The challenge of developing effective public policy on the use of social media by youth.

• Author: Palfrey, John

1. INTRODUCTION II. THE NEED FOR A NEW FRAMEWORK III. PRIVACY FOR YOUTH" A CASE EXAMPLE IV. THE NEED FOR NEW COLLABORATIVE POLICYMAKING MECHANISMS A. Cluster One B. Cluster Two V. TRANSFORMING LEARNING, SOCIALIZING, AND COMMUNICATION PRACTICES VI. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION

   Legal scholarship in the United States has evolved greatly over the course of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. (1) A recent trend is toward various forms of interdisciplinary scholarship in law, including the combination of legal methods with methods drawn from the social science. There are some good reasons for the growing popularity of this form of interdisciplinarity. One reason is that, in certain subfields of law, it is impossible for a lawyer to make strong policy arguments without a solid grounding in the data gathered by those who specialize in other disciplines. The field of youth media policy is one such subfield. This particular form of interdisciplinarity will be increasingly important in the future.

   Policymakers working on matters related to youth media policy need to listen to the findings of the best social scientists in our shared field in order to make better decisions. The reasons for adopting this particular interdisciplinary approach--beyond mere methodological hipness--are substantive. The relevant youth practices are shifting very quickly. Social norms in digitally mediated environments are extremely powerful--often trumping law and public policy and, in turn, posing special problems for those who seek to impose traditional methods of direct regulation. Our public policy goals are often in tension with one another; reconciling them can be tricky. Social science research can help us to understand the broad frame in which these discussions are most helpfully grounded. And as we look to the future, it is important that we understand the substantial shifts in youth practice in order to be able to craft effective policy in this area.

   In this paper, I set forth a broad framework, grounded in social science research, within which a policy conversation can be held. The paper also presents a case example examining privacy issues for youth where public policy might be improved by data-driven discussions.

2. THE NEED FOR A NEW FRAMEWORK

   Our youth media policy ought to be grounded in a stable theoretical frame that guides our decision making at a high level. This broad theoretical frame should be informed by, and in turn inform, the kinds of questions social science researchers are asking when they are in the field. This framework should also serve as a starting point for our policymaking.

   For the purposes of this Essay, I start with the theory that youth media practice holds enormous promise to help support a bright future of learning, economic growth, and civic engagement. At the same time, I recognize the limits of the use of any technology to address major social issues (for instance, inadequacies in our system of education); these issues must be addressed at a fundamental level, and not merely through more effective employment of new media. I recognize that not everyone has equal access to or skill in using new technologies, and that we risk exacerbating important societal problems (for instance, the gap between rich and poor) if we ignore these differences between groups of youth. I recognize the extent to which new information technologies are used by those who would do harm to our youth through child pornography, sexual exploitation, bullying, and exposure to unwanted, harmful content. I acknowledge, furthermore, the extent to which the use of new technologies amplifies other complicated trends in society that need to be addressed through policy, such as the commercialization of the childhood experience and the collection of data about our youth by many parties without sufficient protections.

   The overarching public policy goal should include an affirmative effort to balance a series of interests that are sometimes, but not always, in harmony with one another. The goal is to seize opportunities associated with digital-era youth media practices (for instance, learning, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and civic activism), while mitigating the challenges (for instance, safety, privacy, intellectual property, information quality concerns, and so forth). Social science research can help to determine those places where these interests are in harmony and those places where they are in discord. It can also help us to see paths forward as we track the practices of youth across time as the technologies and the patterns of use continue to change.

3. PRIVACY FOR YOUTH: A CASE EXAMPLE

   I propose a method of public policymaking in the field of Internet regulation that is grounded firmly in data about human practices using new technologies. For instance, as the phenomenon of sexting--most commonly, the transmission of sexually explicit images via mobile device from one youth to another--rises to the attention of decision makers, the first step should be to ascertain the nature and extent of the practice and the risks posed to youth.

   The range of possible solutions to the rise of sexting should be considered in light of these data, even as they change over time. For a complex problem such as sexting, the best solution is likely to involve a combination of approaches that address the underlying drivers and practices involved and bring a range of actors into the process of developing and implementing solutions. The mode of direct regulation--declaring the practice to be a violation of bans on the creation and transmission of child pornography--should be one of the tools to consider using, but not the only one. The involvement of parents, educators, social workers, and pediatricians may lead to more constructive solutions and fewer criminal prosecutions of youth involved in unfortunate but commonplace youthful behavior.

   Privacy regulation, too, cries out for greater social scientific involvement in the public policymaking process. If sexting is an acute example (it arose quickly and somewhat unexpectedly, (2) and may or may not be quickly treatable), then privacy is a chronic one (we have known about this issue for a long time and it is almost certain to persist as an ongoing challenge). In the digital age, there are more and more pressures on individual data privacy. We tend to trade convenience for control, and in turn, data about us are held in more and more hands for longer and longer periods of time.

   Parents are often concerned that their children share too much personal information online. They worry that potential predators could use that information to harass or harm children, either online or offline. Since data disclosed online are often persistent, searchable, and hard to delete, youth who behave too openly may suffer consequences in the future, when their personal information is used in unforeseen ways by potential employers, educational institutions, or other parties. (3) These fears, though widespread, are generally not borne out in the research.

   However, there are real concerns facing youth and their privacy in a digital age. Youth are subject to a great deal of surveillance, online and offline; their activities are frequently monitored by parents and other adults in ways that they perceive violate their privacy; and information about them is consistently collected and subject to exploitation by marketers seeking to sell them things. (These practices are the subject of the comprehensive review of research into youth practices with respect to new media, privacy, and reputation, which draws together the work of researchers from around the world. (4))

   Adults tend to misunderstand youth behavior with respect to their privacy. The predominant myth is that young people do not care about their privacy. This presumption is a mistake. Youth do care about their privacy, but they care about it in specific ways. For instance, youth care about keeping certain information about themselves from their parents and their teachers. They also express their dislike of the idea that large amounts of information about them are kept in corporate hands, but they often need to be nudged to think about this issue. Given more information about their privacy and skills and tools to do something about it, youth are likely to adopt practices that are more protective of personally...