S.
Craig Watkins is a professor of Radio, Television, and Film at the University
of Texas-Austin. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan and is a well-respected
figure in the media world and does research that focuses on the affects of
technology and the digital world on young adults.
The very well connected:
Friending, bonding, and community in the digital age is a chapter
from Watkins’ book The Young and Digital,
published in 2009 by Beacon Press in
Boston. Watkins also has a website called “The Young and the Digital” where he
posts more studies and commentary on the issues of youth and the digital age.
Watkins is also very respected in the Hip Hop industry and published a widely
known book Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop
Culture and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement.
This
chapter from The Young and Digital is
about how connected teenagers and young adults are through cell phones, the Internet,
and other social networking websites. Many claim that these online interactions
and connections take away from the authenticity of and even replace
face-to-face interactions. Instead Watkins claims that online relationships
reinforces close ties and keeps together distant ties. He claims that
interaction through technology does not replace socializing in person, but
facilitates it and makes it more likely with distant acquaintances. Watkins
takes the traditional claim that young adults are addicted to their mobile
devices and instead describes it as a “commitment to each other”. Another point that Watkins challenged
through his interviews and research was the idea that young adults meet new
friends online. His research showed that this was not the case as the vast
majority of people only interact with people online that they are already
acquainted with through offline relationships.
The
intended audience for Watkins book is both the young adults in question and the
older generations who do most of the criticism of the digital habits of young
adults. There were many reviews on Google
Books that were generally positive. Many of the reviewers talked about how
this opened their eyes and made them realize they were overly critical of young
adults. Teachers also seemed to make up a substantial amount of the reviews and
they mentioned how they would recommend the book to anyone who interacts with
young adults and kids who’s habits are discussed in this book. Library Thing also had several reviews
with similar content. Melanie Kohnen wrote one scholarly review I found on the
Transformative Works and Cultures journal. Kohnen, a professor at Georgia Tech,
criticizes Watkins because he does not talk about communities that exist
primarily online. While he goes on at length about online communication
supplementing in person connections, he does not discuss examples like fandom
groups, or online gaming groups that do not communicate online. She argues that
these groups could challenge Watkins’ positive views of digital technology.
In
addition to Kohnen’s critique, the Journal
of Addiction has a published article about the problems of cell phone
addiction and the antisocial consequences it can have on teenagers and young
adults. The African Journal of Business
Management also did a study on cell phone addiction and found results
similar to those of Watkins. They found that the majority of young adults do
not let their cell phone get in the way of face-to-face socializing, or other
priorities in life.
Links to articles mentioned above:
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