Dear Boris,

Yes, I have some reflections on my experience.

From my experience, data privacy is not very well protected. Here, people are so excited with the conveniences that technology brings to life, such as mobile pay, online shopping, online courses, etc. This made individuals exposed to different data platform. It is like the everyday routine is well recorded. I feel annoying that I always received lots of short messages trying to sell me different productions, different sales’ calling to promote their productions. So that I only pick up the phone call from my friends, which I know who is calling. Otherwise I will turn it down. The surveillance cameras is all over the city, and once I step out my flat, I enter a world with different cams. It may protect the life, but I am exposed, and have to act as a ‘citizen’, no longer living as a ‘citizen’.

‘E-parenting’ is what I noticed recently. I have talked with my colleagues, and they shared with me their experience in using Wechat to organize different social events, receiving the homework from their kid’s teachers. With different Apps, parenting work is maximized in details, and teachers will work closely with parents. Nd the space for education is remarkably expanding from home to school. From my experience, 20 years ago, I was the ‘postman’ between school and home, to delivery the messages and news. But now, children are productions by this ‘E-parenting’, which the childhood is controlled and constructed by parents and teachers, not by kids themselves.

Cyber star is the influencer logic. In my impression, the technology changes young people, and parents sometimes have to ‘’follow’ their children social media, to be their ‘friends’. And the smart phones really become an important mediator to build up new parenting patterns, such as young people will help their parents to solve the technical problems. Such everyday activities are also another way to greeting to each other, and communicate with each other.

I am doing a small project with my colleagues here, which we asked the children to draw their everyday life, then researchers will do a group interpretation on those pictures, and we already collect few drawings, and we will do the second round next week.

I will share with you the latest information on this project.

Best wishes

Xiaotian

People's ability to express their individuality is growing in a semi-collective society thanks to preserved anonymity.

Thanks for your answer, Minhaeng!

The following question, which hopefully ties in with your answer, came to my mind:

Would you also say that the digital, social media in different cultures may open up special functions in terms of expressivity?

In South Korea, for example, we noticed the karaoke bars in this regard. A colleague who had a visiting professorship in Seoul told me that the students appear in the seminars quite differently than in the karaoke bars, where they are much more expressive.

Would you attribute a comparable function to digital media?

And, what exactly do you mean by "semi-collective" society? What are you referring to?

Best regards,

Boris

Dear Boris, yes.

There can be cultural differences depending on social value system.

I believe that the digital society plays many positive functions with regard to the expressivity of individuals. For example, Korea is a pychologically ranked society. Mainly the pychological rank originates in the strict ranking system of Universities. It means that the individuals somehow feel themselves psycologically belong to a certain rank of social status. This feeling makes an individual hesitate to express his or her personal opinions about personal or social issues in real world. However, people aren't conscious of pychological social rank in digital communities. I've been visiting various communities and observing the behaviors of people. There are various forms of digital communities like CAFE or BAND in portal sites. For sum, the feeling of self-esteem is growing in a digital society and people desire to live their own lives. I hope I gave an appropriate answer to your question.

Best.

The psychological social rank in Korea does remind me of the paragraph in Mr. Zizek's ATL study, which deals with weak and strong ties (Granovetter). The strong bonds represent conservative bonds (which would be the social rank in Korea). With the help of the Internet, as you already suggest, Mr. Lee, weak ties can be created and new ideas can be disseminated, regardless of social status. So, I agree with you, Mr. Lee, that the digital society definitely has positive aspects, but often the negative aspects are ignored (or the criticism is limited to cybermobbing and data security). However, with regard to Western societies in which these strong conservative ties are weakening, it appears that there is the danger that the single individual takes on such a great value that one's own self is placed above the sensitivities of all others. Anonymity can therefore also lead the individual to the conclusion, to take no more consideration for his fellow human beings and his environment. One can no longer see the other person and does not perceive their emotions, so that some users does not accept the other as a full-fledged human being.

Dear Minhaeng,

that is very, very interesting! Thank you for this exciting description!

Perhaps we can state for the discussion: In societies with a "strong social structure" (Lee: psychologically ranked society), the digital media offer social spaces that somehow undermine this "social structuring" as it were.

Hendrik (thank you for your answer!) seems to pick up on this point.

