ICarly+and+the+Internet,+Caitlin+Gainsborg

Caitlin Gainsborg 3-17-11 **﻿** **Research Question**: While teaching children and young teenagers about the benefits to using internet technology, does iCarly downplay the dangers children face if they use such technology improperly? While watching the iCarly episode in class, I noticed that the show does a great job at presenting the positive aspects of internet technology. However, I am curious as to whether or not this program focuses too much on the “good” features of the internet and not enough on the dangers that it poses to young children who don’t know how to use it properly.

**Methods**: Online research, content analysis.

**Work Plan**: I plan on using online research and content analysis to obtain information which will help me to best answer my research question. The majority of my research will be from online journal articles and essays. I will try to find articles which discuss the effects of the internet on young children and how using such technology improperly can be dangerous. I also plan on watching more episodes of the iCarly program, and carefully analyzing the content of these episodes to see if I can find example of scenes which support my research.

Plan: 1. Watch a handful of iCarly episodes. 2. Identify "real-life" dangers/downsides of internet technology. 3. Identify scenes in which they characters misuse internet technology. 4. Identify the dangers/downsides the misuse poses to the characters. 5. Research the effects that the internet has on children and teens today. 6. Integrate my research with the analysis of the iCarly episodes.

I love this project and I think you can use content analysis very effectively to identify scenes that show "dangers" or "downsides" to technology. What makes this so interesting is that Nick is launching a new Internet safety initiative in collaboration with Commonsense Media. Check it out at:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110328005459/en/Common-Sense-Media-Partners-Nickelodeon’s-Big-Digital

You have the green light!