PhD Abstract - Friendship over the Net among Israeli Adolescents

1. Friendship Over the Net:
The Social Construction of Friendship Among Israeli Youth in
Computer-Mediated-Communication (CMC)
Oren Golan, PhD Abstract
Abstract:
Advances in computer technology and computer-mediated communication (CMC)
have instigated and enabled significant change in economies, education, lifestyles and
social relationships worldwide. New information and communication technologies
(ICTs), including instant messaging, chatrooms, newsgroups and cellular phones, are
rapidly spreading and being integrated into everyday life. One of the most central
agents of these transformations are children and adolescents.
Among youth, mass media activities are dominant and include listening to popular
music, chatting on cellular phones, acquiring fashionable artifacts, viewing television,
playing computer/video games and surfing the Internet. Surveys indicate that North
American youth dedicate nearly half of their waking hours to media activities
(Mastronardi, 2003). These new venues of mass media activities, and particularly the
Internet, evoke social change and new forms of behavior and relationships for young
people.
Youths' friendship relations play a pivotal part in the lives of adolescents
(Corsaro,1997; Mannarino,1980; Eisenstadt, 1971 [c1956]); these are currently
i

2. undergoing major shifts and they require re-examination. This study aims to
contribute to this field and discuss the connections between youth, the
computer/Internet and the construction of friendships in Israel. The study questions
how online relationships are modified among youth in computer-mediated
communication? How do the relationships constructed through the Internet affect the
modes of youth in Israel? To examine these questions, the research analyzed a group
of adolescents who are deeply immersed in the Internet and integrate it into their daily
lives.
I argue that within its unsupervised realm, properties of the Internet (i.e. anonymity,
interactivity and community-building) are linked with the characteristics of
contemporary youth culture (i.e. moratorium, liminality, youthful creativity and
modern forms of peer grouping). The convergence evokes the invention of a vibrant
symbolic language of youth (e.g. linguistic idioms, emoticons and humorous-iconic
representations; Chapter 3); entrepreneurial activities together with new forms of
exchange and gift-giving (Chapter 5); as well as the creation of online trust relations
that are the features of new adolescent culture (Chapter 4).
To explore the evasive and informal participation of youth in the virtual realm, a
specific research strategy needed to be explored (Chapter 2). The research utilized
several methods and resources. Its main source was in-depth interviews conducted
with 38 adolescents between the ages of 12-21, between 1998-2003. These youngsters
were identified as computer "virtuosos" (i.e. youngsters who had attained high levels
of expertise in the computer world and maintained an exclusive youth-computer
culture). This group served as a "critical case study" group, where by exploring the
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3. cultural patterns underlying their everyday practices and symbols I strove to uncover
the most salient features of contemporary youth’s technologically-oriented culture.
Most of the interviews were conducted face-to-face in the private environment of
adolescents’ homes1, while sitting together at their personal computers. These
interviews enabled me to investigate their activities and uncovered their preferred
chatrooms, newsgroups, game activities, and more.
Throughout this study, I describe and analyze three major points of youth cultural
transformation over the net: - creation of new symbolism, the construction of trust
relations and the emergence of youth entrepreneurship (chapters three, four and five,
respectively). The first transformation explores the symbolic aspect and the creation
of new forms of expression, such as: new patterns of iconography (e.g. avatars,
emoticons) or linguistic playfulness (e.g. slang, idioms, metaphors), derived from
fantasy science fiction, sports, etc. These symbolic means constitute a distinct meta
discourse code, which utilizes the rich resources of the multimedia interface, much in
the way that adolescents' dress and musical styles are meta codes that demonstrate
cross-clique variations.
The second theme is the construction of trust, and the ways it is redefined by youth's
online relationships (Chapter four). As trust may be defined as “confidence in the
reliability of a person or system” (Giddens, 1990)2, the new means of computer-
1
A few (5) were conducted in other venues including the army or “public areas” (e.g. coffee shop,
burger bar)
2
Among scholars in the social sciences, widespread social trust is viewed as a sign of social
solidarity and cohesion and has also been linked to strong economic performance
(Fukuyama,1995; Yamagishi and Yamagishi, 1994) and a source for supporting democratic
ideals (Muller and Seligson, 1994). In theories of social capital, social trust is both an outcome
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4. mediated communication poses a challenge to the formation of trust. In contrast to
studies indicating the existence of trust over the net (e.g. the exchange of individual
goods, production of public goods, the existence of stable social networks,
communities, and effective social norms, see Baym, 2000; Kollock,1999; Parks and
Floyd,1996; Raymomd,2001), this study focuses on the ways in which trust is created
and maintained over the net. In this study, I aim to shed light on the Internet’s role
and potential for fostering social integration and collective ideals, as well as
uncovering the ways youth communicate and fraternize in today’s Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) society. Findings uncovered several tensions and
impediments, including: anonymity, the norms of cybernetic interaction, lies, masks
and un-credible behavior, discontinued relations, spontaneity and the Israeli public's
images of the Internet). The study reveals 5 strategies for the creation and
maintenance of online trust: control over anonymity, continuity and perseverance,
digital exchange (of experiences, advice and sentiments; "community knowledge" and
"digital goods"); the interplay of online lies and masking; 'technological choices for
maintaining trust' among youth.
