Growing up in the era of social media isn’t easy. With Facebook now having existed for more 109 than a decade and a half, young people who have grown up using social media can look back and see earlier versions of themselves staring back: nostalgic moments with friends from school, reminders of painful breakups, birthdays and graduations, posts that allude to drama with family, experiences of travel, and blurry drunken photos. How do we make sense of our own personal histories inscribed on and through social media? What are the implications for future careers, for public trust in social media companies, and for our own memories? G r Growing up on Facebook examines the role of Facebook, and other social media platforms that o have emerged around Facebook, in mediating experiences of ‘growing up’ for young people. w Based on interviews with the first generation of young people to grow up with social media, the book covers education and employment, love and relationships, family life, and leisure i n (drinking, travel, and music). It touches on processes of impression management, privacy, G context collapse, and control, and raises critical questions about the standards we hold social media platforms to, as they become the guardians of our personal histories. u p The book will appeal to both academic and general audiences alike. Students and scholars in o media and communications, the sociology of youth, and beyond, will find strong connections to n the literature and acknowledgement of the methodological detail of the study the book is based on. The themes and issues covered in the book are also of broader interest, and will appeal to F people who have themselves grown up in the era of social media, to parents, educators, anyone a interested in how we look back at social media as a personal memory archive. c e “Robards and Lincoln’s book sets new agendas for the study of social media and new questions b for those interested in young people’s lives.” —Johanna Wyn, The University of Melbourne o o “This engaging book reveals what happens to human development as it is enveloped in the k architecture of platforms. Robards and Lincoln offer remarkable insights on life, love and maintaining a sense of self while growing up, on Facebook and off.”—ZiZi PaPacharissi, r University of illinois at chicago o b a “A deeply nuanced look at the impacts of popular social media technologies.”—alice e. r d MarWick, University of north carolina, chapel hill s / “Robards and Lincoln insightfully peel back the contextual subtleties of identity work in the L i digital age.”—sonia livingsTone, london school of economics and Political science n c o Brady roBards (Phd, griffith University, australia) is a senior lecturer in sociology at L n Monash University. siân lincoln (Phd, Manchester Metropolitan University, United kingdom) is an independent scholar. P e t e r L a n g www.peterlang.com “Cover by Paul tuller” 9781433142741_cvr_eu_SC.indd All Pages 11-May-20 19:03:44 Growing up in the era of social media isn’t easy. With Facebook now having existed for more 109 than a decade and a half, young people who have grown up using social media can look back and see earlier versions of themselves staring back: nostalgic moments with friends from school, reminders of painful breakups, birthdays and graduations, posts that allude to drama with family, experiences of travel, and blurry drunken photos. How do we make sense of our own personal histories inscribed on and through social media? What are the implications for future careers, for public trust in social media companies, and for our own memories? G r Growing up on Facebook examines the role of Facebook, and other social media platforms that o have emerged around Facebook, in mediating experiences of ‘growing up’ for young people. w Based on interviews with the first generation of young people to grow up with social media, the book covers education and employment, love and relationships, family life, and leisure i n (drinking, travel, and music). It touches on processes of impression management, privacy, G context collapse, and control, and raises critical questions about the standards we hold social media platforms to, as they become the guardians of our personal histories. u p The book will appeal to both academic and general audiences alike. Students and scholars in o media and communications, the sociology of youth, and beyond, will find strong connections to n the literature and acknowledgement of the methodological detail of the study the book is based on. The themes and issues covered in the book are also of broader interest, and will appeal to F people who have themselves grown up in the era of social media, to parents, educators, anyone a interested in how we look back at social media as a personal memory archive. c e “Robards and Lincoln’s book sets new agendas for the study of social media and new questions b for those interested in young people’s lives.” —Johanna Wyn, The University of Melbourne o o “This engaging book reveals what happens to human development as it is enveloped in the k amrcahinitteacintuinrge ao fs epnlastef oorfm sse. lfR wobhailred sg raonwdin gL inucpo, lonn o Fffaecre breomoka raknadb leo ffin.”s—igZhitZs i oPna Pliafec, hloavrei sasnid, r University of illinois at chicago o b a “A deeply nuanced look at the impacts of popular social media technologies.”