In your scenario, the pictures portrayed are a “a result of being in a situation where peers generally choose to take pictures, aka parties where kids are drunk and are therefore probably more likely to take pictures…” You nonetheless miss the issue of choice. Young people are choosing to take photos at these parties, and once again choosing to post these sorts of photos on their social networking profile. The question is, as the students say, is Why?

To simply say this is “due to the decreased inhibition that results from, well, alcohol intoxication” shows that you haven’t thought through the problem. Young people are taking cameras with them to parties, they are posing for these photos, they are discussing them online. Intoxication is only one part of the scenario.

Also, the way I understand the issue of online portrayal is not that young people are actively excluding aspects of their lives, in the sense of consciously sitting down and saying, hmm, what kind of online identity do I want to build?

Often young people are not thinking about that. I know that college job counselors often tell students to go over their profiles carefully before applying for jobs, because they have put up these sorts of photos. Again the question becomes Why? Intoxication and the camera effect don’t address the actual putting up of the photos.

I find it rather ironic that you say several times that you have “no numbers” and then got all hot and bothered that the students haven’t presented more data. They did get some data, and acknowledge its weaknesses. It would have been much more interesting if you had described at further length what a more formal study would have looked like.

That said, that kind of study would not necessarily get at the anthropological reasons “why” – that there are issues of identity, symbolism, social relationships, and the like that are important in why we do what we do. The students took this angle of analysis, and backed it up through the small study as well as a qualitative examination of profiles online. Their write-up also came out of this qualitative work.

Finally, if you are looking for more data, Megan Moreno is one researcher in this just-emerging area. The students mentioned her work during their class presentation but didn’t include her research in their post. She has two recent papers, What Are Adolescents Showing the World About Their Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace? and Display of Health Risk Behaviors on MySpace by Adolescents