Teen Girls’ Online Practices with Peers and Close Friends: Implications for Cybersafety Policy

  • Roberta Thompson Griffith University

Abstract

Young people’s online safety continues to be a high priority for educators and parents. Cybersafety policies and educational programs are continually updated and revised to accommodate for the innovative ways they engage with digital culture. However, empirical research has shown that despite these efforts young people, especially teen girls, continue to experience online problems. To date gender-specific guidelines for cybersafety practice remain in their infancy. This paper provides new evidence suggesting that teen girls’ online practices with peers and close friends have important implications for cybersafety policy. Drawing on survey data and group interview responses from girls 13 years of age, the article discusses how the girls managed and negotiated their daily experiences with peers and close friends in online contexts. The girls’ online practices are offered for consideration in cybersafety policy development and curriculum planning.

Author Biography

Roberta Thompson, Griffith University
School of Education and Professional StudiesSenior Research Assistant/Research Fellow

References

Albury, K., Crawford, K., Byron, P., & Mathews, B. (2013). Young people and sexting in Australia: Ethics, representation and the law. Retrieved from http://jmrc.arts.unsw.edu.au/media/File/Young_People_And_Sexting_Final.pdf

Australian Communications & Media Authority [ACMA]. (n.d.). Cybersmart. Retrieved from www.cybersmart.gov.au

Australian Communications and Media Authority [ACMA]. (2008). Media use by girls and boys, Report No. 2. Media and Communication in Australian Families Series. Retrieved from www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib310665/no2_media_use_by_girls_and_boys.pdf

Bain, J. D., Mills, C., Ballantyne, R., & Packer, J. (2002). Developing reflection on practice through journal writing: Impacts of variations in the focus and level of feedback. Teachers and Teaching, 8(2), 171-196. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540600220127368

Barter, C., & Renold, E. (2000). 'I wanna tell you a story': Exploring the application of vignettes in qualitative research with children and young people. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 3(4), 307-323. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13645570050178594

Bullying Zero Australia Foundation (2016). Cyber bullying. Retrieved from http://bzaf.org.au/cyber-bullying

Commonwealth of Australia. (2011). High-wire act: Cyber-safety and the young. Canberra, Australia: Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety. Retrieved from http://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees?url=jscc/report.htm.

Common Sense Media. (2012). Social media, social life: How teens view their digital lives. Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/social-media-social-life-how-teens-view-their-digital-lives

Cross, D., Shaw, T., Hearn, L., Epstein, M., Monks, H., Lester, L., & Thomas, L. (2009). Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study [ACBPS]. Perth, WA, Australia: Child Health Promotion Research Centre, Edith Cowan University.

Caldwell, M. A., & Peplau, L. A. (1982). Sex differences in same-sex friendship. Sex Roles, 8(7), 721-732. Retrieved from http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/712/art%253A10.1007%252FBF00287568.pdf?auth66=1389333752_d93adce9d5ecd0f681a423ebc7388b7b&ext=.pdf

Hazel, N. (1995). Elicitation techniques with young people. Social Research Update, Winter(12), 1-7.

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. (2009). Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Jenkins, N., Bloor, M., Fischer, J., Berney, L., & Neale, J. (2010). Putting it in context: The use of vignettes in qualitative interviewing. Qualitative Research, 10(2), 175-198. Retrieved from http://qrj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/2/175

Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Smith, A., Purcell, K., Zickuhr, K., & Rainie, L. (2011). Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites: How American teens navigate the new world of "digital citizenship". Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Teens-and-social-media.aspx

Lenhart, A., Duggan, M., Perrin, A., Stepler, R., Rainie, L., & Parker, K. (2015). Teen, social media and technology overview. Pew Research Centre. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/04/PI_TeensandTech_Update2015_0409151.pdf

Livingstone, S., & Haddon, L. (2009). EU Kids Online: Final report. Retrieved from http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/eukidsonline/eu%20kids%20i%20%282006-9%29/eu%20kids%20online%20i%20reports/eukidsonlinefinalreport.pdf

Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Gorzig, A., & Olafsson, K. (2011). Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children. Full findings. Retrieved from http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20II%20%282009-11%29/EUKidsOnlineIIReports/D4FullFindings.pdf

Marwick, A. E. (2012). The public domain: Surveillance in everyday life. Surveillance & Society, 9(4), 378-393. Retrieved from http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/pub_dom/pub_dom

Marwick, A. E., & boyd, d. m. (2011). The drama! Teen conflict, gossip, and bullying in networked publics. Paper presented at the A Decade in Internet Time conference, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Marwick, A., & boyd, d. m. (2014). Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media. New Media & Society, 16(7), 1051-1067.

McAfee. (2010). The secret online lives of teens. Retrieved from http://promos.mcafee.com/en-US/PDF/lives_of_teens.pdf

Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner (2016). eSafety information. Retrieved from https://www.esafety.gov.au

Punch, S. (2002). Interviewing strategies with young people: The "secret box", stimulus material and task-based activities. Children & Society, 16, 45-56. doi: 10.1002/chi.685

Ringrose, J., Gill, R., Livingstone, S., & Harvey, L. (2012). A qualitative study of children, young people and 'sexting': A report prepared for the NSPCC. Retrieved from http://www.torbay.gov.uk/SM/digg_com/sextingresearchreport.pdf

Ringrose, J., Harvey, L., Gill, R., & Livingstone, S. (2013). Teen girls, sexual double standards and 'sexting': Gendered value in digital image exchange. Academia.edu. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/3581896/Ringrose_J._Harvey_L_Gill_R._and_Livingstone_S._2013_Teen_girls_sexual_double_standards_and_sexting_Gendered_value_in_digital_image_exchange_Feminist_Theory

Ringrose, J., & Harvey, L. (2015). Boobs, back-off, six packs and bits: Mediated body parts, gendered rewards, and sexual shame in teens' sexting images. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 29(2), 205-217. doi: 10.1080/10304312.2015.1022952

Saldana, J. (2009). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Singh, P., Thomas, S., & Harris, J. (2013). Recontextualising policy discourses: A bernsteinian perspective on policy interpretation, translation, enactment. Journal of Education Policy, 28(4), 465-480. doi: 10.1080/02680939.2013.770554

Sourander, A., Klomeck, A. B., Ikonen, M., Lindroos, J., Luntamo, T., Koskelainen, M., . . . Helenius, H. (2010). Psychosocial risk factors associated with cyberbullying among adolescents: A population-based study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(7), 720-728. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.79

Published
2016-12-08
How to Cite
Thompson, R. (2016). Teen Girls’ Online Practices with Peers and Close Friends: Implications for Cybersafety Policy. Australian Educational Computing, 31(2). Retrieved from http://journal.acce.edu.au/index.php/AEC/article/view/118
Section
Research Articles (Refereed/Reviewed)