What is the situation in Western societies? If there are big differences, what are they? Do we have less strong ties? And, do we need strong ties at all?

Thank you very much for your contributions so far!

Boris

Digital communication pushes young people into a double socialization process. One level is within real social life, within the school, family and society; the other level is within the cyber world, with multiple information and cyber interactions. from my observation, in China, the smartphone is cheap and easy to purchase, and the boundary between this double socialization, is getting blurred. Even for parents, they are also using different apps to do the parenting work. For example, parents will do video calls with Wechat, receiving the homework from school teachers through Wechat, organize the parents committee meeting with Wechat as well.

Digital communication produces ‘other’s socialization’. In China, there are plenty of broadcasting apps, and they produce tones of cyberStar, or internet celebrities, at fairly young ages. And this produces socialization into a ‘thing’, which could be seen, heard, and shared. ‘In shanghai, after school in subways, you could see young people using smart phones to watch these videos, and they could also send tips and tokens to the producers.

Another positive social effect is that the individuality itself of a person is growing and the power of the society like family is decreasing. Lots of older generation including me express the regret that they actually sacrificed their lives for the large family. For most Koreans the personal happiness and the social success are still polar values.

Thank you for your answer Xiaotian! That's very exciting!

When we were in China recently, a Chinese colleague told me that China has much less concerns about private data security than, say, Germany. To my surprise, a colleague from Sweden told me the same thing. Would you share this assessment?

Your idea of ​​a double socialization I find very exciting, we have to think about it in any case!

What I would like to ask you too. If you say that the parents get the news about their homework, you obviously find it unproblematic. In Germany, one might see in it an interference, the school is a space in which the child can move more "independently", so sometimes without insight of the parents. The parents then have to trust a piece-wide. Your opinion on this would interest me very much!

Could you maybe tell me a bit about Cyber Star? Is it comparable to the influencer logic?

It is lamented that the young people talk less with each other and with their parents and, for example, unlearn how to greet each other, say goodbye, look each other in the eye and empathize with each other, listen to each other. What are your impressions about this in Shanghai?

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the comparative view of culture increases the complexity of viewing digitization!

Thank you very much for your contributions!

Best regards,

Boris

Dear Minhaeng,

Your second post is very interesting! Thank you!

Can it be that in South Korea "in public contexts" one can not speak so well critically? That would fit with our consideration of expressivity we had above.

Something in the direction we have stated in interviews with Korean adolescents. The public space also seems very structured (e.g., by the hierarchical greeting procedures) and perhaps more limited for spontaneous utterances.

Nevertheless, we have been told on the sidelines of decisions that require critical reflection.

An essay on this topic will be published shortly, unfortunately in German:

Zizek, B. (2019, forthcoming). Adolescents as probation-seekers - Characteristics, tendencies and problems in the process of growing up on the basis of an international comparison. Publication of the DGS-Section of Youth Sociology on "Adolescence Theories"

The Internet would then be a way around these culture-specific restrictions of public space?

Your opinion would interest me very much!

Best regards,

Boris

Dear Boris, yes, it's true that people hesitate to speak critically to a communication partner. To be friendly to others and to be humble to others belong to basic social norms in Korea.

I'd like to add a negative effect of digital space. My son, a student pointed out the fact that people can easily show what they have or what they enjoy like clothes, shoes, bags, IT-machines, restaurants and cars thanks to INSTAGRAM. That means that the riches can express more than ordinary people. Money talks!

Dear Boris,

Yes, I have some reflections on my experience.

From my experience, data privacy is not very well protected. Here, people are so excited with the conveniences that technology brings to life, such as mobile pay, online shopping, online courses, etc. This made individuals exposed to different data platform. It is like the everyday routine is well recorded. I feel annoying that I always received lots of short messages trying to sell me different productions, different sales’ calling to promote their productions. So that I only pick up the phone call from my friends, which I know who is calling. Otherwise I will turn it down. The surveillance cameras is all over the city, and once I step out my flat, I enter a world with different cams. It may protect the life, but I am exposed, and have to act as a ‘citizen’, no longer living as a ‘citizen’.

