Relación entre Objetivos Esperados, Efectos Observados y Consecuencias Percibidas

A sense of support and belonging also comes from members knowing they have access to another person’s phone or tablet at the club, especially for those who don’t have their own. Members often used their devices to reinforce perceptions of friendship and trust. The use of devices in this way also reveals the limits of friend groups and which social combinations are possible. Throughout the fall, especially as some members did not come as consistently due to extra curricular activities and school obligations, the usual friend combinations changed, and digital devices were used to promote these combinations. On a quiet late fall day, when 11-year- old Elizabeth found herself without her usual friend group at the club, she asked 11 year old Jamie to play on her iPad together and she accepted. Though I had never seen them hang out

together before, they laughed and squealed together while taking pictures and chose to bond using Jamie’s iPad rather than any of the many games available in the game room where they sat.

11-year-old Riley’s digital device was also at some point used as the centerpiece of a new social combination, when Riley and Elizabeth laid together on beanbag chairs in the game room and watched Snapchat stories and played games together a few weeks prior. Riley, who doesn’t own a phone but uses her iPod for social media, calling, messaging, and other phone features, relayed in her interview that her time at the club is one of the few times per day she actually gets to use social media and talk to her friends that way. She explained that her after school schedule gets busy with having to run home to drop things off and then usually going to her stepdad’s house, where she often doesn’t have as much time to use TikTok and Snapchat and so doesn’t interact with them as much while there. This time and outlet is especially important in her case since she moved early on in childhood, and still uses Snapchat calling features and TikTok texting features to communicate with friends in her old town, while still seeing them in person when possible.

Sarah, a 10 year old who was one of two club members that seemed most attached to her phone, told me she only lets trusted friends use it. This was displayed in action when she

carefully handed it over to her 9-year-old friend Taylor and allowed her to use it, while

exclaiming, “don’t touch my phone!” at others who tried to. After explaining that she only lets Taylor use it, Taylor chimed in proudly that yes she was the only one allowed, and loudly asked Sarah later if she could add in a contact. Though Taylor had told me the first day that she owned a phone and used it often at home, it was still an important source of pride and marker of

friendship that she was allowed to use Sarah’s. Sarah was not one of the best friends that Taylor mentioned in her interview, but the fact that she is allowed to use her phone makes her a close

club friend and offers her support in this space when her school friends, the two best friends she did mention, are not around. She mentioned also having a busy after school schedule with gynmastics and other activities, which precludes a lot of after-school social time with her best friends. She utilizes Snapchat and TikTok to keep in touch with friends despite her busy school schedule, explaining:

“Whenever I have the chance to, I'll talk to them on there [Insta and Snap]. Most of the time I don't really talk to Marisol that much because I see her a lot, even though she lives closer to the school,”

adding that she probably uses the apps to keep up with friends “probably like 10 times [per day].” While waiting in line to go to the bathroom before heading to the park one day, Megan’s friend handed over her phone very deliberately in a similar way to Sasha, claiming loudly and with a smile that Megan could hold her phone while she went. Megan immediately took the phone and began to play a game.

A time when the use of technology negatively exposed and exacerbated the boundaries of friendships and access occurred during a summer movie day, when Ally and Naomi asked to play with Naomi’s tablet in the back of the room, and became annoyed when others asked to play. Though there were still some new social combinations occurring at first with them expanding the tablet use to others not usually in their friend group, a few girls asked that they deemed were decisively not their friends and so were not allowed to use the tablet. This caused significant tension, and was only diffused when I promised the girls that were rejected that they could use my phone after the movie ended. While Ally and Naomi extending the opportunity to play with the tablet to two girls not usually in their friend group served as an expression of social support toward them and a welcoming into their group, in this case the opposite was expressed

toward three others who were left feeling unwelcomed. However, my role in the situation helped alleviate this, as they were immediately appeased by the offering of using my phone after the movie, and giggled happily as they played with it on Snapchat together afterwards.