Just What Do the Youth of Today Want? Technology Appropriation by Young People

What do young people want from information and communication technology? Why do they adopt some technologies but reject others? What roles do mobile technologies play in their lives as they move from childhood toward the adult world? Working from a social constructionist perspective, and on the basis of an extensive empirical research process, we are gaining insight into the variables heeded by young people during the earliest stages of technology use, stages we call ‘appropriation’. We propose a model that discusses appropriation in terms of the interplay between what young people desire, the capabilities and implications of technology and the situations of use that young people inhabit. Depending on the balance between these factors we are able to observe three outcomes: nonappropriation, appropriation and disappropriation. Conceptually we are describing technology use as a process of ‘personal construction’, quite different to the ‘construction’ processes followed by the designer, but nevertheless equally important.