Response to “it’s complicated”

Danah Boyd’s book “it’s complicated” discusses the current conditions of modern social networking and the resulting implications that the implementation of technology has on teens.  This book was written so that teenagers, parents, teachers, or anybody that interacts with teenagers and social media on a regular basis would have insight and further knowledge as to what they actually see on social media as opposed to what it looks like on the surface.  The main idea that Boyd was trying to express in writing this piece was that prejudice still exists even with the implementation of social media.  The “techno-utopians” as he calls them, were wrong about technology being able to completely eradicate prejudice.  Many had believed that the internet and anonymity would make racism, sexism, and prejudice a thing of the past because these things would not be viewable online.  However, people still brought their same networks with them online and true anonymity proved to be very difficult to find.  Teens wanted to maintain the same social standing they had worked for in person when they went online, so as a result this same system transitioned onto the online world.  The internet ended up being just as segregated as the real world except magnified due to the fact that it exists publicly for all to see.  In writing this Boyd was hoping to make the reader aware of both the presence of prejudice that still exists in the world contrary to what some may claim.

I thought this piece was very good as it was a very accurate portrayal of the social media world that I have grown accustomed to and took into account what other actual teens were experiencing as opposed to simply trying to understand what was happening without actually asking the people using it.  What I enjoyed in this reading was seeing how every teen didn’t believe that they were prejudiced personally and then when they looked at the details of their social media lives they were actually interacting almost exclusively with peers that were members of similar socioeconomic status.  I find this interesting because I immediately thought of myself and went to examine my own social media accounts to determine if I had a similar subconscious discrimination.  What I found was that I was closer to the exception than the rule.  I played football in high school, a sport that was predominantly considered a “black sport” considering that I was one of 6 white kids on the team.  As a result of this I interact with members of other socioeconomic classes more than some of my other peers.  However, it was still noticeable that I did in fact interact with other white males more than any other group of people.  So, while I still somewhat interact with members of other classes I have mainly interacted with members of a similar class.

The major question that I am left with at the conclusion of this article is, with the tremendous potential that social media has for the eradication of prejudice what can we as teens who primarily inhabit this medium due to assist the process?