Book Review

by
Tracy Hinton
As a K-12 educator for the past 17 years, I have always found social lives of
teenagers quite interesting. Having taken up numerous passed notes in class, the
topics ranged from serious to flirtatious to silly. Obviously, adolescents have
complicated social lives, and while technology has certainly changed these
dynamics, often its not the way that adults might think. Many adults feel that
teenagers are too highly engaged with social media, yet very few of them take time
to listen and understand what teens have to say about their own lives, both online
and in person. According to author Danah Boyd, I wrote this book to address that
gapto reflect the experiences and perspectives of the teens that I encountered
(p. 62). In the book Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Danah
Boyd encourages readers to set aside negative assumptions about youth and
technology as we seek to better understand their social lives.
For Boyds research, she traveled the United States from 2005 to 2012,
talking with and observing teens from a wide variety of socioeconomic and ethnic
backgrounds. She also conducted 166 formal, semi-structured interviews with teens
from 2007 2010, in many different settings. In addition, she talked with parents,
librarians, teachers, youth pastors, and other adults that worked with teens to gain
a better understanding of youth culture. With a strong technology background
working for companies that build social media, she understood the implementation
of various types of technology networks. With expertise both in youth culture and
social media, Boyd gained a much better understanding of the public discourse
surrounding young peoples lives. For these reasons, I feel that the author

accurately tries to reflect the voices of the teens in her book as she shares the role
of social media in their lives. In short, I feel that she is believable and worthy of my
trust as she presents a well-written and compelling account of teenagers and their
social lives.
Here are some of the main points in Boyds book:

As observed at a high school football game (as well as other places),

adults tend to pay much more attention to their devices than the children.
According to Boyd (2014) , Many adults were staring into their devices
intently, barely looking up when a touchdown was scored (p. 111). On
the other hand, teens were usually sharing their devices with others and
taking photos of the game. The reason was clear: Their friends were
right there with them. They didnt need anything else (Boyd, 2014, p.
111).
Most teenagers go online to connect with their friends and people in their
community not to people that they dont know. Social media provides
teens with a place to hang out and chat with their friends. It often means
being socially accepted by peers.
Since many teens cannot hang out at malls or other meeting places, often
due to lack of transportation or parental fears, social media provides a
safe way for teens to meet at all times.
Boyd creates a term called networked publics to describe the important
public spaces in social media where teens can gather, hang out, and
socialize in informal ways. They can begin to define themselves as young
adults, rather than simply a family member. Since teens desire both
autonomy and social connections, these hangouts provide them with
places to grow and mature.
Teens today use social media as a simple, everyday part of life, much like
watching television and talking on the phone. This is in contrast to earlier
generations that used digital technologies, such as the computer, on an
as-needed basis.
With the ease of spreadability such as sharing, reposting, or forwarding
information, much information provided by teens are often passed around,
making their lives more public than in past generations. While
comparable to the spreading of rumors, the spreadability is often much
more widespread, which Boyd describes as both powerful and
problematic. While bullying, gossip, rumors, and notes are not new,
what is new is the way in which social media alters and amplifies social
situations (p. 258). Even drama spreads more quickly as teens quickly
share gossip through social media.
Boyd points out that while teens are often skilled in social media to
increase visibility and attract attention, they often are not prepared to
handle what unfolds. It simply means that teens are generally more
comfortable with and tend to be less skeptical of social media than
adults (p. 270). In their world, technology is a given, and so they

simply relate to the world in which they live, and as a result, they are
becoming more equipped to deal with such issues.
Boyd explains that new technologies that capture widespread attention
often cause full-blown panic. (Examples include the sewing machine and
Walkman music players.) Similarly, todays adults have much fear and
anxiety over young peoples use of social media, but its usually due to a
misunderstanding. Sometimes, as in the case of sexual predators and
other online safety issues, misunderstanding results in a moral panic (p.
307). Usually a situation gets blown out of proportion from media sources.
In other cases, such as the notion that teens are addicted to social media
or that technology will solve inequality, people often go to the extreme as
they feel that these situations apply to all people in all situations. Boyd
stresses that adults must try to listen and understand teens, including
their reasons for using social media.
Often adults idealized their childhoods and forget about the bullying and
trials that they experienced. They equate their own childhoods with days
when things were simpler and safer. As a result, adults often associate
the rise of digital technology with decline social intellectual, or moral
(p. 319). According to Boyds research, the opposite is often true, since
teens are well aware of moral issues and ways to deal with challenging
issues (online bullying, predators, etc.).
According to Boyds research, teens are not compelled by technology but
rather by friendship. Social media is simply a way for teens to connect
with their friends. Surprisingly, many teens are not digital natives in the
sense that they know how to locate accurate information and produce
multimedia projects, but instead they simply enjoy staying connected with
their friends, and social media provides a safe and convenient way for
them to do so. According to Boyd, Their passion for social media stems
from their desire to socialize (p. 406).

Throughout the book, I found myself agreeing with the authors points. While
many of todays young people are called digital natives, Ive noticed that they
rarely can demonstrate information retrieval skills (besides a basic Google search),
create a Power Point presentation on their own, or even display basic knowledge of
keyboarding skills. Although teens spend much time on their phones and
computers, they do not necessarily have competent technology skills. From my
experiences with students as well as my own kids, I completely agree with Boyds
conclusion that social media is more about friendship than technology addiction.
Many other points also made sense to me, including the differences in the ways that
teens and adults use their phones. Often teens share their phones by showing each

other photos, texts, and videos, while adults often keep to themselves. Several of
these firsthand observations certainly confirmed my own experiences with teens, as
well as adults, and their own technologies.
While many of authors points were confirmed in my own experiences, I also
learned several important points. I realized that I often jump to the conclusion that
there is much negativity concerning teens and their use of technology. Actually, I
felt guilty for falling into the trap of thinking that most young people are addicted
to technology and even are digital natives that know more about computers than
many adults. (Possibly, Id accepted this notion as true, even though my
experiences show the contrary.) According to Boyds research, many young people
are not as skilled with technologies as we think and much prefer connecting with
friends during their online time. I agree that while some teenagers are likely
addicted to technology, this certainly does not apply to all of them, as most of them
are online to socialize with friends. As Boyd retold stories of inventions that had
caused widespread panic, I also learned about the misunderstandings that people
often had with new technologies. Id find it interesting to research more of these
cases in the history of technology.
In my opinion, this is a wonderful book for educators, parents, and anyone
else that works with young people. It is interesting to hear stories from the
perspectives of the teenagers, as they often have a strong desire to be heard and
understood. As adults (and parents), we often jump to conclusions when we see
teenagers addicted to their phones, but its important to realize that they are
usually developing deeper friendships with their peers, and they enjoy staying
connected with their friends. I feel that its vital that we listen to our teenagers and
try to understand their day-to-day challenges and issues, as they attempt to gain

independence and acceptance. This book certainly provides a greater clarity as it

brings to light many issues faced by teenagers today, and as parents and
educators, we should always take time to try to better understand our children
even when they are teenagers.
I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars! It was wonderful! (Also, Amazon has
almost 5 out of 5 stars for 66 reviews.) This book is highly engaging, easy to read,
well organized, and extremely relevant to any of us that work with young people. I
think that youd thoroughly enjoy this book about the complicated social lives of
teenagers.

Boyd, D. (2014). Its Complicated: The Social Loves of Networked Teens (Kindle
version). Retrieved from Amazon.com