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Television & New Media
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"The WarGames Scenario"

Regulating Teenagers and Teenaged Technology (1980—1984)

Stephanie Ricker Schulte

University of Arkansas, stephanieschulte{at}gmail.com

WarGames (1983), the first mass-consumed, visual representation of the internet, served as both a vehicle and framework for America's earliest discussion of the internet. WarGames presented the internet simultaneously as a high-tech toy for teenagers and a weapon for global destruction. In its wake, major news media focused on potential realities of the "WarGames Scenario." In response, Congress held hearings, screened WarGames, and produced the first internet-regulating legislation. WarGames engaged a "teenaged technology" discourse, which cast both internet technology itself and its users as rebellious teenagers in need of parental control. This discourse enabled policy makers to equate government internet regulation with parental guidance rather than with suppression of democracy and innovation, a crucial distinction within 1980s cold war context. Thus, this article historicizes the internet as a cultural text, examining how technology and its regulation shaped and were shaped by cultural representations.

Key Words: internet • film • politics • history • teenagers • WarGames

This version was published on November 1, 2008

Television & New Media, Vol. 9, No. 6, 487-513 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1527476408323345
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