It's Complicated, The Social Lives of Network Teens, Response II

“As teens move through different social environments—and interact with different groups of friends, interest groups, and classmates—they maneuver between different contexts that they have collectively built and constructed” (Boyd 41).

As I read these words it struck me that standard class policies about cellphone use are as antiquated as the standard lecture format. I wonder what would happen if, rather than trying to situate the class outside of social networks, we intentionally situated the classroom in that matrix of social networks. The naïve idea that the classroom can exist in a space prior to technologies that spawned the term social networks is as unworkable as all utopian ideals. If we are looking for ways to encourage student interaction, why do we seek to limit that interaction? (In another post, I suggested we distrust technology because it takes control out of our hands. But, that control was always illusionary in the first place.)

Ah, but how to create that space. That's the rub. 

Boyd, Danah. It's Complicated, The Social Lives of Network Teens. 2014: New Haven CT, Yale UP.