The third theme is the creation of cultural entrepreneurship over the net (Chapter 5).
In the sociological tradition, the role of the entrepreneur and his/her interaction with
surrounding society has been compared to other roles in society such as the manager,
the gambler, the capitalist and even the professional (Peterson,1981; Schumpeter,1957
[c1943]) which emphasize traits, control, specialization, creativity and risk taking.
These traits concur with the rapid evolution of ICTs, yet apparently stand in
and a cause of high levels of civic involvement (Putnam, 2000) as well as a constraint on non-
normative and "immoral" behavior.
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5. opposition to the structural condition of youth where youngsters are largely controlled
by adult culture and are encouraged to perform within institutional boundaries (e.g.
school, family, youth movement, army). The question is how are youth socialized (or
how do they socialize themselves) to perform in today's technological culture? The
study demonstrates how youth's unique social networks and friendship alignments
enable experimentation, trial and error, and foster an entrepreneurial culture. This is
performed in various activities where adolescents demonstrate high levels of social
exchange and management of personal resources, including: collecting, indexing and
the constant organization of digital goods such as music files, movies, games or
computer programs, as well as creating cultural productions, mobilizing human
resources and experiencing with various modes of interchangeable behavior, such as
morality (e.g. masking and lying or disclosure and truth telling), expressivity (e.g.
support or verbal abuse) or interactive relationships (personal/collective;
friendly/collegial).
The following three impact of ICT regarding contemporary youth and friendship
relations are discussed in the next section:
A. Youth Cultures and Risk Society
B. The Profile of Digital Youth
C. Virtual Friendships
A. Youth Cultures and Risk Society:
Literature dealing with the sociology of youth since the early 20th century has
focused on the rapid changes in the status of youth, their relations with modernity and
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6. their position in conditions of dramatic social change, in education, employment,
leisure consumption, etc. (Coleman,1961; Davis, 1999; Eisenstadt, 1971 [c1956];
Friedenberg, 1963; Furlong and Cartmel,1997; Kahane,1997; Miles,2000;
Milson,1972; ). In this framework, youth are described as being threatened by the
influence of postmodern fragmentation, risk, alienation and globalization. In light of
these social threats, “digital youth” may serve as a case study for uncovering the
impact of modernity and the technological society, while serving in what Milson
(1972:24) referred to as a “frontier society”, where they are constantly standing at the
frontier of social change and cultural innovation.
In light of the rapid social and cultural changes in the post modern era, I argue that
informal systems foster trust relations, especially by adapting to contemporary
technological innovations3. In spite of occasionally anti normative, or even what may
be viewed as deviant, expressions over the net (e.g. masking and fibbing, frequent
copyright infringements, spreading computer viruses and “spyware” and the various
activities of hackers), I maintain that the social system over the net fosters trust. Trust
is achieved through the creation of personalized social networks and a social concept
of “online friendship”. In opposition to institutionally-based friendship arenas (at the
3
By 'informality' I refer to the code of informality, developed by Kahane (1997) to describe a symbolic
and behavioral construct with which individuals or groups strive to maximize what they perceive to be
their genuine self-expression. In his model, Kahane describes informality as an ideal-type order (or
organization) and points to eight basic structural components: voluntarism (constraint-free choice);
multiplexity (wide range of activities equivalent in social value); symmetry (exchange based on equal
distribution of power and therefore on mutually accommodated expectations); dualism (coexistence of
contrasting orientations); moratorium (provision of opportunities for experimentation or trial and error
with a variety of rules and roles); modularity (interchangeable clusters of activities); expressive-
instrumentalism (coexistence of immediate and delayed rewards); and pragmatic symbolism
(conversion of symbols into deeds and vice versa). This code relates to other structural codes (formal-
bureaucratic, professional or primal; see Kahane, 1988). Accordingly, uncovering the underlying code
or codes of behavior among various social venues on the Internet may yield a sociological explanation
of its meaning and impact. As stated above, I argue that youth’s digital spaces can be characterized by
a dominant code of informality which is more salient than that of most of the well-studied adolescent
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7. workplace or school, for example), these associations reinforce the net surfers’ sense
of personal freedom of choice.