‘E-parenting’ is what I noticed recently. I have talked with my colleagues, and they shared with me their experience in using Wechat to organize different social events, receiving the homework from their kid’s teachers. With different Apps, parenting work is maximized in details, and teachers will work closely with parents. Nd the space for education is remarkably expanding from home to school. From my experience, 20 years ago, I was the ‘postman’ between school and home, to delivery the messages and news. But now, children are productions by this ‘E-parenting’, which the childhood is controlled and constructed by parents and teachers, not by kids themselves.

Cyber star is the influencer logic. In my impression, the technology changes young people, and parents sometimes have to ‘’follow’ their children social media, to be their ‘friends’. And the smart phones really become an important mediator to build up new parenting patterns, such as young people will help their parents to solve the technical problems. Such everyday activities are also another way to greeting to each other, and communicate with each other.

I am doing a small project with my colleagues here, which we asked the children to draw their everyday life, then researchers will do a group interpretation on those pictures, and we already collect few drawings, and we will do the second round next week.

I will share with you the latest information on this project.

Best wishes

Xiaotian

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to the following conference, which will look in more detail at the question of the present discussion:

"Digital Youth - Growing up in a Novel Social Space"

International conference, June 11-14, 2019, Leibnizhaus, Hannover (Germany)

Contributors:

Prof. Robert L. Selman (Harvard University)

Prof. Katie Davis (University of Washington)

Dr. Karthik Dinakar (MIT Media Lab)

Prof. Helen Haste (University of Barth)

Dr. Carrie James (Harvard University)

Prof. Vera King (Goethe University of Frankfurt)

Prof. Tilman Habermas (Goethe University of Frankfurt)

Prof. Fritz Oser (University of Fribourg)

Prof. Jong-Youn Rha (Seoul National University)

Prof. Dawn Schrader (Cornell University)

Prof. Horst Biedermann (University of Teacher Education St.Gallen)

Dr. Emily Weinstein (Harvard University)

Prof. Boris Zizek (Leibniz University of Hannover)

In the appendix you will find the explanation of the conference idea.

Organizers:

Prof. Dr. Boris Zizek

Educational science with a focus on socialization and adolescence research

Institute of Education Science

Leibniz University Hannover

Schloßwenderstr. 1

30159 Hanover

Registration:

[email protected]

Regards,

Boris Zizek

Dear colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to two radio and press reports about our conference "Digital Youth":

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333811416_Radio_report_Deutschlandfunkt_DLF_on_the_conference_Digital_Youth_Growing_up_in_a_Novel_Social_Space_Link_httpswwwdeutschlandfunkdeso-wirken-soziale-medien-auf-jugendliche-lieber-texten680dehtmldramar

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333811432_Press_Release_Neue_Presse_about_the_conference_Digital_Youth_Growing_up_in_a_Novel_Social_Space_Link_httpswwwneuepressedeHannoverMeine-StadtExperte-Boris-Zizek-ueber-Chancen-und-Risiken-der-digitalen-

Best regards,

Boris

Dear colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to another press report about our conference "Digital Youth":

https://www.neuepresse.de/Hannover/Meine-Stadt/Digital-Youth-Kongress-Hannover-Das-ist-die-Generation-X

Best regards,

Boris

Dear colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to an interview for "Spiegel Online," which I gave in the context of the conference "Digital Youth".

https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/gedaechtnis-und-digitale-medien-das-spontane-eigene-zufaellige-wird-verdraengt-a-1277600.html

Best regards,

Boris

Dear colleagues,

I am currently finishing the following longer publication, which also summarizes what I believe is an important discussion on the future direction of digitization research. This discussion took place at the "Digital Youth -" conference in Hanover this June.

I would be very interested in your assessments of this discussion!

• Zizek, B. (2019). Youth-oriented Digital Experience Spaces in a Microanalytical Perspective - An Objective-Hermeneutical Analysis of the MTV Website A Thin Line. In C. Detka (ed.), Cognitive potentials of reconstructive social research: Ulrich Oevermann and Fritz Schütze. Objective hermeneutics and sociolinguistic process analysis. A method comparison. Leverkusen: Budrich.

From this the following quote:

"At this point I would like to emphasize two variants of future social and development research on digitization, which we discussed intensively at the "Digital Youth - Growing up in a Novel Social Space" conference in Hannover.

On the one hand, there is an approach that merely empirically identifies and describes change, and on the other hand, critical research that forms theoretical models, which then serves as a contrasting foil for a critical discussion.

