Call for Papers: “Young People and New Media”

Abstract

The prevalence of media use among children and adolescents clearly demonstrates its prominence in their daily activities. Recent US surveys suggest that young people aged 8–18 years spend, on average, 10–11 hr per day with some form of media for leisure and academic purposes. Increases in media use have been attributed to children’s and adolescents’ engagement with new media such as the Internet, mobile phones, and interactive television. One popular media activity that young people engage in is playing computer games, but the strong appeal of digital game play has given rise to concerns about the impact of game play on child and adolescent players. This interest, however, has yet to give rise to a strong body of psychology research examining the positive impact of game play on the social and cognitive development of young people. One possible reason for the limited research is the speed with which new media technology is introduced. The rapid development of new media is fueled by commercial interests that want to access young people and influence their behavior as consumers. Most young people have free or cheap access to media because this is paid for by the advertising and marketing, but there has been little research into young people’s understanding of the commercial aspects of the media they use so extensively. In particular, computer games have prompted criticism because of the way such games engage children who, in turn, effectively act as marketers as they share games through social networks. The title of this special issue of the Zeitschrift fur Psychologie is ‘‘Young people and new media.’’ By young people, we refer to children and adolescents under the age of 18 years. The topical issue will include different aspects of young people and new media and we will consider any papers on this topic. However, we intend the focus of the issue to be on one of the most important aspects of young people’s new media use – that is, psychological research into media-based games. We therefore seek original empirical, theoretical, and review-type articles that address young people’s social and/or cognitive behavior in the context of new media-based games. Games-related topics could include the effects of games on young people’s informal and formal academic learning, or on the development of specific cognitive skills. Other topics might be the role of computer games in promoting physical exercise (e.g., exergames) or in marketing products (e.g., advergames). We welcome suggestions for papers that review these or similar topics in the context of psychological and developmental theories. For additional information, please contact the guest editors: Mark Blades (m.blades@sheffield.ac.uk), or Fran Blumberg (blumberg@fordham.edu), or Caroline Oates (c.j.oates@sheffield.ac.uk). There is a two-stage submissions process. Initially, authors are requested to submit only an abstract of their proposed paper. There will be space in the topical issue for about five review/original papers. Submission of shorter research notes and opinion papers is also welcome. Articles will be selected on the basis of the most appropriate abstracts. Authors invited to submit full papers should then do so. All papers will undergo full peer review. Please submit abstracts electronically to Mark Blades (m.blades@sheffield.ac.uk).