Teens in Building Relationship (Online vs. Face-to-Face)

516 Words2 Pages

According to Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development, the fifth stage which is Fidelity: Identity vs. Role Confusion, occurs in ages 13 to 19 years old. In this stage of life, adolescence struggle in finding their roles in the community, searching for their true identity, examining models they can emulate in the future and, and building social relationship. As a result, the adolescents of the 21st century are the prime users of social media sites due to their age group’s main concerns which are social relation and peer interaction. (Regan and Seeves, 2010)
Communication is the key in forming relationship, and for communication to be effective, one must not only rely on words alone. As a matter of fact, according to Chatsworth Consulting Group of New York and Pennsylvania, non-verbal factors such as eye contact, body language, facial expression, and intonation of voice inhabit 93% of the communication process. This is an issue regarding online interactions that are prevalent in social networking sites.
Getting to know you: Face-to-face versus online interactions was a longitudinal study conducted by Okdie, et. al in the year 2011. Results of the study rendered that computer-mediated communication reduces unity among or between the communicators. A huge number of interactions in this form involved animosity due to the convenience of identity-clouding if one opted to. Moreover, the people involved in online interaction are more self-conscious on how they present themselves and are more cautious with their choice of words. A probable reason beneath these ideas is that people tend to present themselves in a positive note on social networking sites as they have the power to control over the information to share, data to post, and messa...

... middle of paper ...

...S et al. Pediatrics 2011 Apr.
Children, Adolescents, and the Media by COUNCIL ON C OMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA Pediatrics 2013
The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, Kathleen Clarke-Pearson and Council on Communications and Media, 2011
Faecbook Wants Your Children by Victoria Kempf
Wired: Encourage positive aspects of social media for children, teens while guarding against risks by Deborah Johnson http://chatsworthconsulting.com/article/CriticalSuccessFactorsforEffectiveCommunication.pdf http://www.verdick.org/child-development-and-the-internet/child-dev-neg http://www.afhill.com/blog/social-networks-too-much-drama/ http://www2.mtsd.k12.wi.us/Documents/16district/Voices/BldgSocialSkills.pdf http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09socemodev.asp http://www.psmag.com/culture/is-facebook-stunting-your-childs-growth-40577/

Open Document