15.3 Digital Natives

Adults over age 40 grew up without the Internet, instant messaging, Twitter, Snapchat, blogs, cell phones, smart phones, MP3 players, tablets, or digital cameras. Until 2006, only students at elite colleges could join Facebook. In contrast, today’s teenagers are “digital natives.” Since childhood they have been networking, texting, and clicking for definitions, directions, and data. Most adolescents have mobile devices within reach, day and night.

The gap between those with and without computers was bemoaned a decade ago; it divided boys from girls and rich from poor (Dijk, 2005; Norris, 2001). However, within nations, that digital divide is shrinking, though digital differences remain. Low-income families continue to be less likely to have high-speed Internet at home, and adolescents from low-SES neighborhoods are less likely to use the Internet.

However, the arrival of lower-cost smartphones has narrowed this gap. Smartphone owners who are from minority ethnic groups and/or low SES often rely on their phones for Internet access (Madden et al., 2013). In developed nations, virtually every school and library is connected to the Internet, as are many in developing nations. No doubt this opens up new ideas and allows access to like-minded friends, both especially important for teens who feel isolated within their communities.

Today’s adolescents and emerging adults take technology for granted. Most own computers; some own companies. The most notable digital divide is now age: In 2011, 95 percent of teenagers were online compared to only 41 percent of those over the age of 65 (Zickuhr and Smith, April 13, 2012). [Lifespan Link: Use of technology in late adulthood is discussed in Chapter 25.] No wonder most critics of technology are older adults.

Same Situation, Far Apart: Alone Together Adults sometimes worry that technology isolates users, but that is rarely the case. Worldwide, texting is more likely to bring people together.

© RICHARD G. BINGHAM II/ALAMY
© JEFF GREENBERG/ALAMY

Technology and Cognition

In general, educators accept, even welcome, digital natives. In many high schools, teachers use laptops, smartphones, and so on as tools for learning. In some districts, students are required to take at least one class completely online. There are “virtual” schools, in which students earn all their credits online, never entering a school building.

Recall that research conducted before the technology explosion found that education, conversation, and experience advance adolescent thought. Social networking via technology may speed up this process, as teens communicate daily with dozens—perhaps even hundreds or thousands—of “friends” via e-mail, texting, and cell phone.

Most secondary students check facts, read explanations, view videos, and thus grasp concepts they would not have understood without technology. For some adolescents, the Internet is their only source of information about health and sex. Students use the Internet for research, finding it quicker and more extensive than books on library shelves.

Teachers use it, too, not only for research and assignments, but also to judge whether or not a student’s paper is plagiarized. Educators claim that the most difficult aspect of technology is teaching students how to evaluate sources, some reputable, some nonsensical. To this end, teachers explain the significance of .com, .org, .edu, and .gov (O’Hanlon, 2013).

A New Addiction?

Parents worry about sexual abuse via the Internet. There is reassuring research here: Although sexual predators lurk online, most teens avoid them, just as most adults avoid distasteful ads and pornography. Sexual abuse is a serious problem, but social networking does not increase the risk (Wolak et al., 2008).

More Than Eating The average adolescent boy spends more time playing video games than reading, eating, doing homework, talking with friends, playing sports, or almost anything else except sleeping or sitting in class. Indeed, some skip school or postpone sleep to finish a game.

Source: Gentile, 2009.

Technology does present some dangers, however. It encourages rapid shifts of attention, multitasking without reflection, and visual learning instead of invisible analysis (Greenfield, 2009). Video games with violent content promote aggression (Gentile, 2011). For some adolescents, chat rooms, video games, and Internet gambling are addictive, taking time from needed play, schoolwork, and friendship.

This is not mere speculation. A study of almost two thousand older children and adolescents in the United States found that the average person played video games two hours a day. Some played much more, and only 3 percent of the boys and 21 percent of the girls never played (Gentile, 2011) (see Figure 15.5). Another survey found that almost one-third of all high school students use technology more than 3 hours a day (this does not include using computers at school), with use higher among boys and non-whites (MMWR, June 10, 2012). The rate has been increasing steadily since 1990.

Many adolescents in the first survey admit that video game playing takes time away from household chores and homework. Worse, one-fourth used video games to escape from problems, and one-fifth had “done poorly on a school assignment or test” because of spending too much time on video games. The heaviest users got lower school grades and had more physical fights than did the average users. Sadly, the data from this research may underestimate the problem, since adolescents reported on themselves.

Using criteria for addiction developed by psychiatrists for other addictions (gambling, drugs, and so on), one study found that 12 percent of the boys and 3 percent of the girls were addicted to playing video games. Remember that correlation is not causation, so perhaps low school achievement led to video game playing rather than vice versa. However, another study began with younger boys whose parents intended to buy them a video game system. Randomly, half of them were given the system, and the other half had to wait four months. Those who received the video game system had lower reading and writing achievement after 4 months than did their peers who waited (Weis & Cerankosky, 2010).

Most screen time occurs at home, often in the child’s own bedroom. About half of all parents do not impose restrictions on what kind of technology their adolescents use, when they use it, or for how long at a sitting. Some suggest that technology should be banned from schools and bedrooms, but, as one critic writes, “we don’t ban pencils and paper because students pass notes” (Shuler, 2009, p. 35). Some teachers confiscate computers and cell phones used in class, others ignore them, and still others include them in the curriculum.

