Remote living: Exploring online (and offline) experiences of young people living in rural areas

Abstract

This article investigates the online and offline experiences of young people living in rural communities. It draws upon data from the AHRC-funded research project, ‘Young people’s creative understanding of their mediaworlds’ (2008–10), in which young people aged 14–15 created ‘identity boxes’ to explore the place of media in their lives. The article demonstrates that many young people in rural areas were disengaged with new media and highlights why, for some individuals, online inclusion increased their feelings of cultural exclusion. The article reveals that many young people in rural areas made use of new media technologies only when they saw them as having a practical value relevant to their lives. The article further demonstrates the use of a creative visual method as a process which elicits reflective comments about a taken-for-granted world, and contributes empirically to knowledge about young people’s uses of new media within their everyday lives.