Most Teenagers Now Prefer to Make Friends Online

While many parents might assume their teens are wasting time online, research from Pew released this week reveals that, for many, the technology is enabling them to forge friendships and support networks. And, 83 percent of teen social media users say social media makes them feel more connected to information about their friends’ lives, with 70 percent saying they feel more connected with their friends’ feeling.

When conversing over the internet first became a day-to-day occurrence for young people concerns were instantly raised about the safety of youngsters online, with many campaigns launched to teach children about internet safety. A new survey from the Pew Research Center found that 57 percent of Americans teens between the ages of 13 and 17 have made at least one friend online while almost one in three claim to have made more than five friends over the Internet.

This survey was conducted online by the German firm GfK Group using its KnowledgePanel of 1,060 teenagers, aged 13 to 17, and their parent or guardian. They do their homework in front of the computer, they stay on social media websites while riding the bus and it is safe to say that surfing the Net is the favorite pastime activity for some of them.

Part of the reason today’s teens are gravitating to social media and technology may be because they don’t have transportation to meet friends or they have busy schedules with after-school jobs, sports and homework. Fifty-five percent say that they communicate via text daily, while only 25 percent meet their friends in person every day. Girls are a lot more likely (78 percent vs. 52 percent) to meet friends through social media.

But social media has a dark side.

Overall, 59 percent of teens “are in touch with their closest friend on a daily basis, with 41 percent indicating that they get in touch “many times a day”, according to the survey’s authors. “I know they have this game on Instagram where you’d be like, ‘do you trust me?”

The Internet is not only being used to create new friendships, but also to strengthen current ones. These mediums form a crucial part of their interactions with one another – a way of communicating that’s inextricable from the friendships themselves. Seventy-nine percent of all teens instant message their friends, with 27 percent saying they do so daily. “Adults have tended to see time online for teenagers as this frivolous, time-wasting thing that’s just entertainment”. Three quarters of teenagers own a smartphone, according to recent findings, the majority have social media accounts and are involved in all sorts of online games. More than half (53%) of teen social media users have seen postings on social media about something to which they weren’t invited, while some teens feel pressure to post only content that makes them look good (40%) or that will be popular (39%).