Adolescents today are as relational as ever, but current technology permits them to be relational without necessarily being real. Developing protective masks that are donned in certain public situations is one thing; creating an alternative persona with which to engage the cyber world is a step only taken by current adolescents.
Knoke attempts to understand the spiritual needs that drive students to social networking sites and explain how these sites meet some of those needs. Largely a book about identity development and relation to God, there are some good insights for parents and youth leaders regarding the general idiosyncrasies of youth in regard to Web-based social networking.
The book also provides four complete messages for youth and a detailed explanation on navigating MySpace for the clueless. Nothing new here, but worth having on hand to share with parents or for use in messages about identity.
