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Teens Would Rather Text Their Friends Than Talk To Them In Person, Poll Shows (nypost.com)
A new poll of 1,141 teenagers shows that teenagers prefer to text their friends than talk in person. The findings come from Common Sense Media's 2018 Social Media, Social Life survey. Fortune reports: Only 15% of teens said Facebook was their main social media site, down from 68% in 2012. Snapchat is now the main site for 41% of teenagers, followed by Instagram at 22%. In addition, this year's survey saw texting (35%) surpass in-person (32%) as teens' favorite way to communicate with friends. In 2012, 49% preferred to communicate in person, versus 33% who preferred texting.
[M]ore teens said that social media had a positive effect on their levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety than those who said it had a negative one, but it seems to have the opposite effect on teens who score low on the authors' social-emotional well-being scale. Of those, 70% said they sometimes feel left out when using social media, 43% feel bad if no one likes or comments on their posts, and 35% said they had been cyberbullied. They were also more likely to say that social media was "extremely" or "every" important, compared to their peers who score high on the scale.
[M]ore teens said that social media had a positive effect on their levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety than those who said it had a negative one, but it seems to have the opposite effect on teens who score low on the authors' social-emotional well-being scale. Of those, 70% said they sometimes feel left out when using social media, 43% feel bad if no one likes or comments on their posts, and 35% said they had been cyberbullied. They were also more likely to say that social media was "extremely" or "every" important, compared to their peers who score high on the scale.
and his short story "The Machine Stops"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Mostly random stuff.
This has nothing to do with how society evolves. This isn't socialization, this is turning kids into hermits. Studies have shown that smart phones and social media are addictive. The instant gratification of both boosts dopamine levels.. Pretty soon you get used to those elevated dopamine levels.. That's addiction.
This and obesity are the two most serious problems facing our citizenry, in my opinion.
Moderation in all things. Make sure your kids are involved in outside activities. Allow them to have phones but monitor their use and set limits if need be.
I have two teens and yes, they absolutely spend a lot of time interacting with their friends on social media. Just as previous generations might have spent hours on the phone in the evening. But they also love doing stuff with their friends. I've spent a lot of time shuffling my kids to/from other kids' houses and other places they meet people. They'll use their bikes too if where they're going is close enough. They go to and we've hosted many a sleepover.
Even when it comes to gaming, which they can easily do from their individual homes, my son often prefers to pack up his laptop, console, Switch or whatever and go to somebody's house with 2 or 3 other guys and spend the night.
As far as whether they prefer texting to an in person conversation, I think a lot depends on the person, the nature of the conversation, and the context.
An interesting question to ask would be which choice would they make:
A: You could never leave your house and you could never have friends over, but you could use social media to your hearts content
B: You could never use social media again short of getting and sending invites, but you're free to interact with people in person
There is no doubt that both would be crippling to a modern teen's social life, but I bet most would choose to interact exclusively in person vs never being able to interact in person.