The new friendships of teenagers, in video games and social networks
That the new technologies They have changed our way of life is a statement that does not surprise anyone. However, there are still some studies that continue to give reasons to this phrase, such as those that focus on know the social habits of people. In this regard, a new work has just revealed that More than half of adolescents have met their new friends through the Internet.
The report, published by the Pew Research Center on adolescents, technology and friendship, found that 57 percent of teenagers between 13 and 17 years old he has met his new friends 'online', and that young people in that age group feel more comfortable in digital environments.
Specifically, the adolescents surveyed by this research center assure that The favorite places to make new friendships are social networks and online video games. Of course, there are certain differences in sex: 61 percent of boys are more attracted to making friends online, a percentage that is 52 percent in the case of them.
Social networks and videogames
On the means through which adolescents make new friends, the study indicates that boys prefer video games online to meet new people, while the girls opt for the social networks, especially Facebook and Instagram.
On the other hand, if we break down the results by age, we find that the youngest ones, that is, adolescents between 13 and 14 years old, make fewer friends in the network (Likewise, 51 percent of them, which is more than half) than those adolescents between 15 and 17 years of age, in which the percentage is 61 percent.
New friendships
With regard to how these friendships are maintained, this is entirely related to how these people have known each other. Thus, 79 percent of the adolescents surveyed said that send instant messages (through social networks or applications like Whatsapp) frequently to his new friends, a percentage that is 27 percent (almost one in three) in the case of those who write to them daily.
Regarding the contact form, 72 percent of young people spend time with these new friends through social networks, while 64 percent do it by email. Even so, there are other preferred ways of keeping in touch: video chat (59 percent), online video games (52 percent) and messaging apps (42 percent).
Despite the dangers of the Internet for teenagers, this kind of studies can draw a very clear picture of how social networks can help adolescents connect with the feelings of your friends and worry about what happens in their lives, a point that emphasizes this research because, he says, the digital environment also allows them to find a type of support that they do not otherwise find in real media, which can help them to face difficult situations.
Even so, the risks and dangers exist, and it is necessary to take them into account. The research center itself has found that 40 percent of teenagers feel the pressure to fall well to a broad audience, which leads them to try to create an attractive profile and that gives them a "popular" image.
The good bye'
Social networks have another peculiarity with regard to friendships: the end of these. In real life people can distance themselves because they do not see much, or just fight and not talk for a while. Although this may also happen in the digital world, the truth is that the options to cut off contact with a person are different: according to the study, 63 percent of the girls delete or block users with whom they have broken a friendship, a percentage higher than that of boys, which stands at 53 percent.
What about the friends of 'flesh and blood'?
With this scenario it may seem that young people forget their old friends, those of flesh and blood, but that is not the case. According to the study, the friends of always stay, and they are mainly done in the study center (school or institute), although also here the social networks are a bond of union.
83 percent of teens maintain contact with their closest friends at school, 58 percent spend time with them at one or another house and more than half, 55 percent, maintains contact through the Internet, especially social networks.
At this point, another curious conclusion of the surveys stands out: telephone calls recover their important role in the case of old friends, although it is true that they are increasingly a minor resource due to new technologies and, especially, the applications of instant messaging. A) Yes, telephone calls are reserved for a more special kind of relationship: that of close friends.
Angela R. Bonachera
