Framing Narratives of Social Media, Risk and Youth Transitions: Government of ‘Not Yet’ Citizens of Technologically Advanced Nations

Abstract

The proliferation of technologies in democracies of the Global North in the last century has often given rise to concerns related to the mediatisation of young people's lives. Recent decades have seen an explosion in the use of social media, social network sites and informational communication technologies among young people, which have in turn generated new sets of concerns relating to their proper use, and the potential consequences that might arise through their improper use. This article canvasses the works of four intellectuals -Baroness Susan Greenfield, Sherry Turkle, Jim Steyer and Raffi Cavoukian -all of whom have recently released books alerting parents to the potential for these technologies to harm their children in the present or the future. It is argued that these contribute to 'life after social networking' and 'moral panic' discourses that are linked to processes of subjectification and offer new sites for political and economic government in neoliberal countries of the Global North.

(Miss)Representing Feminism in the Media

“…It is important at this point to consider that there exist a considerable number of studies that focus on the relation between feminist movements and social media, namely those that focus on how the media represents feminism (Gill, 2007;Mendes, 2012Mendes, , 2015Thornham, 2007;Vavrus, 2002). It is also possible to find studies that explore the way new movements are articulated through mainstream media and its relation to individual articulations on the part of feminists (Flores et al, 2020;Jackson, 2018;Kingston Mann, 2014;Owen, 2014;Sola-Morales & Carvajal, 2021;Willem & Tortajada, 2021). There also exist very relevant and contemporary studies on the silencing or veneer representation of violence against women (Easteal, Holland & Judd, 2015) or their outright delegitimization or vilification (Cabezas, 2022).…”

Citizens by waiting: Timorese young adults between state politics and customary authority

“…Other examples are 'learner citizens ', 'semicitizens' or 'citizens-in-the-making' (McDonald et al 2014). Thus, young citizens are presented as 'at risk' and in need of adult guidance towards the right citizenship (Owen 2014; see also Kennelly 2011b). It should be noted however that this incompleteness discourse is mostly used to refer to citizens who have not yet reached the age in which they can participate in the formal channels of democratic participation such as voting or running for office.…”