Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Teens, Technology and Friendships

Lenhart, A., Smith, A., Anderson, M., Duggan, M., & Perrin, A. (2015, August 6). Teens, Technology and Friendships. 1-68. Retrieved July 18, 2016, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/06/teens-technology-and-friendships/

Technology has changed how we view and interact with our friends. Not only are we making phone calls, but we are not posting to social media, video chatting and playing online games. Friends are being made easily and sometimes connections are made.

Surveys have shown how social media impacts friendships and how teenagers interact with the technology interfering in relationships.

Meeting, Hanging Out and Staying in Touch: The Role of Digital Technology in Teen Relationships


Inch by inch, teenagers are making friends more and more online. 57% of the teens surveyed said that they made new friends online, while 22% made two to five friends, with only 20% meeting their new online friends in person.

Boys were more likely than girls to make friends online. 61% compared to the 52% made at least one friend online. The survey showed that older teens were more likely to make new friends online than younger teenagers. 67% of older teens had new online friends.

Teenagers who played video games were to make online friends. Ages 13-17 teens, 72% made friends online through video games. 83% of teens played with others, while 75% played the video games online. 89% of the teens who played video games knew the other person, while 54% were friends only online and 52% were not friends at all.

Those teens who played video games with others were more likely to make a lot of friends online. 74% of teens surveyed stated they made friends online, while 37% made more than five friends online.

Social media brings about another way of making friends. Teenagers are twice as likely to make friends online through social media. 31% of teens surveyed made five friends or more online compared to those teens who did not use social media.

Those teenagers how had access to smartphones were likely to make more friends online. 60% of teens made new online friends using a smartphone, compared to the 48% of teens who did not use a smartphone.

Social media and gaming are the top venues for making new friends.
So many options are available for students to communicate and make new friends online and in social media. Students can make new friends through discussion boards, blogs, network and online video games, as well as many others formats. 

Where they made their friends was the question. 36% of the teens surveyed made friends on social media site like Facebook and Twitter, 21% made friends on online video games, 6% on video sharing sites like YouTube and Vine, and 4% made friends using blogging sites like Blogger and Tumblr.

Girls were more likely to make new online friends through social media, as boys were with video games. 41% of teenage girls had made friends online through Facebook , Twitter and other social media sites., compared to the 31% of teenage boys. 34% of boys met friends online through video games compared to the 7% of girls.  Of the group of boys surveyed, 31% made friends online through social media.

The steady flow of teenagers making friends online stem from the friends they already have and networking through friend’s friends.

When meeting their online friends, older teens were likely to meet their online friends in person. The meetings happened though mutual friends after video chatting. The teenagers surveyed found that new online friends were willing to drive long distance to meet one another and hang out. They also stated that when meeting, phone numbers are exchanged to help keep in contact. 80% of teens expect their new online friend to text. 62% of the teens surveyed exchanged social media usernames, while 39% shared their email addresses.

Teenagers with smartphone (89%) are more likely to share their phone number, social media usernames, while those without smartphone (54%) are likely to share their email address.

When sharing the contact information, the survey found it depended on the age and gender. Boys ages 13-14 were less likely to share information, 70% share phone numbers, while more than 80% of girls ages 13-14, as well as the older teenagers of both genders.

Sharing social media usernames was more popular amongst girls and older teens (65% and 58%).  While girls are more likely to share social media usernames, boys are more likely to share gaming usernames42% of younger teenage boys and 36% of older teenage boys shared their gaming usernames.

Although the data given through the survey showed how teens exchanged contact information, many gave all forms of contact, while some are cautious about it.

Once friendships are established, teenagers have many ways to interact with one another. They have social media, face to face chats, email, video games, and all kinds of messaging formats.

Of the teenagers surveyed, 95% of them spent time with their friends outside of school in person.  One quarter of them spend time with their friends on a daily basis, 39% every few days, and about one third did so less often.

Although teenagers spend time with their friends outside of school, text messages was a phone based activity that was preferred, is more frequently, is the most popular in using when communicating.

Other ways for teens to communicate with their friends are instant messaging (79%), social media (71%), email (64%), video chat (59%), video games (52%), and message applications (42).

After finding out the avenues in which the teenagers communicated, the survey then asked what the conversations were about. Questions about how things were going, sports, and gossip were the most popular in responses.

It was found that household income had an impact on how teenagers spent time with their friends. Those teens surveyed in higher earning income households ($75,000 or more) spent time with their friends outside of school, as to the lower income households ($30,000 or less) did not spend as much time with friends outside of school.

When texting, girls were more likely to text friends daily with 62% compared to the 48% of boys. 15% of boys do not use text messages to communicate with friends as all.

