[Sigia-l] Your take on MySpace (Listera)

[Marc Rettig]

Nice link on this topic today, via BoingBoing.net:
http://www.danah.org/papers/AAAS2006.html

An extract:
Adults with authority control the home, the school, and most activity
spaces. Teens are told where to be, what to do and how to do it. Because
teens feel a lack of control at home, many don't see it as their private
space.

To them, private space is youth space and it is primarily found in the
interstices of controlled space. These are the places where youth gather to
hang out amongst friends and make public or controlled spaces their own.
Bedrooms with closed doors, for example.

Adult public spaces are typically controlled spaces for teens. Their public
space is where peers gather en masse; this is where presentation of self
really matters. It may be viewable to adults, but it is really peers that
matter.

Teens have increasingly less access to public space. Classic 1950s hang out
locations like the roller rink and burger joint are disappearing while malls
and 7/11s are banning teens unaccompanied by parents. Hanging out around the
neighborhood or in the woods has been deemed unsafe for fear of predators,
drug dealers and abductors. Teens who go home after school while their
parents are still working are expected to stay home and teens are mostly
allowed to only gather at friends' homes when their parents are present.

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- Marc


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Marc Rettig
Fit Associates, LLC
www.fitassociates.com