Young people’s diaries are shared openly with the whole world through online blogging. Kids write about their thoughts regarding death, Christmas parties, sun beds and life as a teenage mother.

by Sigrun Landro Thomassen

“We have to talk with young people about what’s okay to share,” says Oystein Samnoen in Kids and Media.

Blogging is increasingly popular, and there are no limits to what people write about. Teenagers write some of the most influential blogs online. In USA the 13-year old Tavi Williams, a self-confessed “dork”, became an influential player in the fashion world after her blog Style Rookie was featured in the New York Times last year. A 16-year old girl writes one of the most visited blogs in Norway. She talks of life as a teenage mother.

An excerpt of their identity
The blog reality has also become a topic of research for a Norwegian Masters Degree. Media expert Karoline Tomte has written her master on “Blog reality as a learned self-representation” where she demonstrates that bloggers rarely present an authentic image of their identity.

“They only show an excerpt of themselves”, says Tomte.

“It becomes a learned self-representation where the blogger learns about themselves by documenting for example thoughts, feelings and taste. But the blogger also learns to relate to an audience, and in this meeting authenticity is edited and filtered. In spite of the bloggers’ intention to present a complete identity, the public image isn’t always in accordance with the private identity,” writes Tomte.

The norm in the future
Jill M. Walker Rettberg is an assistant professor at the University of Bergen and performs research on social media. She thinks the norm in the future will be to live your life online.

“If more and more people openly share intimate parts of their lives in social media, people will start wondering if there are any embarrassing drunken pictures of you online,” says Rettberg.

Difficult to delete
Rettberg thinks young bloggers develop their identity parallel to their blogging.
“Youth is the formative years where everything is about finding out who you are. Now this process happens in writing and through pictures online”, thinks Rettberg.

Young people should be aware that others read this, Rettberg thinks.
“You can try to delete your blog, but it’s likely that it won’t disappear completely. I have seen blogs where 13-year olds write under a full name and address. This is not a good idea. Future employers, boyfriends/girlfriends or children will read it.

Open diaries online
Oystein Samnoen, Director of Kids and Media confirms the trend.
“Children and young people increasingly use digital media as arenas for their social lives. To keep a diary is not a new thing, it’s been done for many generations. What’s new is that diaries are available for the whole world to read through online blogging,” says Samnoen.

Commercial players are also present.
“Another thing we see is that commercial forces increasingly use bloggers to promote their products, especially bloggers with many readers,” says Samnoen.

What’s okay to share?
“Parents need to speak with their children about safe social media use, and make them conscious about what they say and do. What information about yourself and others is okay to publish? What pictures and video clips are okay to share? What do you do if you’re being bullied or have bad experiences? It’s important that children and young people understand that teenage pictures and teenage thoughts don’t disappear from the Internet when their teenage years are over,” says Samnoen.

Source:

Aftenposten (Norwegian newspaper)

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