Cracking Facebook / Youth, Media, & Culture Series (PDF)

This
book presents a Facebook study on members of the Cusp Generation, or those
born before the "great digital divide" of 1995. This delineation allows for a
discussion on the possible socio-cultural implications of Facebook use for
people of all ages. Members of the Cusp Generation are in a unique position
as "part digital natives" to easily acquire and use new media technologies,
while being more critically aware of the personal, social, and cultural
effects that may arise from them thanks to having some memory of the
pre-digital era. Drawing on identity theories rooted in critical theory and
cultural studies, the author shows that there are potential constrictions on
people's agency in their Facebook use caused by consumer discourse,
Facebook's hyperreal nature and structure, psychological predispositions, and
the potential for avatar attachment. In raising concerns over the impacts of
technology-based communication, this book explores how the medium of Facebook
extends and exacerbates processes of offline social reproduction and
discusses how the positive social and political aspects of Facebook can be
enhanced. The findings contribute to academic discussions in the fields of
cultural studies and Education and can be applied to the development of
critical media literacy for curriculum and pedagogy.