Adolescent Use of New Media and Internet Technologies

<p>This book engages with contemporary and often polarizing debates surrounding the risks of adolescent use of digital media and internet technologies.</p><p>By drawing on multiple research studies the text synthesizes current understandings of the impacts of social network use online gaming pornography and phenomena including cyberbullying cyberstalking and internet addiction to develop recommendations for the effective identification of at-risk youth as well as strategies for informed communication about online risks and opportunities. It shows how media discussion of risks to children and teenagers from new technology is highly emotive and often exaggerated rooted in the “moral panic” surrounding new cultural practices that young people engage in but which adults do not understand. Online risks are thus conceptualized as centering on three areas specific to adolescence which have undergone radical changes due to new internet technology. These include young people’s identity the types of content that are accessed and social relationships. The author shows how these matters stem from the potential of new technology to establish new interpersonal connections emphasizing how it brings opportunities as much as risks. As such he provides a uniquely balanced discussion of potential dangers while also emphasizing the opportunities for social academic and personal growth which new technologies afford young people.</p><p>It will be indispensable for researchers and clinicians interested in assessing levels of online risk as well as scholars and educators with interests in cyberpsychology social psychology cyber culture social aspects of computing and media and adolescent development.</p>