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Media Ecologies 49Like many of the other participants in our studies, Liz and her boyfriendreveal how hanging out with friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends representsa continuation of practices that have been pervasive among Americanteenagers in the school setting since the 1950s. Rather than mouthingwords behind a teacher’s back or secretly passing notes underneath tablesand desks at school, texting or sending short messaging services (SMS) onthe mobile phone now facilitates communication.These work-arounds and back channels are ways in which kids hang outtogether, even in settings that are not officially sanctioned for hanging out.This happens in settings such as the classroom, where talking socially topeers is explicitly frowned upon, as well as at home when young peopleare separated from their friends and peers. Just as recent studies indicatethat “multitasking,” or engaging in multiple media activities at the sametime, is on the rise among kids (Roberts and Foehr 2008), we note that theteens in our studies are becoming particularly adept at maintaining a continuouspresence in multiple social communication contexts. We also seekids hanging out or engaging in multiple social contexts concurrently.Derrick, a sixteen-year-old Dominican American living in Brooklyn, NewYork, explains to Christo Sims (Rural and Urban Youth) the ways he movesbetween using new media and hanging out.Derrick: My homeboy usually be on his Sidekick, like somebody usuallybe on a Sidekick or somebody has a PSP or something like always aretexting or something on AIM. A lot of people that I be with usually onAIM on their cell phones on their Nextels, on their Boost, on AIM orusually on their phone like he kept getting called, always getting called.Christo: So even when you’re just hanging out they’re constantly textingand all that?Derrick: Getting phone calls.Christo: What . . . to find out what’s going on or what do you thinkthey’re usually like?Derrick: Just to meet up with everybody, just to stay in contact.As Derrick’s discussion suggests, even when teenagers and kids are hangingout in a face-to-face group, many feel the need to stay connected to otherteens who are not there. The drive to hang out, and the use of new mediato coordinate such endeavors, continues even when there may be a copresent,cohesive group. Playing games, making videos, and listening to musicmay well be the focus when teens are hanging out, yet they may also