Whether extensive use of the Internet qualifies as an addiction is controversial. The psychiatrists who wrote the new DSM 5, after consideration, did not include it as an addiction. On the other hand, authors of studies in many nations found that a sizable minority of high school students (e.g., Turkey, 15 percent, and India, 12 percent) were addicted to computer use (Şaşmaz et al., 2014; Yadav et al., 2013). Whether a psychological disorder or not, overuse of technology is problematic for some adolescents.

Cyber Danger

When a person is bullied via electronic devices, usually via e-mail, text messages, or cell phone videos, that is cyberbullying (Tokunaga, 2010). The adolescents most involved in cyberbullying are usually already bullies or victims or both, with bully victims the most likely to engage in, and suffer from, cyberbullying. [Lifespan Link: For a discussion of bullying, see Chapter 13.] Although technology does not create bullies, it gives them another means to act and wider access.

Texted and emailed rumors and insults can “go viral,” reaching thousands, transmitted day and night. The imaginary audience magnifies the shame (Englander et al., 2009). Not only words but also photos can be easily sent: Some adolescents photograph others drunk, naked, or crying and send the photo to dozens of others, who may send it to yet others. Since adolescents are quick-acting but judgment is weak, cyberbulling is particularly prevalent between ages 11–14.

Fake Face in Georgia Alex stands behind a phony Facebook page that portrays her as a racist, sexually-active drug user. She is 14, a late developer, which may be why she became a cyberbullying target. Also shown are her parents, Amy and Chris Boston, who are suing her classmates for libel. No matter what happens in court, the worst has already happened: Alex thought those girls were her friends.

DAVID GOLDMAN/AP PHOTO

While the causes of all forms of bullying are similar, each form has its own sting: cyberbullying may be worst when the imaginary audience is strong, the identity is forming, and impulsive thoughts precede analytic ones. Adolescent victims are likely to suffer from depression and may commit suicide (Bonannor & Hymel, 2013).

The school climate affects all forms of bullying. When students consider their school a good place to be—with supportive teachers, friendly students, opportunities for growth (clubs, sports, theater, music), and the like—those with high self-esteem are not only less likely to engage in cyberbullying but also are more likely to disapprove of it. That reduces the incidences. However, when the school climate is negative, those with high self-esteem are often bullies (Gendron et al., 2011). Some students believe that cyberbullying is unstoppable. Nonetheless, teens themselves use successful strategies, including deleting messages without reading them (Parris et al., 2011).

A complication is that most adolescents trust technology while many adults ignore it. Parents and teachers are often unaware of cyberbullying, and few laws and policies successfully prevent it. Some school administrators insist that, since cyberbullying does not emanate from school computers, they cannot stop it. However, cyberbullying usually occurs among classmates and can poison the school climate, and thus educators must be concerned. Adolescents are vulnerable, needing more protection than adults realize.

The vulnerability of adolescence was tragically evident in the suicide of a California 15-year-old, Audrie Pott (Sulik, 2013). At a sleepover, Audrie and her friends found alcohol. She got so drunk that she blacked out, or passed out. When she came to, she realized she had been raped. On the next school day, three boys in her school were bragging that they had sex with her, showing pictures to classmates. The next weekend, Audrie hanged herself. Only then did her parents learn what had happened.

One aspect of this tragedy will come as no surprise to adolescents: “sexting,” as sending sexual photographs is called. Willingly or not, almost 3 percent of a national sample of 10- to 17-year-olds say that a photo of themselves wearing few or no clothes has been sent electronically, and 7 percent have received such a picture (Mitchel et al., 2012). That may be an outdated estimate.

Other studies report as many as 30 percent of adolescents report having received sexting photos, although variation by school, gender, and ethnicity is evident (Temple et al., 2014). Adults are seldom aware of this activity, which technically is child pornography.

Every study finds that sexting has two dangers; (1) the pictures are often forwarded without the naked person’s knowledge, and (2) senders risk serious depression if the reaction is not what they wished (Temple et al., 2014). Remember that body image formation is crucial during early adolescence, and that many teens have distorted self-concepts—no wonder sexting is fraught with trouble.

The other destructive side of Internet connections is that it allows adolescents to connect with others who share their prejudices and self-destructive obsessions, such as anorexia, or cutting. The people they connect with are those who confirm and inform their twisted cognition. This suggests that parents and teachers need to continue their close relationships with their adolescents. Note the absence of parents at Audrie’s alcoholic sleepover, the rape, cyberbullying, and suicide. (Parent/child relationships are a central theme of the next chapter.)

The danger of all forms of technology lies not in the equipment but in the cognition of the user. As is true of many aspects of adolescence (puberty, brain development, egocentric thought, contraception, and so on), context, adults, peers, and the adolescent’s own personality and temperament “shape, mediate, and/or modify effects” of technology (Oakes, 2009, p. 1142).

Teens are intuitive, impulsive, and egocentric, and they often have difficulty analyzing the impact of whatever they send or limiting the power of whatever they read. Adults should know better, but all of us are sometimes illogical and emotional: It takes time and experience to use technology wisely.