Electronic nomads? Implications of trends in adolescents' use of communication and information technology

Abstract

Adolescents' increased use of electronic over print-based information technologies is radically accelerated today by the rapid development and convergence of interactive technologies. Enhanced interactivity via communication technologies or personalised (wearable) information technologies effectively releases adolescents from the need to consume institutionally controlled "broadcast" technologies such as the textbook or the educational video. Adolescents are able to become nomadic in the way they can traverse culture, time and space, hitherto impossible within institutional boundaries. This paper reports adolescents' use of information technology at home, in a study of three groups of year eight students, in three private schools. The patterns of information technology consumption revealed are compared with findings published in Metro in 1990. The study extrapolates from the trend emerging from this comparison to argue that the high levels of personalisation, mobility and global reach associated with adolescents use of communications and information technologies constitute a paradigm shift which will increasingly characterise popular culture and educational practices.