TV Teens Online

So I’ve been watching the new season of “Degrassi: The Next Generation” and as usual, they’re dealing with interesting issues. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, “Degrassi” is a Canadian show about a group of teens in Toronto who go to a school called Degrassi, and the crazy stuff that happens to them. The tend to deal with a wide range of social issues, and the tagline for the show is “Degrassi: it goes there.” So far this season we’ve had street-racing, jail, dating a co-worker, teen mothers, and the sexual problems faced by paraplegics. They just finished a two-part episode dealing with teens and internet safety and privacy, which I found really interesting. The premise of the story was that goody-goody Christian cheerleader Darcy (with the help of resident creep and all-around jackass Peter) starts posting sexy pics of herself on her blog in order to raise money for the cheerleading team. Peter tells Darcy that he has a friend who likes to read her blog, and this friend ends up being their benefactor of sorts. Although the pictures were password protected, some students hacked in and downloaded them, plus it turns out Peter’s friend was just some random guy he met in a chatroom, who later shows up at Darcy’s house, scaring the hell out of her.
That may have been a bit convoluted so I hope it made some sense. But anyway, the point is that, this is the third storyline that the show has done concerning teens and the internet and they all seem to have the same moral: the internet = extreme danger and exploitation for teenage girls. Although people need to be aware of the dangers out there, from “Degrassi” to Lifetime Original Movies, this seems to be the only representation of teens and internet use on TV. I’m also curious as to why these representations focus on girls, and what kind of work that’s doing. It seems to play into notions of women not being good with technology, especially since their exploitation comes at the hands of men who are more technologically savvy. Perhaps the negative consequences that these female characters experience are a form of punishment for treading into a male territory that they’re supposedly not equipped to handle. Teen internet use is a lot more complex than just these representations of extreme danger. For many teenagers, blogging and social networking sites like myspace are integral parts of their lives. Using the internet in this way is obviously doing something for them, and some of it is likely positive and affirming, rather than dangerous and scary.