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

Bonnie Nardi nardi at ics.uci.edu
Mon Jan 22 07:28:44 PST 2007


There's a very interesting book on suicide, November of the Soul, by  
George Howe Colt (1991, updated 2006). The suicide rate has actually  
dropped slightly recently although there was a significant increase  
between the 1950s and the last couple decades. However, much of the  
increase is almost sure to be artifacts of reporting.

Anyway, very thoughtful book and a lot of material on teen suicide.

--


Bonnie

On Jan 21, 2007, at 9:35 AM, Barry Wellman wrote:

> My sense is that I was hypothesizing about the broad middle while  
> danah is
> talking atypical cases. So both of us are right. Suicidal (or attempted
> suicidal) teens were big in my generation too. Hmn, should Romeo and
> Juliet have gone to couples therapy?
>
>  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
>  _____________________________________________________________________
>
>
> On Sun, 21 Jan 2007, Paul DiPerna wrote:
>
>> Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:20:50 -0700
>> From: Paul DiPerna <pdiperna at blauexchange.org>
>> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>> Cc: aoir.z3z at danah.org, wellman at chass.utoronto.ca
>> Subject: RE: [Air-l] where did you go, out; what did you do, nothing
>>
>>
>> This thread is interesting..
>>
>> I admit not being very familiar with studies on teen behavior.  But a
>> few years ago I came across the following research, which offer
>> interesting surveys of teens:
>>
>> Barbara Schneider and David Stevenson. (2000)  The Ambitious  
>> Generation.
>>
>>   *Observes teens in the 50s and early 90s.
>>
>> Laurence Steinberg. (1997)  Beyond the Classroom.
>>
>>   *Observes teens in the mid-to-late 80s.
>>
>> Conclusions in their research may not be as relevant when talking  
>> about
>> Millennials and how they interact with their parents today, however..
>> I can't remember how the surveys address child-parent interactions..
>>
>> This question is for anyone on our list.. maybe to add more context  
>> for
>> the thread --
>>
>>
>> What are some recent/high-quality empirical studies addressing teen
>> behavior?
>>
>>
>> How can these kinds of studies inform us about how current teens may  
>> use
>> the Web?
>>
>>
>>
>> - Paul
>>
>>
>>
>> --------------
>> Paul DiPerna
>> Blau Exchange
>> http://www.blauexchange.org
>> email: pdiperna at blauexchange.org
>> Online ID: http://claimid.com/pdiperna
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: Re: [Air-l] where did you go, out; what did you do, nothing
>> From: danah boyd <aoir.z3z at danah.org>
>> Date: Sun, January 21, 2007 4:49 am
>> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>> Cc: aoir list <air-l at aoir.org>
>>
>> What do you mean by terrify their parents?  What are you referencing
>> when you say that most teens engage in this behavior?
>>
>> I'm definitely seeing most American teens doing anything to avoid
>> scrutiny but that doesn't mean that their choices don't terrify their
>> parents.  Amongst the more protective parents, _anything_ their teen
>> does that is about social status management terrifies the parents.
>> This creates a pretty bad cycle of deception and attempts to hide
>> what's going on, much of which is "normal" teen behavior.  One thing
>> that is definitely at play is that there's a LOT more surveillance
>> going on.  Your teen-parent dialogue has been pretty much obliterated
>> because parents aren't allowing their teens out without a
>> justification... no justification, no going out.  Plus, the phone is
>> there as a constant leash.
>>
>> I am, sadly, finding that some teens engage in some pretty heart-
>> wrenching activities to gain the attention of parents whose focus is
>> elsewhere.  This appears to cross SES.  In particular, i've seen self-
>> harm (primarily cutting) used for this purpose.  Anything to make
>> their parents pay attention to them...  These stories kill me.
>>
>> I've also seen plenty of teens who are genuinely angry at their
>> parents (much of this seems to stem from divorce or violence between
>> the parents); their reaction to this can be self-destruction.  I
>> suspect that the reason for this is that the parents actually come
>> together over the kid so when the kid is in crisis.. this motivates
>> some teens to be in crisis.
>>
>> danah
>>
>>
>> On Jan 20, 2007, at 1:27 PM, Barry Wellman wrote:
>>
>>> I am puzzled by the notion that most teens will do things to
>>> terrify their
>>> parents. Are there data on that? Or is it just autobiographical
>>> projection?
>>>
>>> Speaking autobiographically, and from a distance of 50 years, I
>>> suggest
>>> that most teens will try to avoid their parents' scrutiny.
>>> Terrifying them
>>> would only bring more scrutiny.
>>>
>>> "Where did you go?
>>> "Out.
>>> "What did you do?
>>> "Nothing."
>>>
>>> is the title, of a book about teen-parents relationships. By Robert
>>> Paul
>>> Smith.
>>> Published in 1959, which suggests that it was a general phenomenon
>>> then
>>> for my generation. And still in print, according to Amazon, which
>>> suggests
>>> some longterm relevance.
>>>
>>>  Barry Wellman, with fond memories for the Fordham Flames.
>>>   
>>> _____________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>   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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>>
>> - - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - -
>> "taken out of context i must seem so strange"
>>
>> musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
> _______________________________________________
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Bonnie A. Nardi
School of Information and Computer Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3440
(949) 824-6534
www.artifex.org/~bonnie/




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