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Young people and the Internet

From theory to practice

University of Edinburgh, UK, lisa.lee{at}ed.ac.uk

The article explores critical factors involved in the interaction of society and technology, by considering processes and outcomes of Internet use and practices by teenagers. Drawing on empirical work in four Brighton (UK) schools with distinctive social, cultural and economic characteristics, a model of analysis is developed in which key structural and personal situations reveal the complexity in the co-construction of users and technology. On a base level, an important aspect of this complexity emerges from young people’s changing social and institutional contexts of use (such as the home and the school), social biographies and life trajectories. On another level, reflections are made on the temporal nature of such patterns or discussions, because of wider technological, cultural and social changes and developments. Significantly therefore, much emphasis is placed on the limitations of particular units of analysis in the study of young people and technologies, as these are seen as far too reductive and too deterministic, calling for methodological approaches that allow greater flexibility in the research of fluid and complex phenomena.

Key Words: home • Internet use • research methods • school • young people

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