The “Net Society” (also regarded as “the information society” or “the digital age”)
poses new forms of risks for surfers in general, and “digital youth” in particular.
Popular notions of the Internet often stress online deviance (e.g paedophilia, “cyber-
crime”, hackers, “crackers” or “phreakers”) as sources of risk. This may be explained
in terms of moral panic relating to the position of the Internet in society. However,
this can be explained by exploring the structural characteristics of net society as
demonstrated in the table below.
Structural Characteristic of “Net Social Risk
Society”
1. Extensive encounter with Technology Anachronism, social anomie, alienation
2. Innovation and Rapid Technological towards technology (“technophobia”),
Change disorientation
3. Enhanced (online) accessibility
4. Self Determined activity Atomization, social isolation and
(Individualism) alienation
The study demonstrates how groups of adolescents created new strategies to control
and eventually foster social trust, as well as a sense of meaning, personalization and
interpersonal friendliness. This can be viewed in various practices reviewed
throughout the study, including digital exchange, personal control of
activities including schools, boarding schools or even youth movements, summer camps or
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8. anonymity/disclosure, the creation of digital texts, jokes and playful activities.
Through these practices, adolescents transform their computer-based activities into a
personalized and humanized social experience. This is achieved by inserting animated
elements into the cybernetic realm. The study demonstrates how youngsters transmit
meanings from their on- and offline experiences towards the creation of a cultural
environment that includes a distinct symbolic array of youth’s most commonly-used
metaphors, language and iconography. These means shape the nature of the net and
serve to transmit humanistic and communal meanings over cyberspace. For example,
the study discusses various ways in which online signs and discourse were interpreted
by youngsters as producing humoristic gestures (e.g usage of “absurd” nicknames,
avatars depicting monsters or playful idiomatic texts). These symbolic acts foster a
sense of unconditional receptiveness of the youthful venues towards their participants
and a sense of freedom to participate in this new and vital culture.
B. The Profile of Digital Youth
In light of (post) modern risk society, I ask what the nature and orientation of "digital
youth" is. Findings in this study point to a new form of youthfulness4 that can be
summed up in six distinct characterizations:
1. Extended youthfulness
2. Fluid youthfulness
3. Individuality and the concept of freedom
backpacking.
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9. 4. Active Youth
5. The Institutionalization of Virtuosity among Youth
6. Pluralistic youthfulness
1. Extended Youthfulness -
Postman (1986 [c1982]) viewed changes in technology and mass communication as
consuming the concept of childhood and transforming the child into a "little man".
Accordingly, the Internet can be viewed as an agent for eroding the concept of
youthfulness and integrating adolescents into adult culture. In contrast to this
assumption, the findings of this study demonstrate an augmentation of youth culture.
The study points to the ways youngsters have created a culture of entrepreneurship,
characterized by cultural productivity, exchange and practices of collecting digital
goods. Even properties that could be identified with the worlds of adults (e.g work
ethic, rationality, utilization of scientific-technological principles and practices) are
amalgamated with youthful meanings (e.g. humor, playfulness).
2. Diffuse Youthfulness
On the net, one we can point to a change from a homogenic and integrative grouping
of youth to a more diverse diffuse, low-density social organization of adolescents.
This can be demonstrated in two aspects: online peer groups and online identities.
(a) Online Peer Groups - In modern society, most venues for youth are controlled by
adults via members of the family or the community (e.g. schools or religious agents).
In contrast, over the net, adult supervision is low. As a result, and due to the
4
The question of "youthfulness", as originally developed by Berger (1963), refers to the cultural
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10. anonymity the Internet facilitates, peer groups are to a large extent not defined by
class, gender, SES or geographical location. In this new realm, the individual's status
is defined by its social virtuosity within the group, degrees of acquaintance and levels
of knowledge in the technology and social codes of specific groups. The study
demonstrates the ways that participants in observed newsgroups reacted with
sympathy, suspicion or rejection towards other participants in accord with these new
sets of norms and social criteria. In addition, the size and significance of the peer
group varies in net culture. The group itself changes through spontaneous efforts of
recruitment, voluntary engagement and disengagement as well as fashion or the
dynamics of software production5.
