ABSTRACT
Internet research with young people opens up empirically rich, salient opportunities for the exploration of online cultures. However, it simultaneously presents a myriad of ethical complexities, particularly in terms of the potential to cause harm (Quinton and Reynolds, 2018). Human research ethics committees (HRECs) and institutional review boards (IRBs) guide researchers to respect and preserve the rights and dignity of young research participants, though our efforts to do no harm may, in a convoluted manner, result in our doing just that. Drawing from empirical data gathered from my previous research into young people’s intimate and sexual Tumblr practices, this chapter poses a counterargument to a dominant framework around the conceptualisation of youth as inherently ‘at-risk’ or ‘vulnerable’. The sociological concept of ‘edgework’ (Lyng, 1990, 2004), wherein individuals voluntarily and successfully engage in dangerous activities by utilising their knowledge, experience and skills, is drawn from to show how some young people online should not be conceptualised as vulnerable but rather as being ‘competent’ in their exposure to risk. Young people’s competency in managing online risks stems not from some supposed inherent familiarity with digital technology but through a constant process of learning to successfully negotiate risk.
