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DMLcentral Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
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Youth Online Activity and Exposure to Diverse Perspectives
Joseph Kahne Mills College [email protected]
Ellen Middaugh Mills College [email protected]
Nam-Jin Lee College of Charleston [email protected]
Jessica Timpany Feezell University of California, Santa Barbara [email protected]
Y o u th O n lin e A c tiv ity a n d E x p o su re to D iv e rse P e rsp e c tiv e s
Joseph Kahne Mills College [email protected] Ellen Middaugh Mills College [email protected] Nam-Jin Lee College of Charleston [email protected] Jessica Timpany Feezell University of California, Santa Barbara [email protected]
December 9, 2010
Paper under review
Acknowledgements: We are enormously grateful to many individuals and institutions for their support of this work. The MacArthur Foundation and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Education (CIRCLE) provided funding that enabled this work. Chris Evans played a significant role related to the implementation of this study. Of course, despite all this help, we take full responsibility for our analysis and conclusions.
YOUTH ONLINE ACTIVITY AND EXPOSURE TO DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES / !" "
DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
A b stra c t Some see the Internet as a means of exposure to divergent perspectives,
while others believe that it is likely to foster echo chambers. We agree that it
is important to attend to these possibilities, but we find that this discussion is
often framed inappropriately. Drawing on a unique panel survey of the online
practices of youth (ages 16–21) and on their civic and political engagement,
we find that most youth are not consistently exposed to echo chambers or
divergent perspectives. Rather, we find that most youth are exposed to views
that align with and diverge from their own, or they are exposed to neither. We
also find that political interest, particular forms of online participation, and
digital media literacy education can promote greater exposure to these
diverse perspectives.
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
Y o u th O n lin e A c tiv ity a n d E x p o su re
to D iv e rse P e rsp e c tiv e s Most big changes bring optimistic and pessimistic predictions.
Hypotheses regarding the Internet’s impact on democratic politics are no
exception. Optimists have argued that the Internet provides unprecedented
opportunities to engage with diverse publics (e.g., Rheingold, 2000). They
predict that individuals will now encounter a wide range of information and
perspectives. Others argue just the opposite. By enabling individuals to better
select what they are exposed to, some believe Internet users will encounter
what Negroponte labeled “the Daily Me,” where one encounters only the
individuals, information, and perspectives in which she is interested. Indeed,
commentators have expressed concern that Internet use will lead to isolation
in enclaves of like-minded individuals (Sunstein, 2001). Participants will enter
echochambers in a process sometimes called “Cyberbalkinization.”
Interest in these possibilities stems from the newness of the Internet,
concerns that there is increasing polarization within society, and the belief that
exposure to diverse perspectives on civic and political topics is fundamentally
important. Indeed, political theorists have long extolled exposure to a wide
range of perspectives as an essential support for a free and democratic society
(e.g., Dewey, 1916; Arendt, 1968; Habermas, 1989). Perhaps most notably, J.S.
Mill (1989/1859) viewed such exposure as essential if one was to pursue truth
and to have confidence in one’s opinions.
One relatively distinct aspect of this study is its focus on youth (aged 16–
21). Interest in this population stems from several factors. First, youth are
heavy users and early adopters of digital media (Krueger, 2002; Mossberger et
al., 2008). Youth also commonly use digital media in connection with civic and
political issues. During the 2008 presidential campaign, 41% of those aged 18–
29 watched candidate interviews, debates, speeches, and commercials online
without the filter of mainstream media. Indeed, when it comes to use of the
Web, there is a generational divide. While 37% of those aged 18–24 obtained
campaign information from social networking sites (more than from
newspapers), only 4% aged 30–39 did so. For older citizens, these numbers
drop still further (Kohut, 2008). Thus, youth practices are a logical focus when
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
assessing the civic and political significance of digital media and the nature of
future engagement in this fast-changing domain.
The focus on youth also makes sense because late adolescence is a time
of significant civic and political identity development (Erikson, 1968). It is a
time when many youth consider and invest in particular social, political, and
moral ideologies. Not unrelated, this is also a time when schools, colleges,
youth organizations, religious groups, and parents make explicit and
structured attempts to influence and support civic and political socialization.
It seems quite possible that when youth are given structured opportunities to
develop online abilities and to enact desired online practices, they may
become more likely to enact such practices on their own. Studying whether
youth take advantage of these opportunities is important, given that many
youth lack the skills needed to fully tap the potential of online environments
and that these skills are often inequitably distributed along lines of race, class,
and gender (Hargittai, 2010).