(b) Online Identities: Playing with identity has been a central theme in the early stages
of CMC research (see Bechar-Israeli, 1995; Danet, 1996; Turkle, 1995). However,
literature has focused little attention on its place in the lives of youth. Recently,
studies incorporated the celebration of youth culture in their virtual identities,
particularly in the study of online textual and graphical representation blogging, or the
creation of homepages (Abbot, 1998; Chandler & Roberts-Young. 1999; Huffaker and
Calvert, 2003;Webb, 2001). Moreover, studies indicate that teenagers stay closer to
their offline identities in their online expressions of self than has previously been
suggested (Huffaker and Calvert, 2003; for a similar finding among adults in informal
virtual settings see Kendall, 2002); however, these studies did little to explain the
characteristics of youth, rather then a universal-biological attribute.
5
For example, the computer game "Diablo" was very popular among gamers in the 1990s and the turn
of the century, and generated various groups of fans and online discourse. However, a few years later,
as new games became popular; many of the original players changed their interests (or position in life
as college students, soldiers or participants in the labor force, for example). Hence, the dynamics of
gaming culture and industry bears a direct effect of the structure and character of various social groups
as well as the content of youth's discourse (in their choice of avatars, nicknames, idioms, etc. in their
blogs, newsgroups and websites).
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11. structural changes in the position of youth and youthfulness in light of their interplay
between their online/offline experience.
In this study, I demonstrate how the concept of identity is challenged in cyberspace.
In his studies on youth, Erikson (1968) viewed adolescence as a transitional stage
towards a stable and integrative formation of identity. In contrast to Erikson's
observations, digital youth has created and negotiated a new and distinct identity that
deviates from offline identities. Accordingly, collective identities that characterized
adolescents offline become vague and irrelevant in cyberspace. Collective adolescent
identities in Israel, such as "Shas youth" or "Leftist Socialist youth" ('Young Guard')
are hardly recognizable in cyberspace. Rather then being defined as a collective,
adolescents in cyberspace are seen according to their individual talents, online
achievements and self-adapted representation (e.g. choice of nicknames, avatars).
Youngsters often relieve themselves from pressures and expectations of collective
identities and expand their social liminality (in Victor Turner's terms see Turner,
1969)-. The creation of personal homepages, blogs and stable representations and
identities in newsgroups and games point to a revolution in the form and meanings of
youthful identity created by the individual while adhering to the peer group, rather
than the collective or primordial culture.
In addition, while research of online identities over the net often emphasized the rich
and vivid representations of net surfers, the analysis of adolescents' perspectives of
the “other” (in terms of reciprocal exchange or social trust) may contribute to our
understanding of youth’s concept of their self-identity in the virtual realm. The study
demonstrated how youths' identity was constructed not only by their ability to
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12. playfully make over their own virtual representations (as a monster, magician, movie
star, etc.) but it also demonstrated how they experienced various kinds of exchange
and (as mentioned above) different types of knowledge (e.g. popular culture,
scientific-technological or personal-expressive sentiments). The case of digital youth
may prove useful for exploring the formation of diffuse, flexible and changeable
identities. As the study demonstrates, these identities reflect a search for originality,
ingenuity, and innovation.
3. Individuality and the Concept of Freedom
Kahane (1975) points to an inherent conflict between youths and adults with regard to
control/autonomy in socializing organizations. Whereas an increase in youth
autonomy may lead to delinquent and anti-social behavior, an abundance of adult
intervention may jeopardize organizations as an attractive and meaningful socializing
agent (Kahane,1975:23-24). Analyzing the Internet as an agent of socialization bears
a similar dilemma. In their online activities, adolescents are free, to a large extent,
from the parental control and supervision that characterize other socialization
institutions. In the Internet one could expect an uncontrollable behavior, sometimes
even deviant, as youth are often vilified for mass infringements of intellectual
property rights, rises in hacker activity, a major expanse in the distribution and
consumption of pornography etc. The rise of a new form of youthful freedom and
peer organization comes alongside the risk of deviant social boundaries and taboos.
