Youth and digital media: A policy research agenda

At a time when researchers are still sorting out the complex relationship b etween adolescents and the mass media, the entire nature of the media syste m is undergoing dramatic change. The explosive growth of the Internet is us hering in a new digital media culture. Youth are embracing the new technolo gies much more rapidly than adults. In addition, because of their increased spending power, youth have become a valuable target market for advertisers . These trends have spurred the proliferation of Web sites and other forms of new-media content specifically designed for teens and children. The burg eoning digital marketplace has spawned a new generation of market research companies, and market research on children and youth is outpacing academic research on youth and the newer media. The emergence of this new media cult ure holds both promise and peril for youth. Whether the positive or negativ e vision of the digital future prevails will be determined, in large part, by decisions being made now and in the next few years in the halls of gover nment and in corporate boardrooms. Research has contributed to the resoluti ons of several recent legislative and policy decisions in areas including t elevision violence and the V-chip, children's educational television progra mming, and privacy and marketing to children on the Web. Future research ne eds to be designed with the public policy agenda in mind. The academic comm unity has much to contribute to the debates over new developments in the di gital age. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2000.