Youth around the world are fittingly described as digital natives because of their comfort and skill with technological hardware and content. Recent studies indicate that an overwhelming majority of children and teenagers use the Internet, cell phones, and other mobile devices. Equipped with familiarity and unprecedented access, it is no wonder that adolescents consume, create, and share copious amounts of content. But is there a cost? Digital Youth: The Role of Media in Development recognizes the important role of digital tools in the lives of teenagers and presents both the risks and benefits of these new interactive technologies. From social networking to instant messaging to text messaging, the authors create an informative and relevant guidebook that goes beyond description to include developmental theory and implications. Also woven throughout the book is an international sensitivity and understanding that clarifies how, despite the widespread popularity of digital communication, technology use varies between groups globally. Other specific topics addressed include: Sexuality on the Internet. Online identity and self-presentation. Morality, ethics, and civic engagement. Technology and health. Violence, cyberbullying, and victimization. Excessive Internet use and addictive behavior. This comprehensive volume is a must-have reference for researchers, clinicians, and graduate students across such disciplines as developmental/clinical child/school psychology, social psychology, media psychology, medical and allied health professions, education, and social work.

8 Challenges and Opportunities of Developing Digital Media Citizens -- III Looking Ahead: Implications for Design and Research -- 9 Creative Learning Ecologies by Design: Insights from the Digital Youth Network -- 10 Advancing Research on the Dynamics of Interest-Driven Learning -- 11 Scaling Up -- Notes -- References -- Index

An examination of media and technology use by school-aged youth with disabilities, with an emphasis on media use at home. Most research on media use by young people with disabilities focuses on the therapeutic and rehabilitative uses of technology; less attention has been paid to their day-to-day encounters with media and technology—the mundane, sometimes pleasurable and sometimes frustrating experiences of “hanging out, messing around, and geeking out.” In this report, Meryl Alper attempts to repair this omission, examining how school-aged children with disabilities use media for social and recreational purposes, with a focus on media use at home. In doing so, she reframes common assumptions about the relationship between young people with disabilities and technology, and she points to areas for further study into the role of new media in the lives of these young people, their parents, and their caregivers. Alper considers the notion of “screen time” and its inapplicability in certain cases—when, for example, an iPad is a child's primary mode of communication. She looks at how young people with various disabilities use media to socialize with caregivers, siblings, and friends, looking more closely at the stereotype of the socially isolated young person with disabilities. And she examines issues encountered by parents in selecting, purchasing, and managing media for youth with such specific disabilities as ADHD and autism. She considers not only children's individual preferences and needs but also external factors, including the limits of existing platforms, content, and age standards.

The difficulties in determining the quality of information on the Internet--in particular, the implications of wide access and questionable credibility for youth and learning. Today we have access to an almost inconceivably vast amount of information, from sources that are increasingly portable, accessible, and interactive. The Internet and the explosion of digital media content have made more information available from more sources to more people than at any other time in human history. This brings an infinite number of opportunities for learning, social connection, and entertainment. But at the same time, the origin of information, its quality, and its veracity are often difficult to assess. This volume addresses the issue of credibility--the objective and subjective components that make information believable--in the contemporary media environment. The contributors look particularly at youth audiences and experiences, considering the implications of wide access and the questionable credibility of information for youth and learning. They discuss such topics as the credibility of health information online, how to teach credibility assessment, and public policy solutions. Much research has been done on credibility and new media, but little of it focuses on users younger than college students. Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility fills this gap in the literature. Contributors Matthew S. Eastin, Gunther Eysenbach, Brian Hilligoss, Frances Jacobson Harris, R. David Lankes, Soo Young Rieh, S. Shyam Sundar, Fred W. Weingarten

How emergent practices and developments in young people's digital media can result in technological innovation or lead to unintended learning experiences and unanticipated social encounters. Young people's use of digital media may result in various innovations and unexpected outcomes, from the use of videogame technologies to create films to the effect of home digital media on family life. This volume examines the core issues that arise when digital media use results in unintended learning experiences and unanticipated social encounters. The contributors examine the complex mix of emergent practices and developments online and elsewhere that empower young users to function as drivers of technological change, recognizing that these new technologies are embedded in larger social systems, school, family, friends. The chapters consider such topics as (un)equal access across economic, racial, and ethnic lines; media panics and social anxieties; policy and Internet protocols; media literacy; citizenship vs. consumption; creativity and collaboration; digital media and gender equity; shifting notions of temporality; and defining the public/private divide. Contributors Steve Anderson, Anne Balsamo, Justine Cassell, Meg Cramer, Robert A. Heverly, Paula K Hooper, Sonia Livingstone, Henry Lowood, Robert Samuels, Christian Sandvig, Ellen Seiter, Sarita Yardi

An ambitious project to help economically disadvantaged students develop technical, creative, and analytical skills across a learning ecology that spans school, community, home, and online. The popular image of the “digital native”—usually depicted as a technically savvy and digitally empowered teen—is based on the assumption that all young people are equally equipped to become innovators and entrepreneurs. Yet young people in low-income communities often lack access to the learning opportunities, tools, and collaborators (at school and elsewhere) that help digital natives develop the necessary expertise. This book describes one approach to address this disparity: the Digital Youth Network (DYN), an ambitious project to help economically disadvantaged middle-school students in Chicago develop technical, creative, and analytical skills across a learning ecology that spans school, community, home, and online. The book reports findings from a pioneering mixed-method three-year study of DYN and how it nurtured imaginative production, expertise with digital media tools, and the propensity to share these creative capacities with others. Through DYN, students, despite differing interests and identities—the gamer, the poet, the activist—were able to find some aspect of DYN that engaged them individually and connected them to one another. Finally, the authors offer generative suggestions for designers of similar informal learning spaces.

Combining information about outreach to diverse populations, selection of culturally diverse children's print and digital media, and library programming, this book is the tool librarians need to promote cultural understanding through engaging children's programs designed for today's culturally diverse youth. Today's children live in a culturally diverse and constantly changing digital world. New digital media is created every day but librarians and other educators need help in evaluating cultural content in digital apps, determining whether they send appropriate social messages to children, and learning how to use them in library programs that promote cultural competence. Diversity Programming for Digital Youth: Promoting Cultural Competence in the Children's Library provides just the help that is needed. This resource is the only one to examine the role of culturally diverse digital media and how it can be used with children's books to promote cultural competence in the library. It provides annotated lists of digital media paired with culturally diverse literature to offer librarians and educators a springboard for creating enriching, engaging, and culturally relevant programs for children from diverse backgrounds. The sample digital storytime programs celebrating diverse cultures will benefit busy librarians looking for ways to engage reluctant readers in library storytimes.