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13. This study points to the expansion of youth and freedom in online activities6. As web
savvy technological virtuosos, youngsters select their degree of freedom and manage
to avoid their on- and offline gatekeepers. In addition, participants choose periods of
their lives when they are active or inactive in various online activities. Accordingly,
teens have reported occasional periods of extensive use of a certain online activity
(e.g. chat, multiplayer gaming [MMOG or MMO], participating in newsgroups), as
well as lengthy intervals of little social activity over the net. This serves as a means
for managing their various social relationships online where surfers may expand,
terminate, strengthen or weaken their social connections and friendships. These
relatively manageable relations stand in opposition to youth's everyday obligations
and associations (e.g. the family, school, extra-curricular activities, youth
movements).
In addition, activities of freedom have been translated into pragmatic meaning. As
observed and analyzed in the chapter dedicated to digital entrepreneurship, youth seek
opportunities over the net to experience dialogue, music, narrative writing or gaming
while integrating these fields of knowledge into their everyday lives. In this context,
youth socialize themselves on the net. This process offers them a way to re-constitute
their selves as well as to reconstruct their affiliated virtual groups.
6
Within the Israeli context, since the 1980s, studies have pointed to a change in the orientation of
youth's activities and values, moving from a collective orientation to an individualistic one, which
emphasizes personal achievement and self fulfillment (Rapoport et. al. 1995; Shapiro and Herzog,
1984; Lumpsky-Feder, 1985). This bears significance on the concept of free expression and
motivations of social action by contemporary youngsters.
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14. 4. Active Youth
Popular notions, echoed by the social sciences, tend to regard youth as being
rebellious by nature, and accuse them of forging a hedonistic culture (Brake,1980;
Cohen, 1987; Griffin, 1993; Keniston, 1971). Theoretical studies of youth in society
are haunted by images of passivity and utter dependence, controlled by adults in
general and the various forces that drive society (e.g. economic, political,
technological, etc.) (Eisenstadt, 1971 [c1956]; Keniston, 1971; Mannheim, 1964;
Postman, 1985). In this study, I claim that over the net youth are active in cultivating
creative activity to the degree that the culture of digital youth may be perceived as
that of cultural innovators and entrepreneurs. While social trust and friendship serve
as a precondition for this development, the study demonstrate how adolescents create
tools for social interaction. In the discussion of the symbolic tools of interaction, the
study illustrates how youth create virtual resources, systematically collect these assets
and are active in the exchange of digital resources (of digital products, professional
knowledge, personal experience or semi-monetary exchange7). In this manner, youth
respond to the dynamic nature of the Internet and develop skills that are suitable to the
contingent situations on the net.
5. The Institutionalization of Virtuosity among Youth
In the past, much of the literature suggested that individuals generated changes in
technological in general and in the worlds of computers, high-tech and cyberspace in
7
This refers to an exchange (either barter or monetary exchange) which is controlled by a unique
balance between online norms found among youth (dictating the price range and mode of exchange)
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15. particular (Hafner, 1996; Kaplan,1999; Reid, 1997; Rogers & Larson, 1984; Segaller,
1998). These individuals were often portrayed as young people in informal settings,
which often stood in opposition to their contemporary means and norms of training.
Classical examples can be seen in the biographies of Galileo, Copernicus,
Michelangelo, Benjamin Franklin and others. Weber described how the process of
rationality institutionalized science within the confines of universities and
bureaucratic control, and eroded the place of the sole “inventor”, transferring these
innovations to academic, economic or military settings. The rise of computers and
computer-mediated communication has contributed to a change in the process of the
“bureaucratization of science”. In this study, I focus on a sphere that is free from
bureaucratic control. In contrast to views that centered upon viewing innovation as
being cultivated by individuals or a bureaucratic culture, youth’s net culture
demonstrates the rise of a culture of technological virtuosity. These youngsters
employ their creative and productive efforts and divert them towards today’s most
advanced technological developments. In this sense, hacker activity is most salient as
that of technological virtuosos who mark a break with contemporary computer
software and even challenge the social and moral order (Nissan,1998; Taylor, 1999).
Hacker activity may serve as a case study in this sense, demonstrating a much larger
phenomena of youth’s entrepreneurial activism on the net. Youth who are busy
collecting, exchanging and the creation of cultural “artifacts” over the net (such as
blogs, homepages, movies, animation, prose or pictures) and software (e.g. game
“patches” and “cracks” enabling them to reproduce a copy of a desired commercial
program, and save money, or to be able to manipulate a computer game).
and the exterior ("offline") market, as elaborated in the chapter dedicated to cultural entrepreneurship
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16. This new category of youthfulness is unique in several respects: First, from the
perspective of the sociology of youth, a change can be observed where the marginal
and dependent group (legally, economically and normatively) of adolescents are
transformed into a meaningful agent of technology and innovation. Second, in the
study of social entrepreneurship, we can view a unique case study where a social
category embraces a mode of creation, invention and innovation within the informal
setting of the Internet. This is to say, as opposed to the classical modernistic concept
which views inventions with extended periods of external training instructed by
experts within rigid arrangements (including a structured curriculum and directed by
socially acknowledged professionals), we see how an informal system cultivates a
culture of creativity.
