Conference proceedings
Youth and digital media: a policy research agenda

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Abstract

At a time when researchers are still sorting out the complex relationship between adolescents and the mass media, the entire nature of the media system is undergoing dramatic change. The explosive growth of the Internet is ushering in a new digital media culture. Youth are embracing the new technologies much more rapidly than adults. In addition, because of their increased spending power, youth have become a valuable target market for advertisers. These trends have spurred the proliferation of Web sites and other forms of new-media content specifically designed for teens and children. The burgeoning digital marketplace has spawned a new generation of market research companies, and market research on children and youth is outpacing academic research on youth and the newer media. The emergence of this new media culture holds both promise and peril for youth. Whether the positive or negative vision of the digital future prevails will be determined, in large part, by decisions being made now and in the next few years in the halls of government and in corporate boardrooms. Research has contributed to the resolutions of several recent legislative and policy decisions in areas including television violence and the V-chip, children’s educational television programming, and privacy and marketing to children on the Web. Future research needs to be designed with the public policy agenda in mind. The academic community has much to contribute to the debates over new developments in the digital age.

Section snippets

The policy-research connection

Several recent legislative and regulatory decisions provide examples of how research can contribute to the adoption of media policies for children and youth. The 1996 legislation requiring V-chips in all new television sets relied heavily on the decades of scientific research on the effects of media violence on youth, and the Congressional testimony of hundreds of experts over the years (11). Research conducted by the National Television Violence Study outlining the contextual elements of media

Policy research for the digital age

Although research might not always have an immediate effect in Washington, it is clear that non–market-based studies have an important role to play, especially with the new media. A comprehensive policy agenda is needed, moreover, to promote the positive potential and minimize the harms of new digital media in the lives of youth. It is important to build in research from the beginning and adopt a long-term public-policy strategy. If scholars are to have an effect, they will need to keep abreast

Equitable access to technology

Ensuring that all youth have equitable access to the new digital technologies is a goal that should remain at the forefront of public discussion and debate. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 created a policy for lowering the costs of linking schools and libraries to the Internet (11). However, this is only a first step and a small part of a much broader issue. For example, are there different levels and kinds of access that need to be considered (e.g., home vs. school)? As technology becomes

Imagining the digital future

So much of the policy debate over youth and the Internet has revolved around issues of pornography and predatation, that public attention has been diverted away from other important areas 38, 39. Here I have identified only a handful of the many policy issues that should be included in a research agenda for youth. In addition to those, a wide range of other important topics need to be explored, including the role of new media in education, health care, and job preparation for youth. New issues,

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