As another important port for communications, 72% of teens use social media to post on sites. 23% do this daily as to the 28% do it every few days. Lower income teenagers were more likely to interact daily as compared to those teens who household were financially stable. Apps such as WhatsApp and Kik are sites that the teenagers used to communicate with one another.

Sending messages is popular amongst older teens and girls to hang out with friends. Those who met friends online are likely to use messaging formats as well (87%).

With girls using social media, text messages, and messages to communicate, boys are more likely to do so through video games (74%).

Email is not as popular to communicate with friends. 64% off teens use email to stay connected with friends. Higher household incomes (71%) were more likely to email than lower income households (56%). 

As social media accounts increase for teenagers, so do the number of passwords. 19% of the teenagers surveyed shared their password with others. The survey stated that 23% of teens who had two or more accounts, shared their passwords, as the 11% who had two or less accounts. Those teenagers who had five or more accounts (34%) have shared passwords. When sharing their passwords, teenagers see it as a sign of trust amongst their peers and partners. Some teens stated that with sharing their passwords, they felt that their intimacy of friendships and relationships were put in jeopardy.



How Teens Hang Out and stay in Touch with Their Close Friends


School is the top location that teenagers spend time with their friends. 83% of surveyed teens said this, while 58% spend time at a friend’s home, 55% spend time with friends online on social media and messaging, and 45% doing extra activities outside of school.

55% of teens surveyed spent time with their friends online on a regular basis. 65% said they met a new friend online while 41% did not.

Frequent contact with closest friend is facilitated by mobile devices and social media
Staying in touch with each other has become easier due to the technology of smartphones, social media, gaming, and the internet.

Those teenagers who had access to devices were more likely to stay in contact with friends. 60% of these teens stayed in contact with their friends, compared to the 47% of those without internet device access. 62% of teens who had smartphones were in touch daily with their friends daily and 45% did so several times a day.

Social media has become a favorite for interacting with friends. 63% of teens make daily contact on social media, while 44% make multiple contacts with their friends. Those without social media, 47% communicated with friends, as 30%  did so many times a day.  78% of the teens surveyed who had five or more social media accounts stayed in touch daily with friends.

Half of teens say texting is the most common way they communicate with close friends
Text messages ranked highest in the survey in how teenagers communicated amongst their friends. 49% of the teens said they texted friends. Girls are more likely to text than boys (55% to 43%). 54% of teenagers ages 15-17 used text messages compared younger teenagers of 41%.

The survey found that household incomes that were above $75,000 depended on text messages to communicate compared to the lower income households who depend on social media when communicating.

Teenagers who had access to smartphone or other digital devices were more likely to texts to communicate with friends. 58% of teens with smartphones text, compared to the 30% of teens who used a basic phone, and 19% of teens who did not have cellphone access.

Teens without access to smartphones more likely depended on social media to communicate with friends. They are also more likely to make phone calls to stay in contact with friends.

Phone-based methods are overall the most popular ways that teens communicate with closest friends
Again, texting (80%) was the most popular way to communicate amongst the teenagers in the survey, with phone calls (69%) as a second way to communicate. Social media was third with 66% and 21% using gaming as ways to communicate with friends.

The survey found that the teenagers wrote in an answer for another way to communicate with their friends.  21% of teens responded that they used video chatting or FaceTimed on their phones, as well as email.

Girls were more likely to use texting (84%), phone calls (75%), and social media (72%) as means of communication with friends.

75% of boys used texts, 62% used phone calls, and 60% used social media to keep in touch. That being said, boys are ore likely to use gaming to communicate with friends.

Teenagers with smart phones are likely to say texting is the way to communicate (86%), compared to those who do not have a smartphone (62%).  Teens (71%) with smartphones make phone calls compared to those who do not have smartphone access (62%). Teenagers (68%) with smartphone access use social media to communicate, as those who do not have a smartphone (60%).

The reasoning for selecting the ways to communicate depended on how the teenager felt about the person they wanted to hang out or talk to. The survey said if the teen wanted to talk to a close friend, they would make a phone call, as a an acquaintances would receive text messages. 


Video Games are Key Elements in Friendship for Many Boys


72% of teens who play games do so on the computer and majority of them are teenage boys. Because of changes in technology, gamers can play with others in person (83%) as well as online (75%).

Teenage boys game against friends they know (89%), online friends only (54%),  and those they do not know (52%).

36% of teen boys stated they met new friends while playing games online. 23% said they gave their gaming handle to new friends to stay in contact. When gaming, 83% of teen play in the same room and 33% play on a network on a weekly basis. When gaming on a network, the teens may not always know who they are playing with or against. 57% of teenage boys who play online games considers the other online gamers not friends.

When gaming, 71% of teen boys use voice connection to speak to other players who are also on the network. This allows for communication while playing the game with partners, as well as things that are happening around them and in their lives. Some teenagers even use Skype to communicate when gaming. This is a major way for teenage boys to make friends. Three quarters of teens who game said they talk while playing. Talking while gaming ranks high for teen boys to communicate with others.

