ABSTRACT
Amy Jordan, University of Pennsylvania
This chapter examines children’s development in an era that allows them to be permanently online and permanently connected. It focuses on the early adolescent years, approximately ages 9 to 12, as a particularly important but understudied stage in which children are becoming more autonomous from their parents and more socially integrated with their peers. The chapter begins with an overview of how young adolescents use digital media technologies. It then examines research on the role of digital media for the cognitive and social development of early adolescents. It concludes by highlighting the gaps in our understanding of media effects at this stage of life in an era in which adolescents are able to be permanently online and permanently connected, and suggests opportunities for future research.
