'Be [Net] Alert, but not Alarmed'? Regulating the Parents of Generation MSN, Jane Long

Hey guys,

I'm just going to give a summary of some of the main points in Jane Long's article and some questions that I think we can consider in this weeks tute.

An environment of fear has arisen surrounding the Internet and in particular the use of the Internet by children and teenagers – or ‘Generation MSN’. This article suggests that the advice network, so to speak, which encompasses government advice, media advice and net safety site advice, serves to regulate more than just teenagers. So I want to start with Long’s final question:

 Who is actually being policed? Parents? Teenagers? Mothers? Girls? All of the above? To what end? Are we creating a generation of hyper-vigilant adults?
 Is this fear of the Internet justified?

More broadly, I want to consider the assumptions made in the advice network.
 What assumptions are being made about teenagers? Are these realistic?

According to Long, there are three keys elements of advice for parents: educate, monitor and impose limits on time and location.
 What makes ‘good’ parents as opposed to ‘bad’ parents? Consider the Pennington case.

Long suggests that ‘monitoring mums may be congratulated for diminishing risk in some ways, but perhaps they risk maiming positive and creative aspects of teenage cultures in the process’.
 At the time in their lives when teenagers are often demanding more respect and trust and privacy, does this increased level of surveillance have adverse affects? Does it make a difference? Can teenagers exercise their agency within this? Is there a middle ground?

Long discusses a number of surveys which show, interestingly, that adult men and teenagers are more likely to consider themselves ‘as in-house net ‘gurus’’, yet mothers as a group spend the most amount of time on the net and directly supervising their children’s Internet usage.
 Is there potential for the disruption of patriarchal authority? Does the role of the mother as ‘supportive educator’ merely reinforce patriarchy in the home? What about the role of the tech-savvy teen?
 Long argues that femininity and technology continue to be represented as a ‘risky and transgressive combination’, do you think that this is still the case?

Another important issue raised by Long is the confusing messages sent to teenage girls regarding their bodies and their sexuality. On one hand, teenage girls are bombarded with images of sexual young women in the media, magazines, music videos and advertising. On the other hand, parents are warned that ‘your [teenage] daughter now makes a sexual statement every time she walks into a room that contains other people’ (Pegine Echevarria), and as a result, the activities of teenage girls online are more strictly supervised than ever before.
 Is this increase in surveillance of teenage girls online just a modern version of the same old regulation that women have faced regarding self-expression and expression of sexuality? Has there been a change?

Just a few points to consider, i'll see you all in class on Wednesday!