[Air-l] where did you go, out; what did you do, nothing (fwd)

[Barry Wellman]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:59:52 -0500
From: Barry Wellman <wellman at chass.utoronto.ca>
To: danah boyd <aoir.z3z at danah.org>
Cc: Paul DiPerna <pdiperna at blauexchange.org>, air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-l] where did you go, out; what did you do, nothing

1. I still maintain the cup half-full and half-empty position as a working
hypothesis. While not being a quant chauvanist, I would like to know the
%age of American teens and of their parent/s who are seriously stressed --
more than the typical teen stress of the past.

2. If this %age is large or small, danah's point makes sense: the Internet
creates a visible venue for teens to exhibit such stress and find others
to engage in dysfuncitonal activity. My generation just joined gangs: see
The Wanderers (or read the book).

3. There are some stats that back danah's position that there structural
conditions for teen dysfunctionality are greater than before. Rutgers
sociologist was on CBC this AM maintaining that single parenting is up in
a generation from 17% to 35% (it was pre-coffee: all summaries a bit
vague). And certainly dual jobs are up compared to the 20th century, but
not compared to the 3rd world or the agrarian 19th century.

Everything old is new again!
 Barry Wellman
 _____________________________________________________________________

  Barry Wellman   S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology   NetLab Director
  Centre for Urban & Community Studies          University of Toronto
  455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8    fax:+1-416-978-7162
  wellman at chass.utoronto.ca  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
        for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
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