It’s hard to go through a day without seeing a teen using some piece of technology. Sometimes it seems like they are glued to their phones (similar to their adult counterparts), even when they are walking. Or you’ll see many of them together, snapping and Instagraming their afternoon at the local coffeeshop.
How does all this technology impact teen friendships? As a teenager, friendships are crucial. Your friends become your sounding board, provide advice and support you in times of need, and become a pseudo family as you head towards adulthood. The Pew Research Center was curious about this and in 2014-2015 conducted a nation-wide survey of teens aged 13-17. The report, Teens, Technology, and Friendships, was published in August 2015 and I think it sheds some light on teens’ communication style.
From the report, I pulled three main ideas. The report is jammed packed with interesting statistics and worth a look through. But for a condensed version…
Making friends online
According to the teens surveyed, 57% reported that they had made a friend online at some point. However, it was less likely that these online friends turned into people teens met in person (only 20%). When you break up the 57% of teens who have made at least one friend online, it was more likely these teens were older (15-17 years old).
Boys were more likely to have made online friends through video games (the networked component that allows you to play with other people online playing the same game) while girls were more likely to make friends through social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram).
The so what: As I was reading this section of the report, I thought back to growing up and writing pen pal letters to students either in the United States or across the world. Could something like this be replicated through video games or social media platforms by the library? Perhaps if a library has a video game system for teens to use, they could pair up with another library who has the same video game so their teens could play against and with each other? Or the teens could “take over” a social media platform that the library uses to communicate with teens and talk to another teen department at another library?
Keeping in touch with friends
Regardless if the friend was made online or is an in-person friend, texting is the popular means to communicate with them. Teens reported that 49% used texting as their main form of communication with friends. Other forms of communication included instant messaging, social media platforms (and direct messaging), email, video chat, phone calls, video games, and other messaging apps (Kik or WhatsApp). Many teens said that the medium to communicate was based on the type of friendship they had with the other person. Only the closest friends would be eligible for a phone call, while newer friends were easier to text or talk to in another messaging app. It was interesting that 85% of teens said they had called their friends at some point (analog is not dead!).
The so what: Teens have created a system for building trust in friendships seen through how they communicate with each other. They have rules for how to communicate with each other and these look different than how we might be use to communicating with friends. By seeing that this sample of teens is more likely to use written word to communicate can better help us understand the teens we serve (and what sort of programs could happen with this framework in mind).
Social media’s role in friendships
Social media is important in many teens’ lives. Out of the teens surveyed, 76% said they use social media on a regular basis. When diving into friendships on social media, teens felt that these platforms allowed them to not only keep track of their friends’ lives (83%), but also gave them a better understanding of how their friends were feeling (70%). Additionally, many teens felt that the social media platforms allowed their friends to support them during tough times (68%).
However, while teens felt they could be more connected to their friends through social media, these platforms also played roles in more negative feelings. Many teens (88%) felt that their peers overshared information on social media and 68% of teens surveyed had dealt with some sort of drama on social media before. These interactions sometimes lead to teens to unfriend, block, or limited how much another teen could see their profile(s). It seemed that girls were more likely to do this than boys.
The so what: Social media is still a tricky field for teens. They are fully aware of the importance of cultivating their online presence, but it seems that there might be too much pressure at times. We also see that drama that use to happen in person might be moving online.
This report is important for us to consider as we think about how teens communicate with each other today. While I find it’s helpful to ask teens how they talk to their friends (you hear the most interesting things when you do that), this report gives a good overview. I’m curious, do you see these results playing out with the teens you serve and if not, how else are your teens talking to each other and maintaining friendships?
