She is author of several books and articles on the role social and visual media play in the lives of diverse U.S. adolescents.
She served as President of the international academic organization the Association of Internet Researchers and chaired the Denver host committee for the AoIR 2013 meeting.
[9] She oversaw a class parody production of the popular television show The Office, which highlighted the discrepancy between how students and faculty members view the use of technology in higher education, a video that went viral.
She received her BA from Westminster College in 1986, her MA from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio in 1990, and her PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1998.
Following her interviews with mothers and fathers of varying economic backgrounds, Clark points to different approaches to technological use and its valuation between upper- and lower-income families.
Other issues addressed include family communication, privacy and surveillance, online predators, cyber bullying, sexting, gamer drop-outs, helicopter parenting, and the effectiveness of strict controls.
[14] She introduced the term “the dark side of evangelicalism” to draw attention to the ways that popular culture such as horror films and apocalyptic video games draw upon Christianity’s historic narratives of demons, hell, and the afterlife, often in ways leaders of religious conservative movements reject in spite of the perennial interest these stories garner among young people.
[15] Basing her findings on the differing ways in which young people respond to popular cultural stories of the supernatural, Clark argued against the media effects perspective.