Will the Internet lead to echo chambers or facilitate exposure to
divergent views? One common hypothesis is that the Internet will result in
individuals customizing what they see and do in ways that promote a socially
isolating Daily Me. For example, Cass Sunstein (2001) writes that the ability of
individuals to customize their interests and preferences will lead them to
ignore many public interests that are not of personal concern. This may mean,
for example, that individuals increasingly watch, read, or comment in forums
that align with their perspectives, and it may mean that there are fewer forums
that speak to a broad and diverse public. Making a related argument, Paul Star
(2010) posits that when people read a paper for the sports coverage or to do a
crossword puzzle, they still read the front page and are exposed to news
about their community and the broader society. Currently, Star argues,
individuals can go online and focus only on their primary interests, lessening
broad-based exposure to public issues.
Others posit an alternative hypothesis. Participation in online
communities and activities related to personal interests such as hobbies or
sports may foster broader networks and more diverse connections. Howard
Rheingold (2000) argues that those who share a given interest are, in other
respects, often quite different. He contrasts this with geographic communities,
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in which many people share similar experiences and, often, social and political
perspectives (see Bishop, 2009 for details on geographically based ideological
segregation). As a result, these online interest-driven communities may be
more heterogeneous with respect to race, gender, and age than face-to-face
communities. Indeed, Henry Jenkins (2010) has argued that, when it comes to
the development of social capital, online interest-driven participatory cultures
may provide today what bowling leagues provided in prior eras: communities
where diverse individuals interact and form social capital.
Studies of factors influencing exposure to civic and political
perspectives
Recent empirical work sheds light on ways that media practices and
online practices, in particular, may influence exposure to diverse perspectives.
Scholars find that when the capacity for selecting where one gets one’s news
increases, exposure to views that diverge from one’s own is likely to decrease
(Mutz and Martin, 2001). Since the Internet enhances the capacity for
selectivity, one might assume that it will diminish exposure to different points
of view and thus, potentially, make echo chambers more likely. However, the
relationship between capacity for selectivity and exposure to divergent views
appears to be weak in online settings, suggesting that selectivity functions
differently online. For example, Garrett (2009) found that selectivity online
only marginally diminished exposure to perspectives that challenge an
individual’s previously held opinions. It may be that social boundaries are
weaker online. Online settings provide access to any given interaction to a
larger number and a greater diversity of people. This may make exposure to
views that diverge from one’s own more likely, even when one is seeking to
select their information or their audience. Indeed, Raine, Cornfield, and
Horrigan (2005) found that 50% of internet users reported seeing campaign
information by happenstance during the 2004 presidential election season
when browsing for a different purpose. Consistent with that finding, Horrigan,
Garrett, and Resnick (2004) found that with controls for education and other
influences on political knowledge, Internet use was associated with greater
exposure to diverse political views. Gentzkow and Shapiro (2010) found only a
slight relationship between Internet use and the likelihood that individuals
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would visit sites that dealt with news or politics where other visitors shared
their ideological orientations, but that ideological segregation in
neighborhoods, the workplace, families, and among trusted friends was much
greater. Similarly, Mutz and Martin (2001) found that greater opinion diversity
is available through the Internet than through interpersonal connections and
that individuals have less ability and desire to exercise selective exposure to
news media content than when choosing with whom they interact in a face-to-
face context.
In addition to the role of media, scholars have also examined how
political sophistication and political interest relate to exposure. On one hand,
individuals with higher levels of political sophistication appear more likely to
seek out perspectives that align with their own (Graber, 1984). At the same
time, those who are politically sophisticated are generally also more politically
interested, and so they seek out more news and divergent perspectives. Thus,
political sophistication and political interest appear likely to promote both
increased exposure to views that align with one’s own and more exposure to
views that do not. This likely explains why liberals who frequently visit liberal
sites like http://moveon.org are also more likely to visit
http://www.foxnews.com than the average online news reader. Similarly,
conservatives who frequently visit conservative sites like
http://glennbeck.com are more likely to also visit http://www.nytimes.com
than the average online news reader (Gentzkow and Shapiro, 2010).
R e se a rc h q u e stio n s Due to the importance of exposure to diverse perspectives on civic and
political issues and to our interest in how youth online activities relate to such
exposure, our first research question considers the nature of youth exposure
to varied perspectives in online contexts. We ask: (Research question [RQ]1)
When online, to what degree are youth exposed to views that align with their
own, and to what degree are they exposed to individuals with different
perspectives? Next, since the literature indicates that political interest
influences adults’ exposure to perspectives, we ask: (RQ2) Does a young
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person’s level of political interest influence her exposure online to views that
are similar to or different from her own?
We then examine how different kinds of online activity influence
exposure to perspectives on civic and political issues. Often, studies of the
relationship between digital media and civic and political life focus solely on
politically oriented activities (reading news or blogging about political issues),
overall levels of Internet use, or use of particular platforms (e.g., Facebook). In
this study, we focus on categories of participation that we have reason to
believe may foster exposure to diverse perspectives. In particular, recent work
by Henry Jenkins details both the prevalence of online participatory cultures
and their potential significance for civic and political life (Jenkins et al., 2009).
