Young adult’s reflections on their experiences of social media use during adolescence

Abstract

Social media is an Internet-based application that enable people to communicate and interact with others online, form relationships, access information, and create and share content with people known or not known to them, even those in distant locations. Through popular social media platforms such as Facebook, people can upload information in the form of text, images, and videos and share it with others. As such, social media use has changed traditional ways of interaction and communication and has obtained increased population. Social media use is popular among adolescents and for many has become part of their daily lives. Although social media have many benefits, as indicated above, it also has numerous potential risks for adolescents’ emotional, social, physical and academic functioning. The goal of this study, which formed part of a group research project on the topic, was to gain a better understanding of adolescent’s experiences of social media use as described by a sample of young adults. Following an interpretivist research paradigm, a qualitative research approach, applied research and a case study design, data were collected from a sample of 11 participants who were recruited by means of purposive and snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews with the use of an interview schedule were used for data collection and data were analysed by means of thematic analysis. Relevant research ethical principles were upheld during the study. The research findings indicated that social media use formed an important part of the participants’ lives during adolescence. They were between the ages of 10 and 16 when they started using social media and accessed and spent considerable time on various social media platforms daily. Negative effects of social media use included emotional distress, cyberbullying, creating a ‘false online life’ to live up to certain standards, poor academic performance, negative body image and strained family relationships. The positive effects were less obvious, and included better mental well-being and academic performance for some, and the benefits of sharing information online. Two important risks that could affect adolescents’ personal safety were highlighted, namely engaging with strangers with harmful intent, and exposure to content such as pornography. The participants made several suggestions for parents, schools and teachers, social workers, and adolescents that could prevent risks of social media use. It is recommended that, since social media has become part of the modern lifestyle, interventions should focus on educating adolescents, parents, teachers, and social workers on responsible social media use. Further research, for example on legislation relevant to social media use, parental knowledge, and the role of schools in curbing social media use can provide more insight into the topic of adolescent social media use.