Jóvenes, tecnología y cambio; ¿Comprendiendo el sistema?

This paper begins by offering a brief outline of recent societal changes, emphasising the powerful, global impact of the arrival of information technology in all our lives. It then examines the research evidence about the positive and negative influences of information technology on young people, presenting findings on the following aspects of information technology: • As a leisure time activity• As a source of information• For social networking The paper concludes by suggesting what the findings may mean for parents and those who work professionally with young people; why it is important to utilise a systemic framework in analysing the issues and by suggesting a range of possible approaches and interventions to improve the usage of information technology by both young people and adults.Este artículo comienza ofreciendo una visión general somera de los cambios sociales recientes, destacando el fuerte impacto global de la llegada de la tecnología de la información a nuestras vidas. A continuación, examina la evidencia de la investigación sobre las influencias positivas y negativas de la tecnología de la información en los jóvenes, aportando hallazgos sobre los siguientes aspectos de la misma: • Como actividad de tiempo libre• Como fuente de información• Para las relaciones sociales El documento concluye sugiriendo lo que los resultados pueden significar para los progenitores y para los que trabajan profesionalmente con los jóvenes; por qué es importante utilizar un marco sistémico en el análisis de los problemas, y propone una serie de posibles enfoques e intervenciones para mejorar el uso de tecnologías de la información por parte de jóvenes y adultos

An elaboration of non-linear, non-ergodic and self-organizing processes.: Understanding the bumps and jumps in adolescent development

Adolescent development is characterized by turbulence and irregularity. Developmental processes in adolescence take place at different domains at the same time and these domains influence each other in complex ways. Some processes take place at high speed, while others are slow, and in some domains no development is visible. Moreover, this development takes place in an environment that is complex and changing as well. As a result developmental trajectories in individuals are characterized by fluctuations, bumps, regressive periods, and other seemingly chaotic patterns. The common approach to development tends to focus on normative development and in development in subgroups, and often neglects the irregularities of developmental processes as resulting from random influences and noise, and our methodology is not well suited to grasp jumping and bumping adolescent development. However, these irregularities are at the core of the developmental processes, and we miss a lot of relevant knowledge if we ignore them. In this chapter I elaborate that to understand the characteristics of these developmental processes we need another conceptual framework - the dynamic systems perspective - and related to that, other methods to analyze these processes. I discuss the theoretical implications of a complex dynamic approach that can help us to get more profound insight in the developmental processes. I focus on three different but related characteristics of the developmental process: non-linearity, non-ergodicity, and self-organization. The most important consequence of each of these three characteristics is that we need to study individual development. To start with, I therefore elaborate how our knowledge expands if we focus on intra individual dynamic processes. The three types of studies I describe coincide with the more general phases in the research in developmental psychology (see Côté, this volume). In the first phase theories intended to describe normative, population-level development; in the second phase these theories were criticized for not identifying group differences and interaction effects. In this phase much research focus on these differences/effects; in the third phase, emerging in the last decades, ways of thinking came up that stated that the previous approaches neglected the intra-individual developmental processes that follow different principles. Today, we see research belonging to each of these phases, as illustrated in the first section of the chapter

Bringing down the curtain

In this last chapter, all four authors independently comment on how, if at all, it might be possible to reconcile the different standpoints of stage and ecological theory. Arnett argues for one stage, many paths. That is, emerging adulthood is experienced by most young people in industrialized countries, but the specific path they take varies widely by country, culture, social class, ethnicity, and gender. Kloep views Arnett\u27s concept of emerging adulthood not as a theory, but merely an observation that the behavior of young people under certain circumstances has changed compared to earlier generations. However, it might be an important step towards creating a more radical change; namely, abolishing stage theories altogether! Tanner emphasized the value of integrating stage and systems perspectives in understanding development, including emerging adult development. Hendry engages in a fictitious game of tennis in order to demonstrate the weaknesses (and more positive elements) in Arnett and Tanner\u27s arguments. The pathways to adult status, he argues, are more varied and complex than can be described by an essentially descriptive model. Only by linking with a multi-level, ecological theory could the nuances of different trajectories to adulthood be truly understood

The Curtain rises: A Brief overview of the book

The first chapter provides some background and some information on the two contending approaches debated in the book. Demographic and economic changes influencing the lives of young people in recent decades are noted. The limitations of 20th-century stage theories are described (e.g., Erikson, Havighurst). Then the two theoretical approaches of this book are presented. Arnett\u27s and Tanner\u27s approach presents emerging adulthood as a new life stage, distinct from the adolescence that precedes it or the young adulthood that follows, but also emphasizes that there are many paths through emerging adulthood depending on culture, social class, ethnicity, and gender. In contrast, Kloep and Hendry argue against stage theories generally and emerging adulthood in particular, favoring instead an understanding of development that focuses on processes

Debating emerging adulthood: Stage or process?

In this book two pairs of developmental psychologists take sides in a spirited debate over the theory of emerging adulthood, Jeffrey Arnett\u27s proposal that a new life stage has developed in between adolescence and young adulthood, lasting roughly from ages 18 to 25. Arnett and Jennifer Tanner argue that as young people around the world share demographic similarities such as longer education and later marriage, the 18-25 age period is best understood as entailing the rise of a new life stage of emerging adulthood. However, because the experiences of emerging adults worldwide vary according to cultural context, educational attainment, and social class, Arnett and Tanner suggest that there may not be one but many different emerging adulthoods. An important issue for this burgeoning area of inquiry is to explore and describe this variation. In contrast, Marion Kloep and Leo Hendry assert that stage theories have never been able to explain individual transitions across the life course; in their view, stage theories-including the theory of emerging adulthood--ought to be abolished altogether, and explanations found for the processes and mechanisms that govern human change at any age. This book provides the argument of stage or process in full-force, with vigorous disagreements, conflicting alternatives, some leavening humor, and ultimately even some common ground