Larry Magid: Common Sense Media Report Shines Positive Light on Kids and Social Media

Common Sense Media just published a report that paints a mostly positive picture of social media's impact on teens' social and emotional well-being. Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives points out that "Many more teens report a positive impact of social media use on their emotional well-being than a negative one," and pretty much debunks the myth about "Facebook depression" with the conclusion that "Very few teens think that using their social network site makes them more depressed."

(Source: Common Sense Media)

Not surprisingly the report found that 90 percent of teens have used social networking and that 75 percent currently have a social networking profile. More than two-third of kids (68 percent) are on Facebook, compared to 6 percent for Twitter and 1 percent for GooglePlus and MySpace. More than a third (34 percent) visit their favorite social networking site "several times a day" and 23 percent are "heavy" social media users.

The report is based on an online survey of 1,030 13 to 17 year-olds conducted between February and March of this year.

Social-emotional well-being

The study found that teens are much more likely to say that social media has a positive impact than a negative one on social-emotional well-being. About three in 10 (29 percent) say that social networking makes them feel "less shy" and "more outgoing" while 20 percent say it makes them feel more confident. About the same number (19 percent) say they feel more popular and 19 percent also say they're more sympathetic to others. The positives far outweigh the negatives with only 5 percent saying that social networking makes them feel less outgoing while "4 percent feel worse about themselves, less confident, and less popular after using their social networking site; and 3 percent feel shyer," according to the report.

The report concluded "Among all teen social network users, only 5 percent say using their social networking site makes them feel more depressed, compared to 10 percent who say it makes them feel less depressed.

Though use of social networking seems to help a lot more kids than it hurts, when it comes to social-emotional well-being, most kids (83%) say that social networking doesn't make much of a difference to whether or not they feel depressed or better or worse about themselves (81 percent).

Sharp contrast to the naysayers

The report stands in sharp contrast to some naysayers who worry that Facebook might cause social and emotional distress, depression or social isolation. In fact, more than half (52 percent) said that "social media users say using such media has mainly helped their relationships with friends, compared to just 4 percent who say social media use has mainly hurt their relationships."

And, despite what some pundits have written, social media hasn't diminished teens' desire to maintain face-to-face relationships. Just under half (49 percent) of teens said that their favorite way to communicate with their friends is in person, followed by texting (33 percent) with social networking (7 percent) just slightly ahead of talking on the phone (4 percent). Still, there are some kids (43 percent) who agreed that they sometimes wish they could "unplug." The survey reported that "Most teens feel that, on balance, using social media has helped rather than hurt their relationships. About half of all teens (54 percent) say social networking has helped them feel more connected with family and friends (2 percent say it's made them feel less connected, and the rest say it hasn't made much difference one way or the other)."

(Source; Common Sense Media)

Dark spots

There were some findings that raise the caution flag. For example, 44 percent of teens say that "they often or sometimes encounter sexist (44 percent), homophobic (43 percent) or racist (43 percent) comments online and 24 percent said they "often" encounter some type of derogatory speech. But it's important to put this in context. Just because someone finds negative speech online doesn't mean that most or even a substantial portion of people are posting it. A single negative post could be seen by a great number of people. Besides, there is no evidence from this survey that online use encourages negative speech, it simply reflects it as it reflects all good and bad aspects of life.

Surprising results for 'less happy teens'

The study broke down responses between the roughly 90 percent of teens who are "in good emotional shape" and the 10 percent who fell into the category of "less happy teens." Among those teens who are "less happy," 50 percent report that social networking makes them more outgoing compared to 17 percent of the "happiest teens." Less happy teens are also more likely to feel more popular (34 percent vs 15 percent), less shy (49 percent vs. 21 percent) but at the same time these less happy teens are also more likely to report negative feelings such as "worse about myself (15 percent vs. 1 percent) and more depressed (18 percent vs. <.5 percent="" these="" same="" less="" happy="" teens="" also="" wish="" their="" parents="" would="" spend="" time="" on="" and="" other="" devices="" vs="" of="" happier="" readability="18.5339329518">

One size doesn't fit all

The survey doesn't attempt to explain why less happy teens have both positive and negative emotional reactions that differ from happier ones but it does reinforce the fact that how people respond to social media is very individual and personal which makes it very hard to generalize and even harder come up with a "one-size-fits-all" type of explanation or solution for any perceived problems.

The report illustrates that social media, while mostly positive, can have some negative impacts on some people, but that's true for anything in life including watching movies, reading books, eating certain foods, playing sports or even going to school. We live in an increasingly complex world were generalizations and sound bites -- while increasingly common -- are increasingly irrelevant. That's why it's so important for parents as well as teachers and others who look after kids to consider the needs of each child individually. While it's reassuring to know that the vast majority of kids are doing really well on social media, it's also important that we take extra time to support those kids who may be struggling.

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Follow Larry Magid on Twitter: www.twitter.com/larrymagid

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