In the present study, for example, a structural model of particular forms of social relationship has been developed, whereby the characteristics explicated therein are considered constitutive and their quality is considered significant for the development of adolescents.

...

The heuristic developed above, with both the regulative idea of ​​autonomy and the theoretical model of the structure of diffuse social relations and their functions, presents concepts with "quasi-transcendental status" that allow the analysis to go beyond a merely empirical description of the existing. Like autonomy, the structural features and the functions of diffuse social relations are empirically always present in the sense of an almost normative ideal type, which is empirically more or less pronounced or realized, but always present as inner, latent knowledge among the actors is effective. Without such an inner knowledge of the structural features of diffuse social relationships, one could not, for example, understand a romance or a family drama"

• Fritz Oser (University of Fribourg), Robert Selman (Harvard University), Helen Haste (University of Bath), Vera King (Goethe University Frankfurt), Ke Lin (Beijing Normal University), Dawn Schrader (Cornell University), Jong-Youn Rha (Seoul National University), Katie Davis (University of Washington), Tilmann Habermas (Goethe University Frankfurt), Horst Biedermann (University of Teacher Education St Gallen) and Lalenia Zizek (FH Potsdam) were the main participants in this discussion at the aforementioned international conference, which took place from June 12 to 14, 2019 at the University of Hannover. For this important discussion, I would like to sincerely thank our colleagues here again"

With best regards,

Boris

Dear colleagues,

I'm writing to you from Association for Moral Education (AME) conference in Seattle, where I was mentor to a group of international junior scientists yesterday (Autumn Ottenad, Everardo Perez-Manjarrez, Jessica Navarro, Kênia Vieira, Lifan Yu, Takara Bond, Yen-Yi Lee), who had gathered around the topic "Digital Youth".

There was a very interesting discussion that I would like to summarize briefly in the sense of my previous contribution "Issues and Problems of a Future Educational Research on Digitization" on key points and problems:

- Avoiding both an idealization of the past and present developments

a. On the one hand, we should be cautious about the benchmarks we use in assessing adolescent behavior and attitudes (I have pointed to the saying of Karl Valentin: In the past, the future was better too). Illustrated by the question: Have young people in the past really had more than ten minutes of attention span?

b. On the other hand, we should not give up any contrast possibility in this context. Many skills and attitudes are formed experience-dependent. Here I always like to refer to the following observation. Football coaches are increasingly demanding that young people cancel their participation by phone, which has led to a decline in absenteeism. Or, the easier access to seminar texts at the universities unfortunately did not help the students read more (I would also be interested in your experience). Both the structure of a medium and the implicit interpretation of the role and obligation of agents obviously cultivate attitudes and capabilities.

- Need for a systematic consideration - Importance of the order of arguments

It became clear that in the critical discussion of, for example, digital interaction and digital apps, sometimes the arguments that speak for and against are not considered systematically ordered. For example, in a critical review of navigation apps that invite passive use and thus limit the experience, it was noted that such apps could help to use public transport. It becomes clear that this is being discussed on different levels.

Not infrequently, arguments such as the structure or problems of digital interaction are blended with evidence of adolescent acceptance. Acceptance, however, can be categorized differently than ease or even eligibility.

I will add more points in the following post and look forward to your view on the issues raised.

Best regards,

Boris Zizek

Dear Colleagues,

the positives

1. Its make the communication fast.

2. Makes the communication broader.

3. Society can share and promote values easily.

4. The communication become cost effective.

Negatives.

Isolation from family.

Make the people to busy

Dear colleagues,

we will be holding a symposium on this issue at this year's AERA in San Francisco.

Participants: Fritz Oser, Dawn Schrader, Katie Davis, Horst Biedermann, Boris Zizek

I would be happy if someone of the readers and discussants would participate.

Best,

Boris

Dear colleagues,

in our international comparative project "Adolescence in times of a pandemic - An international comparative qualitative study" ...

https://www.researchgate.net/project/Adolescence-in-times-of-a-pandemic-An-international-comparative-qualitative-study

Article SPIEGEL (Spiegel Wissen 2/2020, p. 14) Interview on "Relativ...

... we find that the digital youth consistently (only in South Korea we find this less pronounced) misses the real contact, the physical presence of friends. It seems to be a universal need that cannot be trained away even with digital media.

I hope you and your families are doing well!

Warm wishes,

Boris