In online participatory cultures, members create and share their creations with
others, experienced members help the less experienced acquire knowledge
and skills and to solve problems, and participants develop a sense of
connection with one another and with community norms (Jenkins et al., 2009).
Networks that develop out of blogging, gaming communities, or other shared
interests may become conduits for communication and mobilization.
Moreover, these online contexts may create “third spaces” (spaces that are
structured neither by work nor by family and friends) where, as Stowe Boyd
writes, “people can meet and create those weak ties that make life a richer and
more diverse place … we can let off steam, argue about the local politics or
sports and make sense of the world” (in Steinkuehler, 2005).
When conceptualizing the potential civic and political significance of
online participatory activities in relation to exposure to diverse perspectives
online, we think it is important to distinguish between the foci that drive these
activities. In particular, we distinguish between politically driven, nonpolitical
interest-driven, and friendship-driven participation. These distinctions are
prompted by the findings of Ito et al. (2010) regarding the differing
developmental opportunities for youth provided by these differing forms of
participation.
Politically driven online participation receives frequent attention from
scholars. Such participation includes discussing issues, seeking out and
producing information about issues, and communicating with others online
about civic or political issues. Given that such interaction and exploration
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necessarily involves perspectives on civic and political issues, we expect that
these activities lead individuals to be exposed to diverse perspectives.
In this study we also examine nonpolitical interest-driven activity. Such
online activity enables youth to pursue interests in hobbies, popular culture,
new technology, games, and sports (Ito et al., 2010). Rather than passively
consuming content circulated online, participants produce online materials,
generate ideas, provide feedback, and participate in online community
activities. While these online activities are not political in nature, they are
social, and they have the potential to bring together people who share an
interest in a hobby but who have varied political views. Furthermore, the
highly interactive and social natures of these activities potentially create
opportunities for political discussion to emerge. Indeed, Wojcieszak and Mutz
(2009) find that exposure to political disagreement is most likely to take place
in nonpolitical chat rooms, where discussions of politics come up incidentally,
rather than in politically driven online discussion forums. At the same time, as
noted earlier, scholars have expressed concern that the pursuit of interests can
distract individuals from attending to political topics and may isolate
participants in communities of like-minded individuals. As a consequence,
nonpolitical interest-driven participation might lower exposure to divergent
perspectives. In short, the impact of nonpolitical interest-driven participation is
uncertain, but worth investigating.
We also examine online friendship-driven participation. Rather than
being oriented around particular interests, friendship-driven participation
centers on day-to-day interactions with peers youth see at school or in their
neighborhoods. Such online activity often takes place through social media
such as Facebook. Do these activities matter when it comes to exposure to
diverse perspectives? One hypothesis is that such participation might isolate
youth in social contexts where civic and political issues are not raised. An
alternative possibility is that the networked social contact that occurs through
these forums exposes youth to diverse perspectives, even when political
conversations are not the motivation for engaging in these friendship-driven
forms of participation.
The degree to which youth play video games may also influence
exposure to civic and political views that do and do not align with one’s own.
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
Interest-driven communities arise in relation to many games. Individuals mod,
create discussion boards, and create communities around many games and
these may provide contexts in which civic and political issues are discussed.
For example, Constance Steinkuehler (2005) finds that massively multiplayer
online games can create “third places” where such discussions may well take
place. These varied possibilities lead us to ask: (RQ3) How do politically driven,
nonpolitical interest-driven, and friendship-driven online participation, as well
as youth video game play, influence exposure to views that align with and
diverge from one’s own?
Finally, one sizable difference between youth and adults is that parents,
teachers, and after-school educators often place great emphasis on influencing
young people’s civic and political commitments, skills, and behaviors. Given
our focus on youth, it therefore makes sense to consider whether
opportunities for digital media literacy education that occur in schools
influence youths’ overall exposure to views that align with and diverge from
their own. In particular, we ask: (RQ4) How do opportunities for digital media
literacy education in school relate to these individual’s overall exposure to
views that do and do not align with their own?
M e th o d s Sample
This study draws on survey data from a sample of N = 436 California
youth aged approximately 19–22 who were surveyed after the 2008
presidential election, as well as two-wave panel data from N = 242 of these
youth who were also surveyed during their junior or senior years of high school
in 2006 and 2007.
This sample was derived from a larger cross-sectional survey of youth
civic engagement and civic education among 5,505 high school juniors and
seniors from 21 schools across California in the springs of 2005, 2006, and
2007. Although not proportionally representative of California, schools were
purposively selected to ensure a diverse range of demographic and academic
characteristics. From this sample, approximately 1,305 (28%) agreed to be
contacted again, and 436 (33% of the recruitment pool and 8% of the total
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pool) participated in the follow-up survey. The panel sample of N = 242 (out of
the N = 436) represent those who participated in 2006 or 2007, when we
began asking questions about youth digital media participation, and who took
the follow-up survey in 2009.
