Wired Youth: The Social World of Adolescence in the Information Age

Abstract

Scholars, parents, lawmakers, educators, and society in general seem to have an insatiable appetite for information on the effects of new media on youth. Social networking sites, instant messaging (IM), chat rooms, cell phones, and other information communication technologies (ICTs) create an environment where adolescents are engaged in perpetual communication. In Wired Youth, authors Mesch and Talmud explore the role of ICTs in adolescents' lives, focusing on the impact ICTs have on social relationship formation and maintenance. They argue that ICTs present another “neighborhood” for social activity that does not displace existing spaces of activity and may serve to diversify adolescents' social networks. Mesch and Talmud systematically present and critique theory and empirical research from the fields of communication studies, psychology, and sociology on adolescents' relationships and technology use. The authors explore the impact of ICTs on adolescents' family relationships, general sociability, relationship formation and maintenance, and structure of peer networks, careful not to adopt a hyperbolic utopian or dystopian approach.