Introduction

Developmental theories assume that at the beginning stages of adolescence, young people's developmental tasks and the instability of their ‘selves’ motivate them to experiment with their identities and self-presentation. There is growing evidence that adolescents use the internet to experiment in this way, especially on social networking sites (SNS) (Calvert et al, 2003; Valkenburg et al, 2005; Williams and Merten, 2008). This experimentation should gradually decrease as children get older and fulfil their developmental tasks, that is, younger children should experiment more than older ones (Valkenburg et al, 2005; Livingstone, 2008) – the closer to the goal, that is, being adult, an adolescent is, the stronger should be his/her motivation to complete a developmental task.

Experimenting with the self is considered here as experimenting with self-presentation online. It is defined as pretending to be someone else, of another gender, practised more often by boys than girls, or, more commonly, of a different age (Calvert et al, 2003; Valkenburg et al, 2005; Valkenburg and Peter, 2008; Williams and Merten, 2008). For example, some girls want to be perceived as younger and nicer while others want to present themselves as older or attractive (Calvert et al, 2003; Valkenburg et al, 2005). Of course, teenagers are working out who they really are. Experimentation is about necessary and constructive exploration and discovery rather than deceit. Motivations of experimentation include social compensation (i.e. to overcome shyness, communication difficulty or other weaknesses), self-exploration (i.e. taking various personality features or identities to investigate how others react on an adolescent), and social facilitation (to facilitate dating, making friends and relationship formation).

Research aims and methods

The first part of the chapter explores the hypothesis that this experimentation is common. We also hypothesise that age matters substantially, being less prevalent among older children. Our third hypothesis predicts that experimenting with self-presentation online is more common among boys for two reasons: boys are developmentally further from adulthood than girls of the same age (Allison and Shultz, 2001; Lerner and Steinberg, 2004; Sax, 2007), thus they feel more pressure to pass through consecutive developmental stages; and boys undertake more online activities measured in terms of variety, frequency and length of time ( Jackson, 2008; Gui and Argentin, 2011), so they are also more likely to experiment online.

Theoretical framework

Parental mediation of children's use of the internet involves the regulation of children's internet use by parents in order to maximise benefits and, in particular, to minimise the potential negative impacts of the internet on children (Livingstone, 2007; Livingstone and Helsper, 2008). The notion originates in socialisation theory that refers to the parent–child relationship as a developmental process and envisions the parental mediation of internet use through regulatory strategies that parents introduce to maximise benefits and minimise risks for their children (Kirwil, 2009a). Therefore, parental mediation of children's use of the internet involves various child-rearing strategies and practices guided by values which are important to parents and which children learn within the family. Parental mediation of internet use is influenced by such characteristics as the age, gender, internet literacy, frequency and motivation for internet use of the child and the gender, socioeconomic status (SES), education, internet use and skills, awareness of online risks and theories of child development of the parents, together with the importance they give to values threatened by internet use and their attitudes towards the internet (Padilla-Walker and Thompson, 2005; Eastin et al, 2006a; Livingstone and Helsper, 2008). Moreover, there seems to be a link with child-rearing values found within a culture (Kirwil, 2009a).

The most useful theoretical framework describes parental strategies for mediating children's internet use by employing a two-dimensional approach: ‘system-based’and ‘user-based’ parental mediation, that is, technical solutions and parental guidance for children. Other frameworks describe a ‘protective’ versus ‘promoting’ parental attitude to children's upbringing, and differentiate between general strategies of social mediation, restrictive mediation and instructive mediation. Types of parental mediation are similar to general parental styles in family socialisation, dimensions of authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and neglectful styles (Eastin et al, 2006a; Lwin et al, 2008).

Technical solutions consist of software installed on the computers used by children to monitor the way they use the internet, that is, what kinds of activities they undertake online, what websites they visit and with whom they communicate. Usually ‘monitoring’ means checking the computer used by the child and blocking inappropriate websites or communication forums and/or talking to the child about the unsuitability and potential negative consequences of these websites and communication forms.