Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identity: Why do teens seem strange online? -- Privacy: Why do youth share so publicly? -- Addiction: What makes teens obsessed with social media? -- Danger: Are sexual predators lurking everywhere? -- Bullying: Is social media amplifying meanness and cruelty? -- Inequality: Can social media resolve social divisions? -- Literacy: Are today's youth digital natives? -- Searching for a public of their own -- Appendix : Teen demographics.

"What is new about how teenagers communicate through services such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Do social media affect the quality of teens' lives? In this book, the author, a youth culture and technology expert examines the conventional wisdom regarding teens' use of social media. She explores tropes about identity, privacy, safety, danger, and bullying. Ultimately, she argues that society fails young people when paternalism and protectionism hinder teenagers' ability to become informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizens through their online interactions. Yet despite an environment of rampant fear-mongering, she finds that teens often find ways to engage and to develop a sense of identity. Offering insights gleaned from more than a decade of original fieldwork interviewing teenagers across the United States, she concludes reassuringly that the kids are all right. At the same time, she acknowledges that coming to terms with life in a networked era is not easy or obvious. In a technologically mediated world, life is bound to be complicated." -- Publisher's description.