MC409      Half Unit
Media, Technology and Everyday Life

This information is for the 2024/25 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Leslie Haddon

Availability

This course is available on the MPhil/PhD in Data, Networks and Society, MSc in Media and Communications, MSc in Media and Communications (Data and Society), MSc in Media and Communications (Research) and MSc in Media, Communication and Development. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course is 'controlled access', meaning that there is a limit to the number of students who can be accepted. If the course is oversubscribed, offers will be made via a random ballot process, with priority given to students with the course listed on their Programme Regulations. Whilst we do our best to accommodate all requests, we cannot guarantee you a place on this course.

Pre-requisites

There are no pre-requisites for this course. Students should apply via LSE for You without submitting a statement.

Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.

Course content

The course aims to explore how information and communication technologies are experienced in everyday life. This includes examining how ICTs are socially shaped, through looking at current theoretical frameworks as well as historical and contemporary examples. The course covers such matters as the domestication of ICTs, their place in social networks and their implications for time and space. Finally, a range of potential social consequences are considered, from the specific implications for parent-child relationships to broader questions about the extent to which these technologies are changing social life.

Teaching

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the WT.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of term.

Formative coursework

All students are expected to complete advance reading. One essay of 1500 words is recommended.

Indicative reading

  • boyd, d. (2014) It's complicated.The social lives of networked teenagers, New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Byam, N. (2015) Personal communications in a digital age, Cambridge: Polity. Chapter 2.
  • Curren, J. (2016) The internet of dreams, in Curran, J., Fenton, N. & Freedman, D. (eds) Misunderstanding the internet (Second Edition), London: Routledge, pp.1-47.
  • Eynon, R. & Geniets, A. (2016) The digital skills paradox: How do digitally excluded youth develop skills to use the internet? Learning, Media and Technology, 41(3), 463–479.
  • Ito, M. (2010) Hanging out, messing around and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media, Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press.
  • Turkle, S. (2011) Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York: Basic Books. Chapter 14, pp.265-278.
  • Wajcman, J. (2015) Pressed for time. The acceleration of life in digital capitalism, London: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 6, pp.137-62.

Assessment

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in the ST.

Key facts

Department: Media and Communications

Total students 2023/24: 28

Average class size 2023/24: 14

Controlled access 2023/24: Yes

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Personal development skills

  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Communication