Rather than viewing the Internet as a chaotic social sphere, it may be viewed as an
environment which fosters virtuosity and institutionalization. In this reality, youth
engage in the construction of ties and communities, collect virtual artifacts and
knowledge, and organize fellowships of learning and debating. In this manner the
activity over the net is transformed from a chaotic experience to an organize units of
collaboration of meanings.
6. Pluralistic Youthfulness
Anthropological studies of youth adopted Victor Turner’s view of liminality, where
youngsters dwell in a threshold state of ambiguity, openness and indeterminacy.
According to this view, only after undergoing this process may one enter into new
of adolescents over the net.
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17. forms of identity and relationships, and rejoin the everyday life of the culture.
Accordingly, during childhood and adolescence commitment to primordial identities
(e.g. religions, ethnicity, status, etc.) is partial and moratorium is salient. Cyberspace,
as a relatively new social environment, enables experimentation and failures. Online,
the tension between commitment towards one’s primordial ties and intercultural
encounters (harmonious/antagonistic) has diminished and new tensions or forms of
communications are established. In this study, we learn how youth’s activities over
the net serve as an integrative and bridging platform between different groups. In this
reality, youngsters instill a sense of trust between members of different (offline)
identities and cultures, while on the individual level, the net opens new mean of self-
expression, achievement and empowerment of the self. Let me explain three
expressions of the pluralistic youthfulness:
i) Symbols and Language – The cybernetic experience invites a new mode for
language and communication among net surfers. This new language consists of a
unique symbolic system with new ways for creating symbols, iconographic
representation and verbal articulation. Paradoxically speaking, this new way of
expression, distanced from traditional modes of communication, creates a
common frame for participants of diverse backgrounds (e.g. different ethnicities,
diverse age groups, gender).
ii) Masks and Anonymity - As demonstrated throughout the study, net surfers are
free to reinvent their identities, self-representation and self-disclosure. Youth are
free to express and play on forms of racial and historical tension (such as using
provocative Nazi symbols for self-representation) or use dispassionate or "neutral"
representations that are not identified with any group (including the use of
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18. gibberish and nonsense portrayal in their pseudonyms). These masks enhance an
environment of moratorium where youths may experience and experiment with a
large array of intercultural encounters (e.g. girls/boys, Israeli/foreigner,
adolescent/adult), rules and roles with minimal risks or sanctions and without
threatening the social system.
iii) Technological Meritocracy - This study demonstrates how youth, as an
important part of online society, fostered an alternative set of criteria for the
formation of social status, which is not defined by ascriptive standards. This new
system is based on knowledge of specific subject matters (as demonstrated in the
case of Israeli basketball fans within the observed newsgroup of "Tsahevet"), and
on subjects related to Internet technology, computer software and hardware. For
example, the study demonstrates how teen surfers became operators ("ops") and
frequent responders in a newsgroup were perceived as its informal leaders. These
new forms of linguistic and symbolic expression, the technological meritocracy,
masks, anonymity and lies dispersed on the net all demonstrate how youth
recreated new standards for prestige within the online peer group. The abundance
of situations, activities and means of expression over cyberspace enable
youngsters to express their interests and talents, acquire power and prestige and
foster a sense of self worth. Under these conditions, youth cultivated a culture
based on an initial sense of equal footing and symmetry as well as a pluralistic
encounter that tends to accept rather that reject or ostracize the "other".
In spite of the pluralistic nature of the net, little is known of the effects of this
pluralism upon offline settings. For example, are the attitudes of surfers with regard to
interracial/ethnic/gender/generational tensions more likely to change due to online
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19. experiences and experimentation with alternative roles and identities? This question
pertains not only to the online/offline relations, but to the very meaning and impact of
informal agencies, beyond the situations and perimeters of their own social
frameworks (such as outside a dance club or several years after participating in a
youth movement). As stated, the study pointed to a profile of online youthfulness with
six distinct characteristics.
