Adolescent CIT use: Paradigm shifts for educational and cultural practices?

This paper argues that the rapid take-up of communications and information technologies (CITs) by adolescents effectively lifts them out of the institutional control of school and family. Their use of interactive and wearable technologies is characterised by increasing levels of personalisation, mobility and global reach. This aspect of adolescents' use of CITs signals a qualitative change in the nature of popular culture and educational practices, and necessitates a paradigm shift in how we understand the learning contexts of contemporary adolescents.