The use of new media technologies by teens has been looked at with much apprehension and suspicion with some saying that the technologies can be used to acquire information which can be detrimental to the social and psychological growth of teens. Some teachers complain that it affects teens’ academics as these teenagers stay up late in the night surfing the Internet, chatting, watching
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movies and playing games which cause them to sleep in class or pay little attention because of tiredness or lack of sleep the previous night.
In Ghana, students up to senior high school level are not allowed to use personal mobile phones, laptops and other new media gadgets in school (see figure 1.1) because of implications such as those enumerated above. On the other hand, some, including those in prominent positions in government, have called for a rethink of such a directive by the Ministry of Education. In a report by Zainabu Issah in the August 15, 2013 edition of the Daily Graphic, the Director of ICT of the Ghana Education Service, Francis Avugbey, held that the Ghana Education Service reconsiders the ban on the use of mobile phones in schools. He made this call during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop for a committee of experts who were charged with updating the National ICT in Education Policy. He backed his stance with the claim that mobile phone affords students the opportunity to do independent studies and to network with the global community through various social networking sites.
Francis Avugbey mentioned that modern day ICT had moved from desktop machines to mobile phones which are handy and more accessible, making it the first-choice gadget for any research work. He also said banning the use of mobile phones will make it difficult for students to study as they would experience research constraints. But the questions begging for an answer are how teens are appropriating new media technologies and what possible implications this has on their lives.
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Figure 1. 1: Cautionary notice on the prohibition of mobile phone usage during school hours hanging on a wall of one of the study sites (Ideal College)1
The uncertainty about what teenagers precisely use new media technologies for has raised eyebrows about the probable negative influence of such technologies with many suggesting that parents set up realistic media guidelines such as prohibiting new media, such as computers and mobile phones, in the bedrooms of teenagers (McKee 2012). This uncertainty makes it important to establish how e-teens are appropriating new media technologies and what possible benefits or effects that brings to them through an empirical study such as this one.
1 This was found on entering the campus of Ideal College, one of the study sites for this research. There were a number of them displayed on strategically conspicuous walls of the school compound to reiterate the point of no use of mobile phones in the school.
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A lot of studies have been conducted on appropriation of technology, including new media technologies among young people (Carroll et al. 2001; Jenkins et al. 2006; Anderson 2003 &
Rheingold 2008; Malik, Dhir, & Nieminen 2016; Florenthal 2015; Sheldon & Bryant 2016;
Pittman & Sheehan 2015; Mahmud, Ab Rahim & Miskon 2016; Albayrak & Yildirim 2015; Aluri
& Tucker 2015; Muraina, Osman, Ahmad, Ibrahim & Yusof 2016; Pruet, Ang & Farzin 2016) with less concentration on Ghanaian teens. Markwei and Appiah (2016) report that a review of the literature shows limited empirical studies investigating the use of new media by youth in Ghana [including e-teens]. They mention that the bulk of literature merely relates to ordinary Ghanaians and opinion leaders discussing the undesirable effects of social media in the print media. This, without a doubt, makes a case for a thorough empirical exercise such as this. Most of them have also been based on general theories and models on technology use and appropriation, such as Uses and Gratifications Theory, Media Systems Dependency theory and Model of Technology Appropriation which considers every user of technology as homogenous. This study, however, takes a different line of attack to some degree.
Again, the author of this study considers e-teens as one set of new media users who have different characteristics, attitudes, motivations and needs concerning new media use and therefore have to be studied in a different context than any other group. E-teens, to a large extent, have been born into an epoch of prevalent technology and have the likelihood of being able to appropriate new media technologies inversely and possibly have different uses and gratifications needs.
Consequently, this study, lengthily, dwells on previous literature and theories on how e-teens are appropriating new media technologies in terms of their unique characteristics, attitudes, uses and gratifications sought and level of appropriation to serve as a basis for the development of an e-teen model which is authenticated by collecting primary data with the view to test the model.
Essentially, the argument being put across is that, if researchers continue to use general theories of use and appropriation to study e-teens without considering them as a unique set of new media users as have been done with previous studies, the tendency is that generalised assumptions and conclusions are going to be made. This is why a theoretical model or framework solely suited to this set of new media users becomes expedient. Overall, this study tows a different line, unlike studies on new media technology use and appropriation that are usually grounded in general theories relating to uses and gratifications (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke 2008; Grinter & Eldridge
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2003; Bryant, Sanders-Jackson & Smallwood 2001); Model of Technology Appropriation (Livington 2011; Sey 2011; Johnsson-Smaragdi 2001); and technology acceptance (Rauniar, Rawski, Yang & Johnson 2014; Alt, Seer & Pal 2012). This study critically looks at the unique attributes of the group being studied (e-teens), such as the competency, age and unique developmental needs, and looks at the distinctive attributes of “digital native e-teens”, who are appropriating technologies considered to be highly participatory and interactive and develops a conceptual model tailored to them.
1.3.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
One major shortfall of the theories that explain the adoption of technology is that they are not predictive enough about the different groups of users of the technologies. Also, these theories have not been able to establish a causal relationship between media choice and use for different groups of users, for example, teens (e-teens). The assumptions made are rather generalised, disregarding the varied motivations and competencies of different sets of users. Again, most of the theories looking at the adoption of technology in societal and organisational contexts are noted for not considering how audiences interpret media messages; the economic relationships between media and the user; production processes and the strong impact of media on audience as an interpretation of use.
Another observation is that attention is solely on the individual user of media rather than the content or unique characteristics of media as a motivating factor for media usage. A typical example is a critique of the U & G theory as relying on self-reports rather than observation, which makes a case for the argument in this study. This particular study, to a certain extent, tows a different line by attempting to consider the distinct attribute of “digital native” e-teens who have better knowledge, control and positive attitude towards new media technologies while looking at the exact attractors of new media technologies which will motivate them to use and not merely listing or asking them for their “likely motivations”. This study, therefore, looks at the unique attributes of the technologies which informs use among e-teens. In making conceptualisations for the development of the proposed model, the use of new media technologies in a social context is also considered. The E-teen Model considers that high appropriation (which accounts for extensive new media use) partly occurs in a social context under content sharing, content participation and content participation.
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When new media users are both participants and producers, they have added control over that medium as the lines of producers and consumers are blurred (Meyers 2012) because they get the opportunity to interact with and express themselves more with the technology than being mere consumers. When the user is able to perform this dual role, it is an additional pointer that the user is appropriating the medium quite well. This can result in the capability of the individual users to specially make a choice of medium or media product that best gratifies their needs. It goes without saying that the distinct features of new media technologies make it imperative to study the uses, gratifications and appropriation of new media technologies in an exceptional light by looking at the unique attribute(s) of the medium. Together an attempt is made to find a link between the user and the technology to predict medium usage and what gratifications are sought and met by their use. This is because distinct groups of people use new media technologies differently for various reasons based on which features appeal to them the more and depending on how competent they are in appropriating those technologies (level of appropriation). This thesis highlights motives and gratifications for new media use by e-teens who are considered to be more competent in the use of new media technologies.
The study connects how Ghanaian e-teens (as well as data on e-teens reported in previous studies) use new media technologies with their being “digital natives” who, furthermore, select specific features of the technologies to meet crucial developmental needs. These conceptualisations are then translated into a conceptual model (the e-teen model) explaining new media use and appropriation by e-teens.