Growing up Digital: How Today’s Youth Navigate Life on Screens and at School

Ten years ago,  Danah Boyd introduced the concept of ‘networked teens’ to explain how social media expanded youth connectivity. In this free talk, professor Jessica Ringrose introduces the idea of ‘postdigital’ teens, offering a lens to understand how teens’ digital networks intersect with their offline school-based peer dynamics. Drawing from a study on the impact of COVID-19 and social isolation of young people in England, Ringrose will explore their experiences of online sexual and gendered risks during and after lockdowns. She’ll delve into the complexities teens faced with increased screen time during the pandemic and what happened when they returned to school. 

The talk will explore how mobile phones and devices shape their experiences in school, focusing on tech-facilitated gender-based and sexual violence. The talk concludes with a presentation of a collaborative, co-designed educational intervention, offering recommendations for how schools, parents and communities can better support postdigital teens.

The event will be chaired by Carey Jewitt, chair of the Collaborative Social Science Domain / Knowledge Lab, IOE, UCL. Discussants are:

Sonia Livingstone | Director, Digital Futures for Children, 5Rights and Department of Media and Communications, LSE

Andy Phippen | Professor of IT Ethics and Digital Rights, Bournemouth University

Lucia Gloria Vazquez Rodriguez |
Lecturer in Digital Media Production, Knowledge Lab, Culture, Communication & Media, IOE, UCL

A drinks reception will follow the talk.

Sage sponsors this annual debate, which is part of the 2024 ESRC’s Festival of Social Science. The festival runs from 19 October to 9 November under the theme “Digital Lives.”