MySpace generation
Why the hype and hysteria?
Saturday 27 October, 10.30am until 12.00pm, Lecture Theatre 1 Battle for New Technologies

Whether texting, messaging or gaming, today’s teenagers seem to be truly ‘digital natives’. Young people have adopted digital technologies into their lives like no other age group. Their use of - and access to - a growing range of mobile technologies and online web facilities such as MSN, MySpace and YouTube appears to justify all the hype.

Society seems in awe of youths’ technological aptitude and appetite. Everyone from marketers to politicians to teachers stalks teenagers’ online habits, and seizes on the latest craze. This new generation of technological whizkids is heralded as the key to innovation where traditional R&D has floundered. Policy pundits suggest that in the face of social fragmentation, re-forging community may be done by imitating students’ use of Facebook. Teachers concede they must take lessons from their pupils in novel ways of accessing knowledge – something which is claimed to have impact at the neurological level. But is flattering and imitating teenage mores becoming a distraction from more ambitious technological innovation based on the aspirations of adults?

On the other hand, when not lauding ‘Digital Kids’, loathing is fashionable. Many seem ambivalent over whether new technologies are a social benefit or a toxic influence on the young that can’t be controlled by adults. Panics abound over the salacious content of sites such as Bebo – whether revealing young people’s penchant for binge drinking or irreverent slanders of their teachers. New online bogeymen are cited as putting the young at risk – from groomers to party gatecrashers. Schools and universities blame new technology for a rise in plagiarism. The media highlight malign uses of mobile phones, like ‘happy slapping’ or text bullying. Is technology a scapegoat for the immature pranks that have always been a feature of growing up? Or does youth immersion in new technologies introduce a real generation gap?

 Speakers

Dr Norman Lewis
director (innovation), PwC; co-author, Big Potatoes: the London manifesto for innovation
Raj Anand
technical director, Kwiqq.com
MT Rainey
founder/chairwoman of social networking site, www.horsesmouth.co.uk
Robin Walsh
graduate medical student; co-founder, Sheffield Salon
Chair:
Dr Shirley Dent
communications specialist (currently working with the British Veterinary Association media team); editor, tlfw.co.uk; author, Radical Blake

 Produced by

Dr Shirley Dent communications specialist (currently working with the British Veterinary Association media team); editor, tlfw.co.uk; author, Radical Blake
Alex Hochuli communications consultant, researcher and blogger based in São Paulo
Dr Norman Lewis director (innovation), PwC; co-author, Big Potatoes: the London manifesto for innovation
Dr Wendy Earle impact development officer, Birkbeck, University of London; convenor, Academy of Ideas Arts and Society Forum

Response to Norman Lewis, Robin Walsh

Adult insecurities drive the myth of the digital child, Norman Lewis

 Recommended readings

Young People, New Media: Childhood and the Changing Media Environment
Whilst grand claims abound on the use of new media amongst children and young people, Sonia Livingstone takes a sober look at the evidence
Sonia Livingstone, Sage, 2003

Can u speak teenager?
Online social networking sites are the key to a teenager’ world, it is like a garganutuan digital version of a Jane Austen novel
Lucy Austin, Telegraph, 23 March 2007

It may start as an innocent flirtation, but be warned, you too could become a lonely Myspace addict
Myspace: a place to post countless photos of yourself doing stupid, inane poses and write gushing blogs for others to read?
Peaches Geldof, Guardian, 29 March 2007

Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?
To understand their role in socialising today’s youth, educators need to explore the social dynamics of mediated public life like social network sites
Danah Boyd, The Knowledge Tree, Edition 13, 2006

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
Classical Philosophy? Create a game in which philosophers debate and learners have to pick out what each would say
Marc Prensky, On The Horizon, 30 September 2001

recommended by spiked

U TXTng 2 me? Young people, mobiles and social networking
spiked/o2 online debate


Session partners