We examined differences between the original sample and the sample of
individuals who took the survey in 2009, and we found some differences
based on gender, political interest, and GPA, but no differences between the
samples in digital media participation.
As seen in Table 1, the resulting samples referred to in this study were
racially diverse, had a higher proportion of female than male participants (62%
vs. 38%), were likely to be enrolled in a 4-year college (86%–89%). Participants
in this sample were also slightly more likely to be interested in politics. While a
national sample would be preferable, we have no reason to believe that
relationships between variables would differ in the broader population after
controlling for demographic variables that differ between samples. We do,
however, believe that the descriptions of distribution of youth online
experience (discussed in Finding I) should be interpreted with caution.
INSERT TABLE 1 HERE
M e a s u re s Exposure to shared interests and exposure to diverse perspectives: For
the 2006 survey administration, we developed four items to measure youth
exposure to shared interests and three items to measure youth exposure to
diverse perspectives. Exposure to shared interests was assessed using a 5-
point scale of agreement to statements like, “I feel like I’ve been able to
connect with people who share my views about ways to create a better world
through the Internet.” Exposure to diverse perspectives was assessed using a
similar scale in response to statements like, “I feel like I’ve gotten new
perspectives on societal issues because of my online activities.” As discussed
in the Findings section, these items cohered into a single scale, which was then
edited down and tested with additional items for the 2007 and Wave 2 survey
administrations.
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Political Interest: Political interest was measured at each time period
using a single item, “I am interested in political issues.”
Varied forms of digital media participation: The survey examined four
types of Internet activity. Politically driven participation items asked how often
respondents (a) used blogs or social networking sites to share or discuss
perspectives on social and political issues, (b) used the Internet to get
information about political or social issues, and (c) used e-mail to
communicate with others who are working on a political or social issue. We
used a six-point scale ranging from “never” (0) to “several times a day” (5) and
averaged the three scores (! = .81). Friendship-driven participation items asked
how frequently participants “used email, text-messaging, or instant messenger
to communicate with friends and family” and “used blogs, diary, or social
networking sites (like MySpace) to socialize with friends, family, or people
you’ve met online”. Interest-driven participation items asked how often
participants (a) used the Internet to organize social or recreational events
(games, concerts, dances, competitions, etc.), (b) used the Internet to organize
an online group, discussion or Web site, (c) went online to participate in a
special interest community, such as a fan site or a site where you talk with
others about a hobby, sport or special interest, (d) gave someone you don’t
know feedback for something they wrote or put online, and (e) was a leader in
an online community. Finally, participatory gaming items asked whether
participants played networked games or participated in online activities
related to gaming such as reading reviews, contributing reviews, or using
player-generated code.
Supports for participation: instruction in digital media literacy.
Instruction in digital media literacy items asked participants to report the
extent to which their high school or college courses provided opportunities
such as “learn how to assess the trustworthiness of information they find on
the web.”
Control Variables
We employed extensive controls to isolate the effects stemming from
demographics, parental involvement, educational attainment, and political
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
orientations. For example, gender, ethnic identity, and race have been found to
be related to both civic commitments and civic and political engagement
(Burns et al., 2001; Marcelo et al., 2007), although the nature of these
relationships is not uniform for youth aged 15–25 (CIRCLE, 2007).
In addition, youth growing up in families with parents who are civically
active tend to become more active themselves (Jennings and Stoker, 2009).
Discussion between parents and youth revolving around civic and political
issues has also been found to promote varied civic and political outcomes
(Andolina et al., 2003). Accordingly, parental involvement was measured by
the degree of agreement with two statements regarding the level of civic and
political talk occurring at home and the level of parents’ involvement in the
community (interitem r = .45).
We also controlled for respondents’ high school GPAs, four-year college
attendance, since educational attainment is strongly related to varied forms of
participation. Finally, we controlled for the effects stemming from political
orientations, measuring political ideology ranging from “very liberal” (1) to
“very conservative” (5). (For related research, see Verba and Nie, 1972; Mutz
and Martin, 2001.)
F in d in g s I. Few youth interact only with those whose views align with their own. Many
youth are exposed to those whose views align with AND diverge from their
own. Some youth are exposed to neither.
The first goal of our analysis was to examine the extent to which youth
experience shared versus divergent perspectives. However, our data
suggested that we needed to reframe our question. Specifically, we
conducted principle components analysis with the initial seven items indicating
youth exposure to either shared or divergent perspectives. Our analysis
indicated that exposure to shared interests and divergent perspectives were
indicators of a single unidimensional construct (see Table 2). This finding was
repeated with a set of four items that had the highest level of face validity as
indicating experiences with shared interests (two items) and divergent
perspectives (two items). Again, a single unidimensional construct was
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
suggested. This finding was replicated in multiple versions of the survey (see
Table 2 for full descriptions of findings from each survey).
INSERT TABLE 2 HERE
This suggests that when youth interact online with those who share their
views, they are also likely to encounter individuals who hold views that diverge
from their own. Similarly, youth who have little exposure divergent
perspectives generally have little exposure to shared perspectives either.
