Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media

by Mizuko Ito, Heather A. Horst (Contributor), Sonja Baumer (Contributor)

An examination of young people's everyday new media practices--including video-game playing, text-messaging, digital media production, and social media use. Conventional wisdom about young people's use of digital technology often equates generational identity with technology today's teens seem constantly plugged in to video games, social networking sites, and text messaging. Yet there is little actual research that investigates the intricate dynamics of youths' social and recreational use of digital media. Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out fills this gap, reporting on an ambitious three-year ethnographic investigation into how young people are living and learning with new media in varied settings--at home, in after-school programs, and in online spaces. Integrating twenty-three case studies--which include Harry Potter podcasting, video-game playing, music sharing, and online romantic breakups--in a unique collaborative authorship style, Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Ou t is distinctive for its combination of in-depth description of specific group dynamics with conceptual analysis.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Technology, Internet, Ethnography, Library Science, Social Media

419 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book inspired me with a number of ideas for invigorating my teaching - in fact I just woke up from a nap and wrote a bunch of them down I must have been dreaming about.

This is primarily ethnographic, descriptive research in which the authors set out to document how young people are using new media technologies, from gaming to Facebook and beyond. Authors are refreshingly neither utopian about the potential of tech to solve all the world's ills nor paranoid about its effects; indeed they point out that a)There is little to fear from "stalkers," strangers, and the like b)youth values generally mirror adults online and c)youth are actually pretty good at negotiating the various social norms and expectations on the Web without heavy-handed adult intervention.

The last chapter offers a number of ideas on how adults can more productively engage with young people in a learning environment. It helps to have some reinforcement of my instinct that teaching my students to use multimedia tools to become better journalists has to really start by finding ways to get them engaged in their passions with my help, rather than a very top-down, rule-driven style. Although we of course have specific learning objectives, especially given the relative inexperience most of our students have with new media tools or journalism, I think it's critical to build the passion FIRST, and then let it develop from there.

Thanks to Mindy McAdams for reccomending it.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one's a little outside my usual range-- essentially, a collection of papers drawn from the metaanalysis of another group of papers about the way teens use technology to mediate their social and work lives. Or something like that. I think the basic field here is education theory, with a dash of anthropology and sociology.

At any rate, it is a really striking exploration of how teens actually use technology, and looks at the phenomena from a variety of areas: relationships, family, work, creative fulfillment, etc. And it comes with it's own striking heuristic, expressed in the title: in essence, there are three levels of engagement with technology, and across different social and geographic groups, you can find commonalities based on what level of immersion the teens show.

It's a smart and witty book, and the deep quotes the writers bring shows they did a ton of listening and original research. It's got a lot to say, and really challenges me in terms of the way I use technology and the way I present myself in the classroom.

I did think the chapter on "Families" didn't fit as well with the others; it was interesting on its own, but spent a lot of time exploring access to technology, which seemed like an issue that wasn't quite germane to the topics of the rest of the book, which were focused on how those technologies are used. The two areas overlap, of course, but the chapter felt really limited in comparison to the others.

[Kiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains an extensive survey of research studying how kids incorporate "new media" into their daily lives -- to make friends, conduct relationships, play games, create, and learn. Published in 2009, it's starting to be a little dated in terms of the specific social media sites mentioned, but the observations are still fascinating. Perhaps most fascinating are the transcripts of conversations the researchers had with the kids/teens involved in the studies. It feels like a very intimate window into a very different world.

On the down side, this book is WORDY. The writing is roundabout and sometimes redundant and in many cases overly academic (unless you are an academic reading it, perhaps). I think the ideas are crisp and relevant and I would have liked to get a more concise summary. (We're in luck! Chapter 7 of A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change provides exactly that!) However, you then miss out on the case study specifics, and some of those are definitely worth browsing.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so interesting and a particularly great read for anyone who works with teens. I loved the case studies, and even when the book was a bit dry it still presented really wonderful information. Definitely worth a look.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting collection of portraits of youth online. The best part for me was the voices of the kids describing their online lives.

[CTEP]

In April, I read "Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project" by Mizuko Ito, et al. I found this book while browsing Amazon's free books for the Kindle for PC. I decided to give it a try since it seemed relevant to my work with youth media and the fact that it was free didn't hurt either. Not only is the study relevant to the youth I work with, I also fall into the same categories that the authors present as a young adult who is continually involved in what the authors describe as the "new media ecology". While I remember not using the internet at a young age, by the time I was ten years-old and we moved overseas, the internet became an important tool in maintaining relationships with friends mainly through instant messaging. Now with social networking sites such as Facebook, I have been able to reconnect with the friends that I made while living overseas. I think that as the internet and new media continue to thrive as integral parts of our society, studies such as "Living and Learning with New Media" should be given more consideration.