C. Virtual Friendship
Social scientists have long criticized modernity, linking it with expressions of social
anomie and alienation (Durkheim, 1949; Kasperson, 2000; Tourain, 1995). New
technologies, identified with modernity, were often viewed as stimulators of
alienation and agents of the ever-growing gap between the individual and society8.
This is apparent in psychological and psychiatric reasoning (Kraut et. al. 1998;
Kuntze et.al, 2002) regarding the Internet. In this discourse participation and virtual
activities are often viewed as fostering an impoverishment of various aspects of life
that are essential to social development, including interpersonal relations and
emotional growth. This research points to a different direction, and analyzes the
deconstruction of the meanings of friendship over the Internet.
In cyberspace, meanings of friendship are reinterpreted and deconstructed; for
example, categories such as "anonymous strangers" or "many" are incorporated into
8
From the literature in the past 70 years, and the “great dystopias”, well demonstrated in literary
accounts such as George Orwell’s “1984”, or Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”, but also in earlier
texts by Thoreau, Hawthorne and others, technological development was perceived as a non human
factor by which alienation, and discontent increased and threatened the very existence of the individual
and society (Jacoby, 1987) resulting in meaningless life and mechanical relationship. The recent rise of
CMC accentuates this threat. In this context, it should be asked to what extent does communication via
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20. the realm of friendship. This transformation bears alternative meanings for surfers,
including an expression of the self, socially experimenting with new acquaintances or
sharing online experiences (e.g. social exchange, sharing sentiments, gaming). In this
sense, online friendships have become innovative social phenomena for observing
current culture as well as a new normative pattern of behavior.
This reconstruction of online friendship over the net can be seen through
concepts such as the "virtual gift", the new symbolic representation in cyberspace, the
creation of a diffuse and spontaneous form of friendship, the transference of
friendship to the public realm and signified friendship.
Friendship and the Virtual Gift
Since the classical publication of Marcel Mauss, ethnographic studies have discussed
the centrality of the gift and personal exchange relations as playing a central role in
the social organization of societies. Social exchange is based on the premise of mutual
benefits and the assumption that each participant has relative advantages over the
others in one or more resources. In comparison, online gifts are different in the nature
of the virtual "objects", the modes of exchange and scarcity of the exchanged objects.
Exchange consists a symbolic world of information, rather than physical attributes,
where it is possible to produce an infinite number of perfect copies of a piece of
information such as song files, computer software or animation (Kollock, 1999:221).
In this sense, conventions of evaluating the social prices of goods are reexamined and
social behavior regarding gift giving, altruism, and hostility are restructured.
Furthermore, as the main commodity over the web is information, an item for which
CMC foster a modular mind "a specific communication mechanism" (Fodor, 1981:37) or proxy
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21. there is no general scarcity or shortage9. Under these conditions an alternative and
complementary mode of friendship has emerged where adolescents are able to create
and maintain their social connections through conveying information and gift giving,
without exhausting their own resources. In this sense, gift-giving practices have been
expanded over the net and has become a common gesture in youth culture. In this
study, four types of exchange were discerned: (1) experiences and sentiments, (2)
professional knowledge, (3) digital goods (e.g. songs, pictures, software), (4) “money
value”10. Youth discard a materialistic view of friendship or assumptions which tie
exchange with a generalized value (such as money, according to Simmel). Rather than
reducing their virtual activities to its mere utilitarian value, youths’ engagement with
social exchange demonstrates a broad conception of the Internet and points to their
prominence in its emerging culture.
Signified Friendship
Self-representation over the net differs from that of face-to-face relations. Over the
net, the individual is anonymous, which enables social moratorium. By discussing the
symbolic and iconographic culture forged by surfers, I demonstrate how nicknames
(“nicks”), avatars and linguistic idioms have formed new ways for social
representation over the net. The study shows how youth employed the medium to
create for themselves the means for expressing their abilities, riginality and initiatives.
simulation with which a human being copes with the complexity of the post modern world.
9
This characteristic is central as the basis for the new economy, see OECD report, Hedberg,2000.
10
This pertains to the exchange of goods which bear an “offline value” (e.g. guitar lessons, used
computer hardware). Among youth, the value of these exchanged items are derived from negotiation
between the offline value of these goods and a semi-barter system among online peers which is based
on the virtual community’s resources of trust and fraternity, rather then institutional trust formed by e-
commerce.
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22. Adolescents used humoristic, fantastic or macabre means to control social
representation and to create a playful-public performance.
