I read with interest the amazing three-year study funded by the MacArthur Foundation who interviewed more than 800 youth and young adults, and conducted more than 5,000 hours of online observations. The research team used a variety of techniques to collect these data including semi-structured interviews, diary studies, focus groups, informal interviews, observations of social network activities, and content examinations of thousands of social network profiles. The team most certainly did a thorough job of using qualitative methodology to solidify the notion that despite media reports to the contrary, social networking provides invaluable socialization and learning experiences that are critical for today’s youth. I congratulate the entire team for their tireless efforts.
It was gratifying to me to see that their conclusions about social networking validate the work of myself, and my colleagues over the past several years. In a recent article published in a special issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology entitled “The Association of Parenting Style and Child Age with Parental Limit Setting and Adolescent MySpace Behavior” we presented the results of two studies of parent and pre-teen and teen MySpace user pairs. Using anonymous, online surveys, we collected data from 607 parent-teen pairs investigating a variety of issues including MySpace usage and experiences, parenting style, limit setting, MySpace problems (cyberbullying, sexual predators, exposure to pornography), and other psychological and attitudinal issues. The research produced a strong picture showing how much pre-teens, teens, and young adults were using social networks (as well as other media and technology) and how their parents were, in many cases, not aware of their usage, underestimated their children’s experiences, overestimated online dangers, and did not set limits and boundaries on their children’s online behavior. MOST IMPORTANTLY, our research demonstrated that online behaviors, attitudes and psychological outcomes were strongly related to parenting style. Parents who adopted an Authoritative Parenting Style (using Diana Baumrind’s classification system), where they placed specific limits on their children’s behavior but did so by (1) talking with their children, (2) discussing the issues, (3) listening to their children, and (4) then jointly setting limits, raised children with better, safer, healthier online social networking experiences. Sadly, only one in three parents in our studies – and in other similar studies – used an Authoritative Parenting Style. A link to the article can be found on my website at www.Me-MySpace-and-I.com.
I am also gratified that the MacArthur research validated everything that I said in my recent book, Me, MySpace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation (2008, Palgrave Macmillan). The main premise of my book is that this is a whole new generation of children, adolescents, and young adults who face an entirely different world than that of their older brothers and sisters and their parents. These Net Geners were immersed in technology from birth and it has completely shaped their lives across all domains. The book talks about how parents need to be aware of the major impact technology and media has had – and will continue to have – on the Net Generation and the upcoming iGeneration born in the new millennium. The MacArthur projects reinforces these changes and parenting challenges.
I was most interested in the section of their report titled “Implications for Educators, Parents, and Policymakers” which listed four areas for consideration: (1) social and recreational new media use as a site for learning, (2) recognizing important distinctions in youth culture and literacy, (3) capitalizing on peer-based learning, and (4) new role for education. I am currently working on a new book tentatively entitled Me, My eLife, and I: Teaching and Raising the Net Generation (2009, Palgrave Macmillan) in, which I explore these issues and make strong research and psychologically-theory-based assertions about how youth are only going to become more involved in social media and how current educational models are not going to work unless they take advantage of this new generation of multitasking, media savvy children and adolescents. The thrust of the book is that our educational system, using its current models, is not suited to teaching Net Gen and iGen students due to its reliance on uni-tasking teaching methods, and its reluctance to integrate social networking and electronic communication tools into a multitasking environment that will be more enticing and pedagogically more appropriate for education. I was happy to see that the four implications of the report are all issues that I will be delineating in my book.
I was a bit confused in reading this section of implications. Even though “parents” were explicitly mentioned in the title, there were no recommendations about how parents should be involved in their children’s online activities. As we know from our studies – and dozens of previous studies of parenting styles in other domains – Authoritative Parenting is the best possible approach to keep children safe in their social networking, media-rich worlds.
Again, I want to applaud the MacArthur foundation and its researchers on a comprehensive study of social networking. I hope that the media will be able to refocus their reporting from the evils and moral panic concerning social networking to a more balanced approach about its positive benefits. I also hope that the media will recognize that these positive benefits are strongly influenced by good parenting.
I look forward to your comments. As always, feel free to e-mail me at LROSEN@CSUDH.EDU and visit my website for updates on our newest research on the Net Generation and the new iGeneration.
