1. Friendship
Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out:
Kids Living and Learning with New Media
Lauren Batherson!

2. “They go there to hang out.”
What is social media to teens? According to
the text being involved on social networking
sites is a critical part of being socially
connected. Losing access to social media
would be detrimental to their social world.

3. “Conversations and interactions that begin in
person do not end when friends are separated.”
“Online and offline are not separate worlds-
they are simply different settings in which to
gather with friends and peers. Conversations
may begin in one environment, but they move
seamlessly across media so long as the people
remain the same. Social media mirror, magnify
and extend everyday social worlds.”

4. “Social Media mirror and magnify
teen friendship practices. Positive
interactions are enhanced through
social media while negative
interactions are also intensified.”

5. Strengthen Connections
“Social media offer a platform for teens to take
friendships to a new level.”
Social media makes it easier for friends to stay in
touch and deepen their relationship.
As a teen I used Instant Messenger to talk with my
friends after school, these are people I am still best
friends with. I also currently use Facebook to stay in
touch with a friend who has moved out of state. It is
an easy way to see what they are doing and stay
connected.

6. Meeting New People
“Social media theoretically allow teens to
move beyond geographic restrictions and
connect with new people.”
Social media allows people to make new
friends that may share similar interests. The
chapter gives examples of gamers and LGBT’s.
They might not be able to make these friends in
school as their interests are not supported, but
they can make these connections through
social media.
In Ann’s story on page 93, social media allowed
her to meet her college roommate. They had
shared interests and planned out their dorm
room.

7. Hurt Feelings
Social sites can create tension and make people feel
excluded. Teens expressed their concerns that they might hurt
someone's feelings by declining their friend request on
Facebook. Or not putting them in your top eight on MySpace.
“Taking someone off your Top 8 is your new passive-aggressive
power play when someone pisses you off.”

8. The question is…

9. Bob knows best
Bob (from the text) on becoming Facebook friends:
“Sets up your relationship for the next time you meet
the m to have them be a bigger part of your life…
Suddenly they go from somebody you’ve met once
to somebody you met once but also connected
with in some weird Facebook way. And now that
you’ve connected you have to acknowledge each
other more in person sometimes.”
I have experienced this first hand. Someone with
mutual friends may friend request me and like a
bunch of my Facebook statuses. I then see them in
person and they act like they do not know me. Or
maybe they say hey and we’ve never met before.
It can create different types of situations and
interactions.

10. Unfriending people on these social sites is
touchy subject.
If it’s someone you are close to, it is seen to be
spiteful and intentionally designed to hurt the
other person.
If it’s a complete stranger it is not so hurtful.
Students interviewed cleaned up their
Facebook friends and narrowed their lists down
to people they only actually knew. Several
times I’ve done the same.

11. Drama
“Teens use social media to develop and
maintain friendships, but they also use them to
seek attention and generate drama.”
Teens blame technology for making gossip
easier.
“There is a greater potential for gossip to
spread much farther and at a faster pace,
making social media a catalyst in teen drama.”

12. Teens can also gain access to the content even
if they were not present for the situation, it is very
easy to “stalk” peers. At my age there is little
drama on social networking sites, but I have
younger cousins who complain to me about
such issues. People can be ruthless on these sites
and will blatantly bash others for the public to
see.

13. Social Media allows friends and peers to stay
connected with each other constantly. Teens value
this as it helps them build, maintain and develop
friendships. It can make them feel accepted
amongst certain groups. It is an outlet to express
yourself and meet people with similar interests. I
discussed some of the negatives but with
technologies rapid growth, belonging to at least
one (usually more) of these social sites seems
necessary.