Teenagers and Technology

The popular media often presents a negative picture of young people and technology. From addiction to gaming, the distractions of the Internet, to the risks of social networking, the downsides of new technology in the lives of teenagers are often over-blown.

Teenagers and Technology presents a balanced picture of the part played by technology in the lives of young people. Drawing on extensive interviews conducted over several years, this book offers a timely and non-sensational exploration of teenagers’ experiences and opinions about the digital technologies they use, desire and dislike.

The book covers a range of topical subjects including:

• Social networking and online engagement in the wider social world
• Building online self-identity and group membership
• Technology in the home
• Developing technology skills in support of learning
• Drawing on technological resources in the journey towards adulthood.

Grounded in what young people actually say about using new technology in their daily lives, Teenagers and Technology presents a picture in which young people have in some respects a unique relationship to technology, but one that is actually not exceptional or of a completely different order to how people in general relate to it.

By providing a nuanced view on the topic, Teenagers and Technology counters the extreme accounts of ‘digital youth’, and exaggerated anxieties created by the mass media. It will be of interest to students and academics working in the fields of adolescent and Internet studies, along with education professionals, practitioners, teenagers and their parents.

Chris Davies teaches and researches at the University of Oxford, Department of Education. He directed the research project which features in this book and currently runs the Kellogg Centre for Research into Assistive Technologies.

Rebecca Eynon is Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute and a lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. She is co-editor of the journal Learning, Media and Technology and her research focuses on learning, new technologies, youth and everyday life.