The secret life of teens: online versus offline photographic displays at home

Abstract

In this article we describe findings from a recent study in which we interviewed four British teenage girls about their photo display practices, online and offline, in family homes. We adopted a phenomenological approach to inquiry, with a particular interest in exploring how photographic representations of self and family signal self-development in emerging adulthood. Findings reveal how teens portrayed themselves differently to friends, online, and family, offline. Self-presentation to peers through photographs was managed separately from the family and largely free from parental control. The separate, online domain was used to explore alternative self-representations with real friends. Our findings appear to signal changing politics of photograph ownership and family representation between the generations.

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