Internet Literacy: Young People's Negotiation of New Online Opportunities

Abstract

For previously new media-books, comics, cinema, radio, and television-even if parents weren't familiar with the particular contents their children engaged with, at least they could access and understand the medium so that, if they wished to understand what their children were doing or share the activity with them, they could.With the advent of digital media, things have changed.The demands of the computer interface are significant, rendering many parents "dinosaurs" in the information age inhabited by their children.But, more importantly, attention to these demands blinds us to the real challenge of using digital media, namely the potential for engagement with information and education content, and for participation in online activities, networks, and communities.Indeed, the very difficulty of accessing and using the internet beguiles many adults into believing that if only they could master "clicking" on links with the mouse, then they-like their children-would be internet "experts."This is not a belief that we hold for the pen, else we'd stop teaching pupils English once they had learned to read and write, but the child who "whizzes" around the screen seems so skilled that, we conclude comfortably, they know all they need to know already.Such a conclusion seems confirmed by the extraordinary news headlines of young hackers breaking national security codes or teenage entrepreneurs making a fortune on E-Bay, not to This chapter draws on research funded by an Economic and Social Research Council grant (RES-335-25-0008) as part of the U.K.'s "e-Society" Programme, with co-funding from AOL-UK, BSC, Childnet-International, Citizens Online, ITC, and Ofcom.Thanks to Magdalena Bober, Ellen Helsper, Rodney Livingstone, Elizabeth van Couvering, and Nancy Thumim for their constructive contributions to the work presented here.102 Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpectedmention the youthful origins of such recent successes as Google and YouTube.Young people themselves, conscious of being the first generation to grow up with the internet, concur with the public celebration of their status as "digital natives." 2 Amir (15, from London) says confidently, "I don't find it hard to use a computer because I got into it quickly.You learn quick because it's a very fun thing to do." Nina (17, from Manchester) adds scathingly, "My Dad hasn't even got a clue.Can't even work the mouse. . . .So I have to go on the Internet for him."But while these claims contain a sizeable grain of truth, we must also recognize their rhetorical value for the speakers.Only in rare instances in history have children gained greater expertise than parents in skills highly valued by society (diasporic children's learning of the host language before their parents is a good example).More usually, youthful expertisein music, games, or imaginative play-is accorded little, serious value by adults, even if envied nostalgically.Thus, although young people's newfound online skills are justifiably trumpeted by both generations, this does not put them beyond critical scrutiny, for the young entrepreneurs and hackers are the exceptions rather than the norm.This chapter will engage with several claims illustrated by Anna's mother, above.First, I propose that the widespread struggle among educators, parents, researchers and policy makers to conceptualize what it is (young) people "know" or need to know when using the internet is usefully resolved by conceptualizing this knowledge in terms of literacy.This allows us to draw on, and learn from, a long intellectual history of debate over the nature of literacy (from print literacy to audiovisual and media literacies, information literacy, advertising literacy, cyberliteracy, games literacy, critical literacy, and many more), notwithstanding critical doubts over "literacy" as a normative or elitist project.3 Through the concept of literacy, I suggest, we can weave together an account of basic and advanced skills, linking individual skills with social practices and crossing the boundary between formal and informal learning.Second, I show that the internet poses specific and new demands on the understanding of its users (and would-be users), which, as empirical work with children themselves reveals, not all manage.Third, and contrary to Anna's mother's assumption, I argue that mastering the technology means mastering not just the hardware, but all that the internet affords its users.Thus we should be satisfied with nothing less than an ambitious definition of literacy given the considerable social, economic, cultural, and political ambitions that society has for the information society and, especially, for the so-called "internet generation." Introducing Three ChildrenTo ground the present discussion, and without meaning either to celebrate or to criticize them, I will briefly introduce three children who participated in the UK Children Go Online project to convey the richness and subtlety of their knowledge of, and their continuing struggles with, the internet.4 For behind the excited rhetoric of young online experts, the everyday reality is inevitably more complex, as ethnographic research on the domestication of new technologies readily shows.5 I first visited Megan when she was eight years old, in 1999.A bright girl from a working class family, Megan lived in a media-rich but small house with her rather "stay-at-home" parents and her older brother, a computer enthusiast.She loved writing stories and animals, especially her pet hamster.She also loved playing on the computer, and her parents proudly termed her "an information junkie," having high educational aspirations for her.At the same time, they kept an eye on her internet use from the living room, being cautious about her online activities and encouraging visiting trusted sites rather than bold exploration, gently

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