise this spirit? The certainty is that social networking is incredibly popular, particularly with teenagers. Boyd (2008) researched teenage use of MySpace in relation to how users engage in forms of peer-to-peer sociality, and the implications of this for youth identity. Most interestingly, Boyd explored the various different kinds of public and private space that can be understood as operating in and around MySpace. For example, the research found that the pressure to fit in with peer preferences in a public arena was intimidating, and that the conflict between peer interaction and parental surveillance added extra pressure. An obligation to participate in a public culture and an erosion of privacy emerged as key findings, as Boyd sets out here
Teens today face public life with the possibility of unimaginably wide publicity. The fundamental properties of networked publics- persistence, searchability, replicability and invisible audiences- are unfair to the adults that are guiding them through social life. Few adults could imagine every conversation they have sitting in the park or drinking tea in a café being available for hyperpublic consumption, yet this is what technology enables.
The chances are that you are in the age group Boyd observes, and that you are familiar with these features of modern life. You can, if you wish to, reach a global audience with a meme, but equally you can be the victim of more localised, unwanted online attention if caught unawares on a phone camera. Boyd is suggesting that you are unlikely to get much help from your parents or teachers if you get into trouble in the new world, and that can only be a serious problem in a democracy. On the other hand, Boyd is part of the “adult culture” that has always defined youth on its own terms. Young people rarely recognise themselves in the ways they are described by adults, a phenomenon Barham (2004) calls “ the disconnect”. So perhaps this aniety over the way you and your peers are left to your won devices to survive in social networks is not such a big deal as Boyd thinks. Herring (in Buckingham 2008), in another piece of research looking at youth identity and digital technology, found that users of MySpace were able to articulate the duality of its positive and negative aspects, and were annoyed by the parent culture assuming the worst.
A male high school student recently blogged – “STOP BLAMING EVERYTHING ON MYSPACE! America, give your children some credit. They’re relatively intelligent, and they’re pretty rebellious when they want to be. They will have their MySpace regardless of what you say, and by telling them they can’t handle it, you’re not helping the situation at all”.
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