When playing, 78% of teens say they feel connected to their friends, 84% being teenage boys. 52% of teens who play network games feel connected. But it also had an impact on the teenagers. Anger, frustration, and happiness were common amongst the emotions experienced when playing online games. 82% said they felt relaxed, while 30% said they felt angered or frustrated. These emotions come from poor playing on behalf of the teen or online player.

Teens, video games and friends: Other Demographic Differences
Teens who come from higher income household were likely to play online games with someone they knew in person (94%).  Lower income household teens felt they were more connected to people that were not friends.  Some said they felt relaxed  and happy when playing.

Rural teenagers were less likely to play online games than those who lived in urban areas. 78% of urban teens play online games, as do 77% suburban teens and 59% rural teens do. Suburban teens were more likely to play online games with friends they knew in person (92% suburban vs 77% rural). Rural teens are more likely to play with friends they know online.


Social Media and Friendship


Social media is important to teenagers today. 76% of teenagers surveyed used social media. Facebook dominates with Instagram (52%) and Snapchat (41%) gaining popularity. One third of the teens surveyed used Twitter.

64% of teens have made a new friend on social media. It also provides a way for existing friends to stay in touch. 94% spend time with friends on social media, 30% is everyday and 37% is every few days.

 Those teens who use social media claimed that if allows them to feel more emotionally connected. 40% of girls said they felt connected compared to 26% of boys.

Smartphones provide constant access to social media for teenagers. With such ease of connecting, teenagers can connect and interact anywhere.

Because of such access so easily to gain, many of the teens surveyed felt that too much information is out there and it is not as private.

Nearly 7:10 teens receive support from friends through social media during tough times
Just like making connections easier amongst online and personal friends, it also helps with receiving support though up’s and down’s.

Teens with smartphone (71%) are more likely to receive support than those who do not have such access (58%) to the device.

Self presentation and curation of social media presence
Presentation is something that all social media user things about, not just teenagers.

Teenagers are constantly being told to be cautious of what information and images they post. Post could be misinterpreted, misread, or set the use up future issues.

Parents are always informing teenagers that their social media accounts could present themselves to a wide range of audiences when it comes to future employment and academics.

85% of the teenagers surveyed stated that others are able to create different personalities online than they can off line. Teens with smartphone were more likely and able to participate since they had an easier access to such devices. More opportunities were available to posts such comments or images. This brings many teens to agree with that others are not as authentic in their posts and profile.

With authenticity and attention teenagers seek, 40% of teens surveyed felt pressured to have a positive and attractive profile and posts. 42% of teenagers whose parent have a college degree felt pressured to have positive content on their social media accounts, while 36% of teens whose parents have some college and 35% of teens whose parents have a high school diploma feel like they have to report on social media. Not only do teens feel pressure to post about themselves, they feel pressured to post on friends pages if not likes (39%).

42% of the teens surveyed stated that others posted things about them that they were not able to control; 46% of older teens have deal with this, 35% of younger teens have dealt with it.


Conflict, Friendships and Technology


Unfortunately, as much as social media helps teenagers feel connected and form friendships, it can also hurt and break it apart. Conflict between teenagers causes drama online that can in turn cause issues for both sides. 68% of teenagers have witnessed this.

Girls reported seeing the drama begin online, with 72% of girls and 64% of boys encountered such drama. 72% of teenagers of ages 15-17 and 62% of teenagers of ages 13-14 experienced seeing conflicts arise on social media. Girls are more likely to experience or witness such drama. Teenagers who used Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat were more likely to see these conflicts on social media compared to those teenagers who did not have those accounts. 79% of Snapchat users, 75% of Twitter users, and 73% of Instagram users experience such conflict. These conflicts often go back and forth between parties. Conflicts can arise by exploring other peoples profiles, pictures, or posts.

About 26% of the teens surveyed stated that friends will fight off line about something that happened online or was from a text message, while 73% had not been involved in such turmoil. Girls are more likely to report such situations. 32% of girls and 20% of boys were involve in such conflicts that began online.

31% of teens surveyed said they had conflict with friends over social media or a text. For those teenagers who did not have social media, the percentage dropped to 11%.  Smartphones influence online conflicts since access is so easily to come by.

Teenagers were surveyed about what happened to when a friendship ended. 60% stated that users unfriended each other, blocked them or deleted any images of them. 61% of older teenagers have done this as had 52% of younger teenagers.  Teenagers even block others from their social media sites and phone (53% of girls vs 37% of boys).

Regardless of what actions are taken to stop any further posts about someone, girls are more likely to unfriend, block, and delete memories of a previous friendship.



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