This document discusses the evolution of teen dating rituals and their transition to online spaces. While courtship norms are less formal than in the past, teens still seek public recognition as couples, independence from parents, and the ability to define their relationships. Social media allows teens to publicly construct their image as a couple through posts, photos, and comments. It also satisfies their need for community in an increasingly fragmented society. However, online intimacy can lead to issues like frequent contact expectations, public conflicts, and emotional abuse through monitoring exes. Overall, teen dating practices now shape standards for the next generation and influence societal relations more broadly.

1. Kaitlyn Creney

2.  “While courtship norms and practices are
less formal and more varied than they
were in the early and mid-twentieth
century, our research on teens’ new
media use shows that the rituals are no
less elaborate or important than those of
their historical counterparts” (118).
 Basically a framework has been in place
for generations and those same standards
or dating wants/needs are not only
relevant act as the same guiding force.

3.  Era of the Industrial Revolution sparked
the rituals that last today.
 The development, and recognition, of
the life stage of adolescence also
created explicit dating norms.
 In the 1950s the contemporary teen
dating culture had been established.
Influenced by: working-class “calling,”
involvement in public schools, school
dances, and the independence
allowed by the car.

4.  Use of symbols to construct their unified
and external image as a couple
(exchange of class rings etc.)
 Want public recognition from their peers
 Want independence from parents
 Want to be able to label the relationship
as they see fit (shift from courtship to
hanging out with someone)

6.  Social media sites provide the communal
aspect that is missing in today’s
fragmented society.
 Here the external construction of a
couple takes place. The development of
an image comes from status updates,
pictures, and posts.
 This perpetuates the need for public
recognition which is satisfied by the
number of likes or comments.

7.  Technology supersedes time and space.
 Parents are almost excluded from the social
media sphere.
 There is a generational divide in tech.
literacy that prohibits them from monitoring
teen’s interactions.
 Passwords as an advancement for teen
privacy.

8.  These environments allow the individual
to have more control over their actions
and emotions.
 Both careful construction and analysis
goes into a message. Diction is a sign of
teen’s activeness.
 Saving face based techniques and
technology.

9.  Selective sociality- teens are making
choices about who to communicate with
and allow to be affiliated with.
 The Internet allows someone to do their
research on who they are interested in.
 Trivial information, such as similar tastes in
film, is what guides the idea that a match
would be compatible.
 Mutual friends are a great unifier in the
linking process.

10.  How are you going to be seen as an
individual and as part of a couple?
 Choices in digital
symbolism.
 Boundaries: What
is private? What is
public?

11.  Must meet or have an interaction with someone
offline before initiating contact online.
 Loose online connection can provide the perfect
context for flirting or feeling the other person out.
Only considered a relationship when moved offline.
 Sharing of password(s) and granting access to
online sphere is a monumental indicator of trust.
 Breaking up via online is disrespectful and harmful.

12.  Allows marginalized teens to meet others like
themselves.
 Is flexible to our continually connected nature.
 Ability to surpass geographical or institutional
constraints (different states, schools, parental
issues etc.)
 Allows more control over external appearance,
reduction in anxiety.

13.  “Leash” factor. Intimacy in an online
context carries the burden of frequent
contact and updates.
 Conflict arises more frequently and
publically.
 Highly efficient stalkers, indirect control of a
an ex. When monitoring or posting leads to
emotional control or abuse.

14.  Contemporary teen intimacy practices need
to be analyzed as they shape the
dating/intimacy standards for the next
generation.
 They also have an effect on overall societal
relations.
 “The new possibilities of self-expression
available online, characterized by more casual
and personal forms of public communication,
complicate our existing norms about the
boundaries between the public and the
private” (147).

15. Kaitlyn Creney