I finished the book Youth Online, and I really enjoyed it. The book talked about the way teenagers interact and develop online and why that doesn't have to be a horrible things. It draws a lot of parallels with the way teenagers act in the offline world in comparison to how they behave online. I was really enraptured with the ideas it presented Some of the things the author talked about really strikes a core in me and a lot of it will help me with my final project.
The book followed a basic chapter by chapter outline that helped the author explain her overall argument. She starts out with an introduction where she talks about a lot of the psychological aspects of being online and other theories in order to give the reader a basic understanding of the tools she is using to argue her point. Then she gives a basic overview of her argument in the second chapter "The Virtual Self" This is where she talks about the stereotypical "being online is like being me without the bad parts." Throughout the next chapter she introduces five young adults that are heavily involved in the online world. She has them tell their stories and uses them throughout the next few chapters as examples of the points in her argument. She touches on Youth participation, identities, literacy, and socialization in her argument for the benefit of children interacting with each other online.
This book discusses the different ways children become "themselves" throughout their teenage years. She explains how they explore their sexuality and display themselves as "who they want to be" by the use of avatars (193). It also talked about the legitimacy of online friendships and the way the children displayed themselves to others. In all, children interacted with each other the same way they would if they had been talking face to face: by trying to show the other their best self. The book also displayed how children are learning leadership skills while being online (185) as well as expressing their creative sides and learning how to connect with others in order to create creative content (130).
I think this book was extremely interesting. I wish there was a little more counterargument throughout, since this would have answered questions I routinely had while reading her argument, but in the conclusion she addresses many of those issues I had and made me comfortable in her answer. I wasn't completely satisfied, but I at least understood why she didn't deeply address the issues of pornography of child predators online. I did find that I was a little disappointed in her focus on girls in the book. As a general rule, she was fair in giving explanations on both male and female interactions online, but during the chapter on avatars she chose to focus on why girls choose certain types of avatars (dominating, sexual, equal) and what that meant. But she didn't explain why the boys might have chosen different avatars or what their motives might have been. Her focus on female sexuality made me sad simply because I would have preferred a more equal discussion. Girls are not the only ones who want to be seen as desirable and boys are experimenting with their sexuality at this stage as well.
As a general rule, I think this book did an excellent job of making its point clear and arguing it fairly. It was refreshing to read something that acknowledged the good things that children learn while interacting online, such as problem solving, management skills, cooperation, friendship, creativity, and mastery over language. While there were times that I wished she addressed a few of the downsides of being online all the time (exercise, pornography exposure, etc,) I think that she did what she could with the time allotted to her and didn't want to get too distracted from her original point. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who had the desire to learn more about youth online! It was really weird for me when I realized that the book was published in 2007. The children in the book are my age now, which helped me identify with the subjects. I had a similar childhood (with less liberties on the internet) and it made the book that much more personal to me.
Here's my goodreads review if you'd like to hear more about what I had to say about the book! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/742677240
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