Indeed, only 5% of all youth reported high levels of exposure to views that
align with their own without also reporting high exposure to views that diverge
from their own.
Thus, rather than constructing two measures (exposure to echo chambers
and exposure to divergent opinions), we constructed a single measure:
exposure to diverse perspectives that assessed the degree to which youth
were exposed to both shared and divergent perspectives. Overall, most youth
(57%) reported at least some online exposure to those holding diverse
perspectives, while a substantial group (34%) disagreed when asked if they
had interactions with those who hold either similar or divergent perspectives
and (9%) were uncertain.
II. Political interest leads to exposure to diverse perspectives
The next set of analyses focused on the relationship between participants’
level of political interest and their exposure to diverse perspectives on civic
and political issues. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression was used to
examine whether Wave 1 Political Interest to predicts Wave 2 exposure to
diverse perspectives, controlling for Wave 1 levels of exposure to diverse
perspectives, as well as for relevant demographic and background variables.
As seen in Table 3, there is evidence that youth with higher levels of political
interest are more likely to report exposure to diverse perspectives (! = .17, p <
.05).
INSERT TABLE 3 HERE
III. Both politically driven and nonpolitical interest-driven forms of online
activity are associated with greater exposure to diverse perspectives
In the next set of analyses, we used OLS regression to examine the
relationship between various online activities and exposure to diverse
perspectives. Given that prior political interest and prior exposure to diverse
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perspectives were found to be significantly related to the amount of exposure
reported during Wave 2, they were included as controls. As seen in Table 4,
participants’ politically driven online activities were the strongest predictor of
exposure to diverse perspectives (! = .30, p < .001), even more so than
previous exposure to diverse perspectives and, not surprisingly, more so than
general political interest, which became nonsignificant.
Also notable is the finding that nonpolitical interest-driven participation was
related to experiences with exposure to diverse perspectives (! = .21, p < .001),
even after controlling for politically driven activities. Interestingly, there was no
relationship between friendship-driven activities and exposure to democratic
online communities or between either overall video game play or participatory
gaming and exposure to diverse perspectives.
INSERT TABLE 4 HERE
IV. Those who reported opportunities for digital media literacy education had
higher levels of exposure to diverse perspectives
The final analysis used OLS regression to examine whether participants’
experiences with supports for digital media literacy were related to increased
exposure to diverse perspectives. As seen in Table 5, with demographic
controls and controls for prior levels of exposure to diverse perspectives,
digital media literacy education was significantly related to exposure to
diverse perspectives (! = .30, p < .001). Indeed, having these opportunities
was a stronger predictor than political interest (! = .17, p < .05) or previous
exposure to exposure to diverse perspectives (! = .27, p < .001).
INSERT TABLE 5 HERE
Limitations
As noted earlier, most of the findings from this study are based on a
sample of youth who agreed to participate in the follow-up study after the
2008 election. As a result, the distribution of exposure to diverse perspectives
may be different in this sample compared with the population in general.
Given the follow-up study sample’s tendency toward higher levels of college
attendance and political interest, the percentage of youth who are exposed to
diverse perspectives may be biased upward. Our finding that exposure to
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shared and divergent perspectives formed a unidimensional construct was
replicated in our larger sample of high school students. Students did not self-
select into that larger sample, so we expect that this pattern is fairly robust.
Similarly, we have no reason to believe that the relationships we found
between online activities and exposure to diverse perspectives are different
than would be expected in the general population. We were able to include
controls for demographic and background variables that distinguish this group
from our initial sample. Clearly, in future work, it would be desirable to examine
the frequency of these online experiences and their relationships to one
another with a larger and nationally representative sample.
A second limitation has to do with the use of self-reported survey data.
It is possible that youth over report their exposure to divergent viewpoints to
the extent that they see engagement with political disagreement as a socially
desirable response.
Finally, there is the potential concern that interest in politics or interest
in online participation (which is related to exposure to diverse perspectives)
lead youths to seek out media literacy opportunities. This could explain the
relationship between media literacy opportunities and exposure to diverse
perspectives. While we view this as a concern, our findings give us some
confidence that media literacy opportunities exert a positive influence.
Specifically, we were able to control for political interest and prior online
exposure to diverse perspectives when testing the relationship between media
literacy opportunities and online exposure to diverse perspective. In addition,
we find that media literacy opportunities are a stronger predictor of exposure
to diverse perspectives than either political interest or prior online exposure to
diverse perspectives. Experimental methods would be needed to fully test
these relationships, but in the absence of such studies, we believe that our
findings provide useful groundwork.