—alice e. r d MarWick, University of north carolina, chapel hill s / “Robards and Lincoln insightfully peel back the contextual subtleties of identity work in the L i digital age.”—sonia livingsTone, london school of economics and Political science n c o Brady roBards (Phd, griffith University, australia) is a senior lecturer in sociology at L n Monash University. siân lincoln (Phd, Manchester Metropolitan University, United kingdom) is an independent scholar. P e t e r L a n g www.peterlang.com “Cover by Paul tuller” 11-May-20 19:03:44 Advance Praise for Growing up on Facebook “Growing up on Facebook is an insightful analysis of how the pioneers of social media live, curate and contest Facebook. This book exposes their engagement with networked publics, involving curated acts of presence and absence, connection and disconnection to archive the changing shape of young adulthood. With young people’s reflections at the centre of their analysis, Brady Robards and Siân Lincoln’s book sets new agendas for the study of social media and new ques- tions for those interested in young people’s lives.” —Johanna Wyn, Redmond Barry Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Youth Research Centre, The University of Melbourne “Unlike generations which grew up with TV, radio, and movies, to grow up on Facebook means that one’s life is sustained and somewhat enabled by a medium. This engaging book reveals what happens to human development as it is enveloped in the architecture of platforms. Brady Robards and Siân Lincoln offer remarkable insights on life, love and maintaining a sense of self while growing up, on Facebook and off.” —Zizi Papacharissi, Professor and Head of Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago “A deeply nuanced look at the impacts of popular social media technologies. In a media envi- ronment dominated by breaking news and hot takes, Growing up on Facebook takes a serious examination of the longer-term effects of social media, looking at how young people’s identities and relationships are constructed through and with the platform. Drawing from cutting-edge media theory and rich empirical data, the stories told by Brady Robards and Siân Lincoln reveal how we grapple with a platform that archives our most personal digital interactions.” —Alice E. Marwick, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication & Principal Researcher, Center for Information, Technology and Public Life, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill “How would it feel to be faced with your Facebook Timeline? By asking young people to reflect on their past and present selves, whether shown on or, significantly, often hidden from the platform, Brady Robards and Siân Lincoln insightfully peel back the contextual subtleties of identity work in the digital age.” —Sonia Livingstone, Professor of Social Psychology, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science Growing up on Facebook Steve Jones General Editor Vol. 109 The Digital Formations series is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list. Every volume is peer reviewed and meets the highest quality standards for content and production. PETER LANG New York • Bern • Berlin Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw Brady Robards and Siân Lincoln Growing up on Facebook PETER LANG New York • Bern • Berlin Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Robards, Brady, author. | Lincoln, Siân, author. Title: Growing up on facebook / Brady Robards and Siân Lincoln. Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2020. Series: Digital formations, vol. 109 | ISSN 1526-3169 Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019040516 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4275-8 (hardback: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4331-4274-1 (paperback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4276-5 (ebook pdf) ISBN 978-1-4331-4277-2 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4278-9 (mobi) Subjects: LCSH: Facebook (Electronic resource) | Social media—Social aspects. | Internet and youth. | Youth—Social conditions. Classification: LCC HM743.F33 R64 2020 | DDC 004.67/80835—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019040516 DOI 10.3726/b16323       Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.               © 2020 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006 www.peterlang.com   All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited. Contents Acknowledgements vii Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Is Facebook Still Cool? Was It Ever? 13 Chapter Three: Sites and Spaces of Growing Up: Blurring the Digital and Physical 27 Chapter Four: Scrolling Back through Facebook Timelines: Making Sense of Digital Traces 51 Chapter Five: Shaping and Performing Professional Identities: From Education to Employment 77 Chapter Six: Love, and Making It ‘Facebook Official’ 101 Chapter Seven: Mediating Family Life 125 Chapter Eight: Documenting Leisure: Partying, Travel, Music, and Hanging Out 147 Chapter Nine: Disconnections, Absences, Conclusions 169 About the Authors 189 Index 191