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

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

Author: S. Craig Watkins
Product Code: 6193 ISBN: 978-080706193-0
Pages: 272
Binding Information: Cloth
Size: 6" X 9" Inches
Illustrated: No
Copyright Date Ed: 10/01/2009
Trade Code: 00C
Price: $26.95 In stock.

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A media expert explains how and why the digital migration is transforming youth culture, identity, and everyday life

In 2006, S. Craig Watkins participated in the MacArthur Foundation's well-funded digital media initiative alongside a select team of scholars and tech experts. The goal was simple: to understand young people's emphatic embrace of social and mobile media. Watkins went on to build a small research team that skillfully collected over 500 surveys and conducted 350 in-depth interviews with young adults, parents, and educators while visiting the online spaces where young people gather. It was a full-scale immersion into what Watkins calls the "digital trenches," and when he emerged, his understanding of the ways young people learn, play, bond, and communicate had become more detailed and dynamic.

It may come as no surprise that more teens are online than ever before-in fact 87 percent are. Consequentially, television is no longer the dominant medium it once was because young people are now spending an average of six to eight hours a day online. Watkins contends that most teens and twenty-somethings migrate online to share their lives with friends, something television simply cannot offer. As Melinda, a twenty-one-year-old student, proclaimed, "What do people do without Facebook?" In other words, for young people today, if you're not online, then you're not really living-and the ubiquitous presence of their mobile phones, laptops, and iPods positions them at the center of our evolving digital landscape.

Timely and deeply relevant, The Young and the Digital covers a host of provocative issues-the influence of social sites like MySpace and Facebook; the growing appetite for "anytime, anywhere" media and "fast entertainment"; how online "digital gates" reinforce race and class divisions; how technology is transforming America's classrooms-and takes a fresh look at the pivotal role technology played in the historic 2008 election. Watkins also debunks popular myths surrounding cyberpredators, Internet addiction, and social isolation. The result is a fascinating portrait, both optimistic and cautious, about the coming of age of the first fully wired generation.

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Quotes
"Why does Facebook have the same appeal as gated communities? Is distraction more concerning than addiction? How do video games like World of Warcraft value friendship? Bracing yet reassuring, often surprising, and always substantive, Craig Watkins acts as an honest broker, testing the contradictory claims often made about young people's digital lives against sophisticated fieldwork."
—Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

"The Young and the Digital is the best and most nuanced report yet from the digital frontier. Watkins tells us not only what is happening with today's 'digital natives,' but what it all means and where it may be taking us as a society."
—James Paul Gee, Mary Lou Fulton presidential professor of literacy studies, Arizona State University and author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

"New communication technologies are usually one step ahead of our ability to understand their social and political implications. By using a mix of methods, Watkins convincingly captures the digital world inhabited by today's young adults while illustrating what the digital landscape means for our future."
—Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

"Amidst the sensational headlines about Internet addiction, 'sexting,' and how social networking is destroying young attention spans, The Young and the Digital is a breath of fresh air. Watkins shows how young people are really using technology, including the good, the not so good, and the many shades of gray in between. A must read for parents and educators!"
—Anastasia Goodstein, author of Totally Wired: What Teens And Tweens Are Really Doing Online

"With thorough research, deep thinking, and lively prose, Watkins adds enormously to our understanding of how the combination of new media and a new generation is changing the world. Read this refreshing book to understand our future!"
—Don Tapscott, co-author of Wikinomics and author of Grown Up Digital

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