Teens’ use of Internet and online services documented in new book

What adults don’t know about teens’ use of the Internet and other high-tech services could fill a book.

And has.

In “I Found It on the Internet: Coming of Age Online” (American Library Association), readers learn, for example, how teens use online jargon like “Leetspeak” to jockey for status; blogs to display their wit and uniqueness; instant messaging to exclude others but also to collaborate on homework projects.

We also learn that teens use technology in ways that developers haven’t anticipated, and that teens are expert multi-taskers, able to juggle any number of online services — most of this behavior in the name of growing up.

“What teens do to one another online and the uses they make of technology for personal and social development are issues that have not received the attention they deserve,” writes Frances Jacobson Harris in her preface to “I Found It.”

According to Harris, the popular press has focused on “problems that arise from the controversial digital content that teens can now easily get their hands on, including pornography and hate literature.”

“But the focus on content misses the point by oversimplifying the complex issues that are involved,” she wrote.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 28 Jul 2005
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