D is c u s s io n a n d im p lic a tio n s Findings from this study highlight the importance of reframing the
questions many are asking about ways in which the Internet may influence
exposure to diverse perspectives on civic and political topics. Specifically,
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many have expressed concern that online activities are leading individuals to
only encounter those who share their perspectives. We find little evidence of
this phenomenon. We find that most youth in our study that reported
exposure to views that align with their own also reported exposure to views
that do not. This finding agrees with studies of adults (see Brundidge and Rice,
2009). This finding is also consistent with a point made by Prior (2007) in his
massive study of post-broadcast democracy. While the evidence is scant that
individuals exclusively attend to news with a particular ideological orientation,
he finds that the selectivity enabled by cable TV and the Internet exacerbates
a gap between those who follow the news and those who do not.
It is therefore important to highlight a different concern regarding the
Internet’s influence on exposure to divergent perspectives on civic and
political issues. When online, some youth are exposed to views that both align
with and diverge from their own. Other youth are exposed to little of either.
The gap between those who are engaged with societal issues and those who
are not, and the relation of this gap in engagement to online activity, is worthy
of attention.
In addition, while the frame assumed in many discussions of the political
dimensions of the Internet focuses on politically oriented online activity
(reading the news online, going to political web sites, signing petitions, etc.),
this study indicates that much online exposure to diverse perspectives on civic
and political topics come from nonpolitical online activity. In particular, both
online politically driven participation and nonpolitical interest-driven
participation appear to foster exposure to perspectives on civic and political
topics. The strong relationship to politically driven participation is not
surprising. When engaging politically online, youth encounter both shared and
divergent perspectives. Less commonly discussed and perhaps less
anticipated are the relatively strong relationships between nonpolitical
interest-driven participation and exposure to diverse perspectives. In
predicting exposure to diverse perspectives, politically driven participation
had a standardized beta of .30 and nonpolitical interest-driven participation
had a standardized beta of .21.
Scholars have long recognized that discussions of civic and political
issues can occur in nonpolitical associations (Putnam, 2000; Toqueville and
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
Grant, 2000). It appears that online nonpolitical interest-driven communities
may create such settings for youth, providing a valuable form of social capital
where diverse perspectives are discussed. In their study of chat-room
conversations among adults, Wojcieszak and Mutz (2009) found that these
nonpolitical contexts provided a higher percentage of opportunities for
exposure to cross-cutting (divergent) perspectives than did politically oriented
contexts. Indeed, the discussions that occur in nonpolitical online contexts
may be particularly important because they can reach those who lack strong
civic and political interests and provide more ideologically diverse
environments. Thus, there is ample reason to focus on nonpolitical interest-
driven online activity when considering factors that may promote civically and
politically valuable forms of dialog among young citizens. Studies of the
relationships between online practices and civic and political life that attend
solely to politically driven online participation are likely to miss much that
matters.
The findings (or lack thereof) regarding friendship-driven participation
and participatory gaming are also of interest. Given that nonpolitical interest-
driven participation prompts exposure to diverse civic and political
perspectives, one might have assumed that networked socializing and
participatory gaming would as well. We find, however, that they do not. It
appears that the culture and norms that surround participation on social
networks and with video game communities neither facilitate nor constrain
discussion of societal issues. This highlights the need to better understand
what may be different about nonpolitical interest-driven communities.
In some ways, the finding that participatory gaming does not prompt
exposure to diverse civic and political topics while other interest-driven
activities do parallels a finding in the broader literature on youth civic and
political development. In general, extracurricular activities (which in many
ways are interest driven) have been found to promote civic and political
engagement (Smith, 1999; McFarland and Thomas, 2006), but participation on
sports teams has not. While one senses that those who participate in online
participatory game communities are different than those who participate in
sports, it is interesting to note that these two forms of gaming appear to have
similar relationships to civic and political outcomes. Given how frequently
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
youth play video games, more fine-grained studies of gaming environments
appear worthwhile (Kahne et al. 2008).
Promoting youth exposure to diverse perspectives
Factors influencing exposure to diverse perspectives are of more than
just academic interest. Indeed, given our focus on youth and the widely held
belief that exposure to diverse perspectives are an essential component of a
democratic society, it is important to consider implications for educators,
policy makers, and others concerned with youth civic and political
development. For example, this study indicates that political interest and
politically driven online participation foster greater overall exposure to
perspectives on civic and political topics. Interventions that promote civic and
political interest and engagement may help to counter these trends (also see
Prior, 2007). There is some evidence that such programs can be effective.
Studies have found that when schools provide youth with opportunities to
discuss current events and learn about causes and potential solutions for
problems in their communities, that their interest in and engagement with
politics increases (Gibson and Levine, 2003).
Similarly, given the significance of nonpolitical interest-driven activity, it
makes sense to consider ways to increase the frequency of this form of
participation. We found that while many youth engage in nonpolitical interest-
driven activities to a limited degree, that few in our sample (roughly 10%) do
so frequently. This estimate is consistent with findings from Ito et al.’s (2010)
extensive ethnographic study. Just as a variety of institutions promote the
value of extra-curricular face-to-face activities for young people, it may well be
appropriate to also recognize and perhaps in some cases promote online
nonpolitical interest-driven communities as a potential support for youth
development.
