1. Adolescence, schooling &
identity: New & old contexts
Old (back to 1950 & 1980)
Local area only (incl family, community,
school for some in 1950 for most 1980)
New (2010+)
Local area (as above)
BUT
Glocalisation via media (e.g. TV, new social media)
Growth of:
Music
Sport (for both male & female)
Technology (when innovations become appliances)
Homes, bedrooms as multi-media hubs & multi-
tasking
P Conway, PDE @ UCC 1
3. Statistics on family (CSO,
2008
Family size children in 1981-2006:
1 or 2 child families increase: 77% (1)
& 31% (2)
4, 5 or 6 child families decrease: 59%,
79% & 89%
Family configuration: Single/dual
parent
17.6% in single parent families
(187,000 or 1 of 6 in 2006), 86%
headed by women
P Conway, PDE @ UCC 3
4. Changing adolescents in a
changing family systems
More diverse family structures in Ireland
(& other Western countries, Coleman,
2010) now than in past
Parental work patterns (changing - boom to
bust), blended families, smaller, more single
parent households, separation & divorce
Issues:
Earlier “bio-psycho-social” maturity among
adolescents,
e.g. pressure to be more independent earlier
(Feldman, 2008)
Family boundaries & roles more changing
blurred,e.g. adolescents as workers, online
lives, access to money
P Conway, PDE @ UCC 4
7. Wired youth: social world of
adolescents in information age
"It's the cool thing to do. It's amazing how
quickly it has taken off - a few months
ago, no one had heard of it but now, it's a
bit weird if you haven't got a page on
Bebo." (Dublin teenager, 2006)
In 2006, Ireland had highest uptake of
Bebo globally among adolescents
P Conway, PDE @ UCC 7
9. Digital life & families
More than one thing at a time
Multi-tasking
Knowers - digital natives
status of computer & knowledge about digital
tools & family hierarchy
“When I took office, only high energy physicists
had ever heard of the WWW…Now even my cat
has its own page” (Bill Clinton, 1996)
Family boundaries
Home as ‘safe’, ‘danger’ on the street?
Expectation gaps
Using for HW or….??
P Conway, PDE @ UCC 9
11. Growing up digital I
“Children are the epicentre of the
information revolution, ground zero of the
digital world” (Katz, 1997)
Issues
Self, other & identity: Who?
Identity-work: ‘birds of a feather’
Face-to-face & virtual lives e.g. second self, Turkle,
1994
Digital natives & immigrants (Tapscott, 1998)
Time: How long?
Technology 20+ hrs/p/wk + multi-tasking
P Conway, PDE @ UCC 11
12. Growing up Digital II
Issues
Place & Space: Where?
In homes (3 modes): ‘children’s machine’,
‘interloper’ & ‘heart of the family’
On-line/off-line links, e.g. “facebook effect”
What?
“New patterns of communication, expression &
motivation” (Mesch & Talmud, 2010)
“The internet is becoming the town square
for the global village of tomorrow” (Bill
Gates)
Web 2.0 from consumers to producers, e.g use
of YouTube, new social media
P Conway, PDE @ UCC 12