The book is a three year ethnographic study which examines youth's (ranging from about 8 to 20 year olds) participation in the new media ecology "where digital and networked media play an increasingly central role." Twenty different smaller studies contributed to the making of this larger study, with topics covering "homes and families," "learning institutions," "networked sites," and "interest-based communities." The subjects come from urban, suburban, and rural upbringings, as well as a variety of ethnic, class, economic, racial, and gender backgrounds. The authors use three genres throughout the book to define the "differing levels of commitment and intensity in new media practices." These genres are: "hanging out" which refers to the time spent between friends on social networking sites, activities such as sharing photos and music online, and communicating through technology such as instant messaging and text messaging; "messing around" which includes activities such as browsing the internet, playing with different technological devices, and begin developing relationships with others based on similar interests; "geeking out" refers to a more intense level of participation within new media, where the participants develop "specialized knowledge" regarding their interests. Many of the stories throughout the book remind me of the youth I work with, especially the parts describing the interactions between youth in after-school media centers. About half of the youth in my program get to our media lab around a half hour early and they quickly go to Facebook and Youtube while telling me about their day. The use of new media is a main component of the way the youth express themselves - whether it's showing me their friends on Facebook, their latest favorite music video on Youtube, or posting pictures they take during our programming to share with their friends. I'd recommend this study to anyone interested in new media or who works with youth that are constantly involved in the new media ecology.

[Kieraanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book about the different ways in which teens interact with each other and also new media. Although the media aspects are now very dated (Hello MySpace), it was still very insightful in terms of future programing ideas for Youth Services Librarians to serve the needs of their community.

[szymborskalyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ethnography of digital life.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A MacArthur Foundation funded project that MIT Press published translates into a serious read and trusted authority about how teenagers interact today with technology. It focuses on three spheres of interaction; social, media, and technical. Each sphere is important to teens and it provides extensive ethnographic evidence of what that looks like. It goes into detail describing how life for teens has changed and where the technology provides merely the illusion of change. What came across was the wildly creative and rich technology interests teens have. Scrutiny of parents' fears as viewed through the lens of rational study seemed to make my cohorts actions absurd, over the top and dare I say revealed how out of touch we are.

[Jane Hammons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book--different sections of it written by different "lead" writers and teams of writers--is really valuable if you want to understand the many ways young people use new media. Most of the case studies are written about young people and sometimes their families in California. And many of the researchers are from UC Berkeley. The writing is clear, vivid, and easy to read while also treating each topic (media ecologies, intimacies, families, etc.) with plenty of depth using both secondary and primary resources. The case studies are great and models of how to write this particular genre. It's about more than facebook! And it also explores questions about class, religious background, and level of education and how that affects access and facility with new media.

[Juli Case · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and informative study of the ways that contemporary youth and teenagers are using new media. Drawing from case studies and extensive research, this book describes the various ways that these technologies have impacted youth interactions with friends and family and broadened the potential for youth connection and creative output.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you know absolutely nothing about the productive ways young people interact with media, read this book and forgive the out-of-date references.

If you know something about the productive ways young people interact with media, you probably won't learn anything new. (I'm in this group.)

[Christine Gaffney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The technology is this book is outdated. I felt like I was reliving my twenties through reading this book. Obviously it took a lot of work to create this book so it will surely be required reading forever. Hooray!

[Christy]

Very dense and research report-like. I need more practical.

[Elizabeth Jewitt]

Finding this a brilliant read and really interesting covering a whole range of subject matter

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great ethnographic study of how children use these far-fangled new gadgets these days.

[Kevin Hodgson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used Goodreads here to do periodic check-ins on my reactions and reviews of what I am reading. (see my comments and updates for those ideas)

[Wesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely academic and doesn't seem too real world oriented. Case studies are very interesting.

[Metaelizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a lot more academic than I expected, but it was quite interesting.

[Gary Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book that shows how much the life of a teenager has changed compared to that of the modern adult. Many good testimonials and studies on gaming and online interactions.

[Shayna Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems like a good book for new staff working with youth, but I didn't feel like it was informative enough for librarians and people who work with youth for a long time and probably know all of this.

[Alekz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only read one chapter.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for 5960.12 class

A good look into the sociological, and somewhat psychological, reasoning of how the internet impacted teens and how teens impacted the internet. While the studies comprised within HOMAGO were done between 2004-2008, many aspects are still relevant today. New media has greatly impacted the way we communicate, learn, flirt, work, and live our day-to-day lives. HOMAGO is slightly outdated with all of the attention to MySpace and other obsolete web spaces, but the pedagagy is still the same.