Young People and Social Networks

When you think of young adults using social media and social networks, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Predators? Networking? Dating? Sex? Nope!!!

Copyright: mattasbestos

Young people use their social network sites as a way to hang out. A lot of parents are concerned when their child spends a lot of time online, when they can see that their child is communicating with someone, but they just aren't sure with who. Chances are, that child is talking with a classmate that they would be hanging out with offline if they were able to.

Students use social media and social network site in a completely different way than adults do. In many cases, they are also smarter and safer when it comes to these sites. They know what they want to share and what they want to keep private. They also know what is meant for everyone to see and what is meant for only a few friends to see.

Students are most worried about hanging out with their friends and being up to date on all the latest information and gossip within their social groups. That is all they use social network sites for. If you were to look at the friends on a student's Facebook, chances are most of their friends would be people their age that they know from school, work, camp, or other out of school activities. These would most likely be people that they have met face to face before befriending them. When it comes to social networks, it is important to watch what your child is doing, but to also trust them to be safe.

This was a really good thing to learn about. Though I knew that most students use these sites as a way to keep in touch, there are also some students who use them for other things. I am always thinking that the second group is fairly large, but it isn't. Social networking is important for youth to keep in touch. They are hanging out, just like their parents did when they were young, but they are using a different medium to hang out with!