Findings in this study that digital media literacy education is strongly
associated with higher levels of online exposure to diverse perspectives are
also encouraging. They suggest that schools and potentially those working in
after-school programs, parents, religious groups, peers, and others may be
able to support desired practices by working directly with youth and
supporting the development of digital media habits and skills. In a related
paper (authors) that focuses solely on digital media literacy education, we also
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
found that digital media literacy education appears to be equitably distributed
and positively related to other desired forms of online civic and political
engagement.
More research into this area is needed. Tightly controlled and
experimental studies, as well as studies that provide more detail on the nature
of media literacy education that is employed, might well provide greater clarity
about the ways in which education, the design of online spaces, and activities
associated with participatory cultures can promote desired practices.
Focusing on the potential value of exposure to diverse perspectives also
highlights a significant additional need. We need to know more about how
youth experience and engage with diverse perspectives when they encounter
them. Clearly, there are potential benefits to such opportunities. Political
theorists have long argued that such exposure is a prime mechanism for
ensuring thoughtful engagement with civic and political possibilities. John
Dewey (1916, Ch. 7), for example, wrote that the strength of a democratic
community could be assessed by the number of interests that are consciously
shared and by the degree of full and free interplay with other perspectives and
modes of association. Achieving either without the other is insufficient.
Recognition of shared interests provides essential support for participation
and for deepening and clarifying one’s perspectives. Interplay with alternative
perspectives and modes of association provides a fundamentally important
support for reflection and growth (Mill, 1989/1859). Moreover, exposure to
divergent perspectives has been found to foster individual’s perspective-
taking ability, knowledge of the rationales put forth by those with whom they
disagree, and political tolerance for those with differing perspectives (Price et
al., 2002; Mutz, 2006). At the same time, as summarized by Delli Carpini,
Cook, and Jacobs (2004), public deliberation, as it commonly occurs in
unstructured settings, has been found to be unrepresentative of participants,
polarizing, and subject to multiple biases; it may also turn individuals off from
participation.
There is not yet a large body of work that considers how these issues
play out in online contexts. Iyengar et al. (2003) found that online and face-to-
face deliberative polls both fostered positive outcomes. This study, however,
focused on intentionally structured and moderated contexts. It is therefore
YOUTH ONLINE ACTIVITY AND EXPOSURE TO DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES / !"# #
DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
important to better understand the impact of exposure to those with diverse
perspectives when it occurs in the course of unmoderated online activity.
Williams (2007) finds that out-group antagonism is lower online than offline.
This may make boundary crossing more possible online. At the same time,
Winner (2005) points out that online communication enables participants to
remain anonymous and thus to engage in aggressive or uncivil discourse
without consequence. This may discourage engagement with diverse
perspectives. Winner notes that, “when diverse viewpoints do emerge, there is
often a nastiness characteristic of online discussion. People stay around long
enough to deliver a few shots and then vanish, a luxury that the Internet
allows, but that geographically situated communities often make less likely
because one has to get up the next day and face one’s neighbors” (p. 129).
In short, while there is much reason to believe that exposure to diverse
perspectives will often be valuable, there are similarly many reasons to believe
that youth (and adults) do not always engage with diverse views in ways that
are most likely to support informed, reflective, and respectful dialogue. This
study does not identify the contexts in which one or another form of
engagement with diverse perspectives takes place, but it does begin to map
the terrain for such a conversation. For example, it highlights the limits of
looking at only politically oriented online sites. It might well be that
conversations that are part of politically driven contexts are often different
from those that are a part of nonpolitical interest-driven contexts. Moreover, it
seems quite possible that media literacy education that addresses such issues,
as well as features of online contexts (monitoring of participation, for
example), might influence both the quantity and the qualities of engagement.
We are still just beginning to understand the factors shaping both the
frequency and the quality of online exposure to divergent perspectives, and of
online engagement with civic and political life more generally. Given the
increasing centrality of the web to political life, investigations of the
significance of online politically driven and nonpolitical interest-driven
participation are clearly warranted, as are studies that identify ways of more
fully realizing the positive potential while limiting the problematic possibilities
of these participatory contexts.
