Context Collapse and Student Social Media Networks

Abstract

This study examines the intersection of high school students' in-school and out-of-school communities in a social media context. Students in two classes (10th and 12th grade) participated in a 3-day unit about social media networks and context collapse. During this unit, they diagrammed their communities and social media tool networks and discussed related issues governing how they use social media in and out of school. Findings show that high school students experience context collapse, but do not view it as a negative occurrence so much as an expected one in networked digital environments. They are adept at managing context collapse, and use a variety of means to communicate online with different groups of people. Specifically, they maintain technological lines of separation between their family and other groups, and they relegate digital interactions with their closest friends to more private spaces than the ones that social networking tools afford.