Blog

When adults talk about teens and social media, their dialog often is fraught with fear and anxiety. What are teens doing on those screens all day? How will we know they are safe? How is this online exposure going to affect them in the future? There is a lot to unpack and the issues can be daunting for parents and those who work with teens.

I am the Young Adult Librarian here at SPL, and I invite all of you who are interested in these issues to join me for a book discussion on It’s Complicated: The social lives of networked teens by danah boyd. boyd is a principle researcher at Microsoft, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and a fiercely passionate advocate for teen’s access to information online. In this book, boyd offers a truthful look at what it means to be a teenager in our current context—gossip, flirting, bullies, and all—and what questions we, as adults, can use empower youth as they shape their identities on and off screen.

As someone who works with a lot of teens in the community, I have seen the kind of troubling behavior that causes us to worry, but more often than not, I meet teens whose worlds have expanded in really positive ways through the internet, and I appreciate that this book never took the negative stereotypes we have about teens at face value. I hope you will join me for this discussion on April 22 at 7 pm in the Book Discussion Room. If you plan on coming, you can register online and pick up a copy of the book at the Youth Services Desk.