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DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
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Table 1. Demographic and Control Variable Values for Sample
2008 Sample
(N = 436)
Panel
(N = 242)
Race/ethnicity:
White (%) 28.4 31.4
African American (%) 3.4 4.6
Hispanic (%) 27.1 26.4
Asian (%) 26.8 30.5
Other (%) 14 7.1
NR (%) .2 0
Female (%) 62 62
Educational achievement:
Four-year college
aspiration (%)
66 62
Four-year college student 86 89
GPA level (out of 4) 2.85 (.67) 2.81 (.66)
Parental involvement (1-5) 3.19 (1.12) 3.19 (1.13)
Mother is a college graduate
(%)
36 38
Political attitude:
Conservatism (1-5) 2.82 (1.08) 2.86 (1.09)
Wave 1 political interest
(1-5)
3.75 (1.17) 3.70 (1.16)
Wave 2 political interest
(1-5)
3.91 (1.04) 3.88 (1.02)
YOUTH ONLINE ACTIVITY AND EXPOSURE TO DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES / !"# #
DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
Table 2. Scale Analysis Results for Online Exposure to Diversity for All Survey
Versions
Factor Loadings
2006
Junior
2006
Junior
(Short
)
2006–
2007
Senior
2007
Post-HS
Sample
200
9
I've had online conversations with people who
are very different from people I spend time
with in person.
0.70 0.75 0.72 0.76
I feel I've gotten new perspectives on social
issues because of my online activity. 0.74 0.78 0.84 0.85 0.83
I feel like I've gotten to know people from
different states or countries because of my
online activity.
0.77
I feel like the internet lets me explore interests
and parts of my identity that I can't explore
with my family and off-line friends.
0.80
I feel like I am able to express opinions about
social issues, politics, etc. online that I
wouldn't share with my friends and family.
0.72
I feel like I've been able to connect with
people who care about the same things I do
through the internet.
0.83 0.84 0.87 0.86 0.89
I feel like I've been able to connect with
people who share my views about ways to
create a better world through the internet.
0.80 0.82 0.88 0.86 0.88
I've had online conversations with people who
have different values or political views than I
do.
0.73
Through the internet, I have had debates
about political issues with people who
disagree with me.
0.75
Variance (%) 58.6 63.8 68.5 66.8 69.7
Chronbach's ! 0.88 0.81 0.84 0.87 0.85
N 577 583 408 300 433
Table 3.Relationship between Political Interest and Exposure to Diverse Perspectives
YOUTH ONLINE ACTIVITY AND EXPOSURE TO DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES / !"# #
DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
Exposure to Diverse
Perspectives,
Wave 2
B (SE) !
Female
-0.10
(0.14)
-
0.04
High school GPA
-0.02
(0.11)
-
0.01
Parental involvement
0.13
(0.06) 0.14 *
Conservatism
-0.11
(0.06) -0.11 ^
College student
-0.11
(0.22)
-
0.03
Black
-0.04
(0.34)
-
0.01
Hispanic
0.10
(0.18) 0.04
Asian
0.47
(0.17) 0.20 **
Political interest, wave
1
0.16
(0.06) 0.17 *
Exposure to diverse
perspectives, wave 1
0.30
(0.06) 0.30 ***
R2 0.24***
Observations 237
YOUTH ONLINE ACTIVITY AND EXPOSURE TO DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES / !"# #
DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
Table 4. Relationship between Online Participation and Exposure to Diverse Perspectives
Exposure to Diverse Perspectives, Wave 2
B (SE) !
Female -0.08 (0.15)
-0.04
GPA -0.03 (0.10)
-0.02
Parent involvement 0.03 (0.06)
0.04
Conservatism -0.10 (0.05)
-0.10 ^
College -0.28 (0.20)
-0.08
Black -0.11 (0.30)
-0.02
Hispanic -0.05 (0.16)
-0.02
Asian 0.31 (0.15) 0.13 *
Wave 1 controls:
Political interest 0.09 (0.06)
0.10
Exposure to diverse perspectives
0.19 (0.06)
0.19 **
Wave 2 online participation:
Politically driven participation
0.24 (0.05)
0.30 ***
Friendship-driven participation:
E-mail 0.13 (0.10) 0.07
Blogs and social media 0.04 (0.04)
0.05
Gaming frequency 0.01 (0.04)
0.01
Participatory gaming 0.01 (0.05)
0.01
Interest-driven participation
0.19 (0.06)
0.21 **
R2 0.43***
N 235
YOUTH ONLINE ACTIVITY AND EXPOSURE TO DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES / !"# #
DML Central Working Papers // Youth & Participatory Politics // December 9, 2010
Table 5. Relationship between Digital Media Literacy Opportunities and Exposure to Diverse
Perspectives
Exposure to Diverse
Perspectives, Wave 2
B (SE) !
Female
-0.33
(0.14) -0.15 *
GPA 0.00 (0.11) 0.00
Parent involvement
0.09
(0.06) 0.09
Conservatism
-0.16
(0.06) -0.16 **
College
0.00
(0.27) 0.00
Black
-0.10
(0.34) -0.02
Hispanic
0.02
(0.17) 0.01
Asian
0.38
(0.16) 0.16 *
Wave 1 controls:
Political interest
0.16
(0.06) 0.17 *
Exposure to diverse
perspectives
0.27
(0.06) 0.27 ***
Wave 2 media literacy
opportunities
0.41
(0.08) 0.30 ***
R2 .34***
N 221
