Of Young People and Internet Cafés

Xiao, Z.; Higgins, S.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.603992

Of Young People and Internet Cafés

Xiao, Z.; Higgins, S.

Authors

Z. Xiao

Professor Steven Higgins s.e.higgins@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This study examines how adolescent experience in Internet cafés (known as wangba in Chinese) relates to academic attainment in urban, rural, and Tibetan schools of China. By documenting the frustrations teenagers express in their negotiations with adults surrounding access to and use of wangba and, by comparing self-reported academic standing of students from similar backgrounds with how they differ in their experience in wangba, the study finds that visiting wangba is not strongly correlated with the probability of students reporting either high- or under-achievement. While students without any experience in wangba are substantially less likely to report academic underperformance, the association disappears after matching when the logit regression model is less model-dependent and vulnerable to the problems associated with missing data. The paper concludes that visiting wangba alone is not systematically correlated with academic attainment, and that much adult anxiety concerning adolescent visit to wangba represents moral-technological panic and, offers a simplified explanation for educational problems that have deep macrosocial roots.

Citation

Xiao, Z., & Higgins, S. (2021). Of Young People and Internet Cafés. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 603992. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.603992

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Aug 13, 2021
Online Publication Date	Sep 16, 2021
Publication Date	2021
Deposit Date	Aug 25, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Oct 1, 2021
Journal	Frontiers in Psychology
Print ISSN	1664-1078
Publisher	Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	12
Article Number	603992
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.603992

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Copyright Statement
© 2021 Xiao and Higgins. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.