YouthNet

Broadcasters are negatively stereotyping young people. They focus on extremes. They portray young people as unproductive, vacuous and materialistic…so says a report out this week, commissioned by the BBC.

The survey of viewers and industry experts found that 43% of 16-24 year olds said they are dissatisfied with how people in their age group are portrayed on television. But, look a bit further in to the findings and it also reveals that the young people surveyed acknowledged they wouldn’t ‘necessarily want to see more authentic coverage of people’s everyday lives as this could be boring to watch on television.’

So where do we go from here? Perhaps the answer lies in balance. Like any PR-person who has been on the receiving end of frequent requests for extreme case studies ‘we want to talk to a young person who drank to excess, had something terrible happen to them and now abstains’ or ‘a young person who got in to drugs and lost everything’, the challenge of weighing up inquisitive journalism with balanced representation can seem endless. No-one wants to hear about a young person who may have experimented with drugs, made sure they got trusted information and advice so they knew what they were doing and went on to have a perfectly normal life- what’s interesting about that?!  Problem is, while young people themselves didn’t feel influenced by the saturation of purely negative portrayals, older people in the survey clearly had opinions based on them:

Youngsters are impressionable, they see them performing on telly, what are they going to do when they get on the street? Perform…They [teenagers] perform exactly how they are on television. Now you could argue television is only emulating them but the reality is, they will copy whatever they see on telly.

Male, 72

Of course there can be benefits of highlighting stories on extreme end of reality, if this is balanced with the right support and information for others who may see/read/watch such stories and recognise their own need for help. At YouthNet, we work with young people to help share their stories, where the young person feels ready and supported to do so and where we genuinely feel there is a benefit to helping other young people in similar situations. We are often amazed at the tenacity and resilience of the people we talk to. These are positive faces of young people who have experienced extremes, sought help, and are an inspiration to others.

The challenge now is to share more positive stories about young people; with less extremes, more accomplishments and delivering equal impact.

Over the past week, there’s been a great deal of debate circulating the British media about internet addiction,  following a scientific report that ‘observed differences in the brains of people who obsessively use the internet being similar to those found in people who have substance addictions’ – so given the nature of the services we provide, these discussions have certainly provided some food for thought at YouthNet HQ.

Firstly, through our work with young people, especially on TheSite.org’s discussion boards where users can talk to each other anonymously, we see the different guises of addiction and the relationships affected by it – but despite the findings of the study, thus far, there remains no conclusive evidence that IAD (Internet addiction disorder) is an illness and both The American Psychiatric Association and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders have rejected to classify it as such.

Much of the discussion around internet addiction (IAD) was born from the apparent ‘excessive’ usage of our social media networks – checking Facebook and Twitter in the morning for instance has become as habitual as making the morning coffee…but is this merely a product of the increased accessibility of modern technology or can we go so far as calling it an ‘addiction?’

Social spaces have certainly revolutionised the way we communicate, and not just through the likes of Twitter and Facebook, but through the availability of online support services like TheSite.org, which provide young people with vital information and guidance.

Undoubtedly, the discussion around the classification of internet dependency (IAD) will continue and whilst there is certainly a case for discouraging ‘excessive use’ of the web and social media sites, especially amongst the younger generation – the internet has become an integral part of our lives, whether for work, socialising or studying…..a bad ‘habit’ or 21st century necessity?

For our charity, the priority is to focus on harnessing the web as a force for positive change and to continue to develop services that meet the needs of young people.

Being an online charity, we’re naturally interested in what’s going on out here on the internet and how that impacts young people’s use of computers. So when it was announced that IT lessons might be changing we wanted to get the opinions of our TheSite Leaders.

The idea that IT lessons aren’t necessarily as effective as they could be is not a new one. IT is a subject which is difficult to assess basic proficiency in, and even more difficult to tailor to individual students’ abilities, unlike Maths lessons for example.

Still, some of our Leaders were concerned that the proposed new format would focus on things that aren’t relevant to everyday computer use.

“I’m mixed on it because ICT taught us how to make websites, use spreadsheets and stuff too which are basic skills you will need later on; especially in the working environment today.”

“I’m not sure coding and the like is for everyone…“

“I thought that using stuff like excel and word was the most important stuff….“

“Not everyone is going to have to programme stuff, but the majority of people will have to do word processing etc“

“In school ICT is really easy but I also think some people who use to study with me found it really hard and also thought it was useless.”

A conception amongst many young people is that the current format of IT lessons makes them a bit of a “doss” – time spent doing nothing much.

Our Leaders thought a lot of this was down to differing abilities amongst students.

“They’re a doss if you get computers because the lessons have to cater for all levels”

A problem experienced by some of the Leaders seemed to be that some IT teachers aren’t really computer specialists and are simply teaching out of a book.

“I even had to help the teacher at times, and I’m not even that good with computers”

More concerning however seemed to be the lack of emphasis on online safety and security. It seemed that as far as IT lessons are concerned, the internet is seen as a tool to aid other aspects of IT, as opposed to something worth learning about in itself.

“I think using the internet for research is quite important, but I guess that’s hard to teach because it depends on the area of research. The principles should be similar though.“

“There should be something around online safety in them, but I suspect it’s hard to make engaging.  I reckon a lot of young people assume the internet is safe and they know how to use it.”

“They don’t really teach about internet security: all they told us about it was how to report stuff  - that was all”

“I think people need to be realistic, like not “don’t meet people online” but “if you’re going to meet people online, then make sure you do this, this and this” and its obviously not just meeting online people –  offline privacy is just as important, for instance: how to set your facebook profile to private”

It seems a change to the current way of teaching IT is welcomed, but perhaps the new approach could do with a bit more refinement. It’s obvious that young people use the internet every day for much more than research and emails. Just take a look at TheSite.org and its community to see proof.

Perhaps now is the time, especially with the advent of cloud computing solutions (i.e. google docs) to take IT lessons online a little more, and to encourage young people to use the web safely from a young age.

Beware. I’m about to tell you something which may make you feel very old…

This year marks the 30th – that’s right 30th – anniversary of the publication of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.

For those of you blessed with youth and therefore unable to remember, The Adrian Mole series was a publishing phenomenon in the 80s based on fictional diary entries of a teenage boy. The first book, and its sequel Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, sat at the top of the bestseller list for ages – its popularity caused by its cringingly accurate depiction of teen angst.

So what’s Adrian Mole got to do with TheSite.org? Obviously our 16–25 year-old users weren’t even embryos when the books were published. And surely in three decades of technological and social advances Adrian’s problems would now be considered outdated and irrelevant?

But, reading the books back, you realise how timeless young people’s problems are, and how poor Adrian could really have benefited from TheSite.org. Mole spends most of his time either worrying about the size of his penis or the fact he’s still a virgin. At school he is tortured with unrequited love for his crush Pandora, bullied by the local thug, and panicking about his O-level results. Meanwhile, his parents are divorcing amid huge economic crisis.

Doesn’t sound so outdated now, does it?

That’s the thing about being young. Some of the problems thrown up are enduring and universal. And whilst TheSite caters to the newer issues of young people (there’s nothing in Adrian Mole about ‘sexting’ after all), we know it’s just as important to address those good old-fashioned problems as well.

Although, if it was written today, it would probably be called The Not-So-Secret Blog of Adrian Mole.