Offline, a change in personal appearance in considered dramatic and may challenge
cultural norms and taboos. Therefore, changes in conventional signals of identity such
as intonation and voice pitch, facial features, body image, non-verbal cues, dress and
demeanor may induce negative responses (Danet, 1996). In contrast, on the Internet
youngsters experiment with new identities, acquaintances and social experiences with
minimal social sanctions. They form meaningful relations with new and old friends,
improve their social skills on the net and engage in various personality traits and
conflicting social roles (e.g. young/old, popular/marginal, layman/professional,
man/woman).
Spontaneous and Diffuse Friendship
In the age of the Internet, new concepts of "virtual friendship" have emerged which
can be characterized by diffusion and spontaneity. In contrast to face-to-face
relationships and institutional relations (schools, boarding schools and other
traditional organizations), over the net friendship alliances do not require affiliation to
a defined and ascribed social group, but rather to the initiatives and virtuosity of the
individual (linguistic-rhetorical, technological and/or iconographical). This enables
another channel to expand the circles of friendship for adolescents.
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23. Friendship in the Public Sphere
Studies of friendship relations from a socio-historic perspective described a modern
separation between the public sphere, which has been perceived as a rationalized and
impersonal space, and the private sphere which fosters personal relationships
including friendship (Giddens, 1992; Silver, 1990). This study demonstrates how
adolescent surfers exchange sentiments and personal expressions and gradually
transfer them from the private to the public sphere (and vice versa). Moreover, it has
been observed how youth turn to the public sphere to obtain advice, ideas, profess
their feelings and experiences, apologize, support others and apply various forms of
exchange. Accordingly, intimate communications become a widespread practice
among surfers in public environments of the net. Sheltered by anonymity, strangers
reveal personal secrets, sentiments and ideas which in the past were reserved for close
friends and loved ones. In this sense, the meanings of “friendship” and “the stranger”
are often blurred in cyberspace. Often, adolescent interviewees did not know how to
define their interlocutors on the Internet and to refer to them as “friend” or
“companion” (in Hebrew “Yadid” or “Haver”). Nevertheless, they could account in
great detail personal characteristics and anecdotes of people they were in contact with
(in newsgroups, on the instant messengers and such). In this sense, we can discern a
gap between the concept and consciousness of friendship on the one hand, and
adolescents friendship practices on the other.
New friendship relations forged on the net encounters and acquaintance with the
“other”, while enabling an expansion of interpersonal relationships to include the
public sphere. In this way, online friendships coincide with other developments that
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24. have occurred in contemporary society on television and the electronic media11 and
appropriate sentiments from the private and interpersonal to the public sphere.
***
The Internet can be viewed as innovative and has changed the face of relationships,
behaviors and youth culture. This rapidly-changing technology has introduced youth
to new stimulations, tests and possibilities. This encounter has led to creativity and a
vibrant social dynamic among adolescents. In the past, a significant part of social
research pointed to the damaging effects of modernity. These studies discussed the
alienation between the individual and society and used terms such as “risk society”
“social fragmentation” or “globalization” to describe these effects (Beck,1992; Miles,
2000; Wolin,1984).
In this context, two targets were identified to magnify these perceived effect: youth
and the new technology. Adolescents were often described as dependent, hedonistic
and rebellious (see for example Griffin,1993; Springhall,1986); while the new
technology was often depicted as vague, morally ”depraved”, inciting antagonistic
relations and distorted relations (Beninger, 1986; Kraut et. al. 1998; Lea et. al. 1992;
Young, 1998).
An analysis of the Israeli case of youth’s net culture and their social meanings
challenges these assumptions. Young people are born into advanced technology,
navigate within its technical abilities and create elaborate systems of meaning which
can be transformed to cultural, social and economic resources. In this context, new
11
This refers to radio and television programs that broadcase interviewees that openly profess their
personal feelings and anecdotes (see Illouz, 2003).In this sense, the transference to the public sphere
demonstrates the deconstruction of the meanings of friendship in contemporary society.
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25. research which focuses upon “open source software”, “wiki communities”, social
movements and cults which are established over the net or even attempts at launching
democratic systems in cyberspace, all demonstrate how activity over the net enables
an expansion of social reality and cooperation between “strangers” and unexpected
participants to create new digital products. Future research should address the
potential of youthful activity over the net, and investigate the implications of self
socialization on the new cultural developments of youth, the creation of new modes of
authority among adolescents which control these futuristic mediums ahead of other
social groups.
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