6 Out Of 10 Teenagers Make Friends Using Social Network

Having your kid spending all of his or her time online is a familiar scenario to most parents. When they are at home, they are constantly in front of their computer, laptop or tablet and when they are out or going to school, their smartphone is like another part of their body, as they wouldn’t put it down for a minute.

A new study issued by the Pew Research Center shows that teenagers actually prefer friends online too, which stands as proof not only of the fact that their Facebook or Twitter pages are extremely important to them, but also that their social life revolves around them.

It seems that 57 percent of the teenagers surveyed have made at least one friend online, even if most of them have never met him or her in person. A social media page is like a big mall where everyone hangs out and everyone talks to each other, except that the image you display is not as true to life as it might be in the real world.

When you create a profile, you exhibit your best photos and you present the information that you think makes you look good. This is not only the experts’ opinion, but also what the teenagers surveyed actually believe. 9 out of 10 think the image that people display online is not necessarily representative of them.

In spite of that, the majority feels that social media websites keep them better in touch with their peers. Not only can they see what they are doing constantly, but they also know how they feel, judging by their posts and updates.

Almost 70 percent of them said that they experienced drama at least once among their friends on various websites and some of them reported that they feel a lot of pressure to post certain content in order to be popular.

Apart from the Internet,  text messaging is still a majorly popular trend among teens, who prefer to communicate that way. Thus, 88 percent of them occasionally spend time with their mates via text messaging and more than half of them do that every day.

In conclusion, it is safe to say that face-to-face communication is losing major ground to online discussions. In the digital era, people can see each other, send photos or videos, share their feelings and thoughts without having to leave their bedroom.  While this is extremely comfortable, it is not very certain how safe it is, both for their mental and emotional health.

Image Source: scitechdaily