To be Young, Digital, and Black
Filed by Josh Karp at 9:05 am on March 4, 2010 in Games, Identity, Digital Divide, Mobile, Social Media • Leave a comment
As the digital divide closes, thanks in no small part to mobile media, the question is no longer who’s using digital media, but how. Are African American youth engaging with digital in dynamic ways that will help them develop useful skills and greater capabilities?
It wasn’t that long ago that talk of “digital divide” dominated the news—referring to the notable gap between those who had computers and web access in their homes (typically white and Asian youth) and those who did not (black and Latino youth).
“There was a narrative that evolved around the digital divide,” says S. Craig Watkins, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Texas at Austin and author of “The Young and the Digital: What Migration to Social Network Sites, Games and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for our Future.” “There were the tech rich and the tech poor.”
Soon there was a push to close that gap. The Clinton administration pushed to wire and upgrade technology at lower-income schools in both urban and rural communities. Activists became involved, which resulted in the creation of learning centers and other access points. Libraries were built out and equipped with greater technological capabilities—all with the goal of putting the necessary hardware within reach for those least likely to get online at home.
Today, Watkins says, access is no longer the central issue.
“The access gap hasn’t been solved entirely, but a significant portion of it has been addressed,” Watkins said in an interview. “It’s not about those without technology, but increasingly what scholars like Henry Jenkins and others call the ‘participation gap.’”
Black Youth Embrace Mobile Media
Watkins and a panel of African-American educators and students recently discussed the post-digital divide world at a United Negro College Fund public forum, “To Be Young Digital and Black.” Joining Watkins at Morehouse College were Tarshia Stanley, associate professor of English at Spelman College; Michael Hodge, chair of the sociology department at Morehouse College; Craig Wacker, MacArthur Foundation program officer in digital media and learning; and college students Deven Sanders (Spelman) and Brandon Xavier (Morehouse).
Watkins told the audience that this new participation gap centers on how young black and Latino youth are using technology and the kinds of literacies they are developing. One of the most interesting areas of inquiry is rooted in one of the unexpected drivers in closing the access gap: mobile technology.
“This is not necessarily one that people saw coming,” Watkins said. “Young blacks and Latinos are migrating decisively towards mobile media, using the phone as their main access point or gateway to the Internet.”
In fact, something of a “mobile gap” has arisen, in which young African Americans access the web for gaming, watching videos and other social activities for 1.5 hours per day, compared with 30 minutes per day for white youth, Watkins finds.
“There is always this impression that black and Latino youth, particularly those who live in deprivation and attend less-high performing schools, have a lag in their use of technology and their engagement with it,” Watkins says. “But, in some ways, they are even more assertive in their desire to be part of the tech world. Young African Americans are the early adopters of the mobile web.”
The primary question is whether mobile allows them to engage with the digital and informational worlds in dynamic ways that will help them develop useful skills and greater capabilities.
There are several reasons why African American youth have gravitated toward mobile, explains Watkins. The first is economic necessity and the affordability of mobile phones compared with desktop computers. Mobile is also a more reliable access point—especially at home, where connections can be spotty (particularly in poorer households) and rely on other technology (modems, dial up connections, cable service). With a mobile phone, if you have a signal, you can probably get online.
But mobile media is also substantially more autonomous than a home computer, with its parental blocks and supervision, or the type of restricted access kids might find at a library.
“What mobile has done is enable them to assert a greater degree of control over their engagement and participation in the digital media world,” Watkins says. “It gives them a space to occupy, absent adult intervention and with greater emancipation from adult control. They are drawn to that. They can create a space that is really for them.”
Roots in Hip HopThe way in which young African Americans create their personal spaces with mobile technology, Watkins says, is not dissimilar from how hip-hop music evolved. As any image of the 1980s teen with boom box on his shoulder will attest, “Hip-hop was mobile before mobile was cool,” Watkins laughs.
To some extent, hip-hop has been a literal gateway into participation for African Americans, many of whom first tried Twitter as a way to follow their favorite musical acts, but now use it to update people about their thoughts and daily lives.
Also, young black mobile users and hip-hop artists have relied on a “do it yourself” ethic and free sharing of media via peer-to-peer communication, rather than more traditional channels.
“There is a participation element. Hip-hop is always driven by the participation of not only those who make it, but those who consume it,” Watkins says. “A lot of what young [African-American] people know about new media, they’ve taught each other.”
After Access, Now What?
And, in some cases, that is where their participation can become an issue, as one of the post-access gap challenges will be to educate African Americans and Latinos about the opportunities and consequences of social media and other aspects of digital technologies.
“The education piece is huge,” Watkins says. “It’s clear that black and Latino youth are rarely afforded the educational opportunities to help them navigate the digital world. And because the schools they attend have all but shut off access to social media, there very few opportunities to have meaningful discussions in the classroom about the responsibilities that come with life in the digital age.”
In addition to education, Watkins says that the other major issue moving forward will be what he calls “the mobile paradox,” which refers to the fact that the source of greater access (mobile devices) has been the result of necessity, raising questions of what young African Americans are doing online and how they are using their access.
It remains to be seen to what extent mobile affords opportunities for content production and exploration, as opposed to simply being a quick way to access traditional entertainment, like TV, music and videos.
“Access, it turns out, is only half the battle,” Watkins says. “The question that we have to consider is: After access, now what?”
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Tags: craig wacker, henry jenkins, michael hodge, s. craig watkins, tarshia stanley, the young and the digital, united negro college fund
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