Keep out! Join in! Cross-generation communication on the mobile internet in Norway
Keywords
Communication
smartphones
mobile internet
polymedia
parents
grandparents
teens
adolescence
cross- generation
domestication
strong ties
Publication details
| Year: | 2016 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/17482798.2016.1203808 |
| Issued: | 2016 |
| Language: | English |
| Volume: | 10 |
| Issue: | 4 |
| Start Page: | 411 |
| End Page: | 425 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Nag W.; Ling R.; Jakobsen M. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Journal of Children and Media |
| Publisher: | Informa UK Limited |
| Topics: | Social mediation; Internet usage, practices and engagement; Digital and socio-cultural environment |
| Sample: | Workshops with three high school classes, all from the same school in Oslo, Norway. The classes included a total of 55 students, 16–17 years old. |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation |
Abstract
In this article we examine how teens in Norway navigate the many options for mediated communication when interacting with parents and grandparents. Drawing on workshop discussions with mid-adolescents, we suggest that there is a digital gap in this cross-generation communication despite high Information and Communication Technology (ICT) penetration in the market. The gap appears to be a manifestation of the social dynamic at play when reshaping the relationship between adolescents and their caregivers. This dynamic includes both centrifugal and centripetal forces. Applying the perspective of relational dialectics, we elaborate on how these forces unfold in the domestication of an increasingly complex set of communication tools referred to as polymedia. The empirical analysis suggests that teens assess the tools differently depending on if it is for interaction with parents or grandparents. This is also related to whether the mediated communication sessions are instrumentally or expressively skewed.
Outcome
We suggest that there is a digital gap in cross-generation communication despite high Information and Communication Technology (ICT) penetration in the market. The gap appears to be a manifestation of the social dynamic at play when reshaping the relationship between adolescents and their caregivers. This dynamic includes both centrifugal and centripetal forces. Applying the perspective of relational dialectics, we elaborate on how these forces unfold in the domestication of an increasingly complex set of communication tools referred to as polymedia. The empirical analysis suggests that teens assess the tools differently depending on if it is for interaction with parents or grandparents. This is also related to whether the mediated communication sessions are instrumentally or expressively skewed. (Nag et al., 2016)