Some of the Benefits of Social Networking

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project (2010), 93% of 12-17 year-olds are online and more than half of them use social networking sites.

If more than 50% of all 12-17 year-old kids are using social networking to communicate with others, it is important that we begin to understand some of the benefits that our tweens and teens gain from social networking.

1. Practicing Social Skills:
Socializing online is not as fast paced as being on a phone or face-to-face communication, so kids have more time to respond. It allows for kids to type and erase responses, which is helpful if a kid is unsure of what to say. Lastly, it allows for kids to practice different greetings, responses, and reactions which is very helpful when learning communication and social skills.

2. Creating Private Social Hangouts:
Remember when it was safe to drop your child off at a mall, a movie, or a park? Let's face it, so many hang outs are so closely monitored by adults that children (especially teenagers) feel that they cannot gather without feeling that they are being watched. Being online allows kids to feel as if they have a cool alone space to hang out with their friends. As adults we need to be careful not to minimize the importance of our kids need to be alone with their peers, and being online is the closest thing that many kids feel resembles privacy.

3. Identity Formation:
A part of growing up is feeling as if you sometimes want to be different from what you normally present to other people. Ever see a child, tween, or teen change the way they wear their hair or clothes radically from day to week? This may be an attempt of theirs to change on the outside how others see them. Online, kids sometimes feel, they can create an identity shift that is different from what he/she is normally perceived as at school or at home. Of course, this is what many people feel can be dangerous for our children. Examples of girls pretending to be older than they are may solicitor the attention of an older boy are often given to warn parents to stop or seriously monitor all social networking behavior. However, I am talking about a different type of identity formation. For example, I had a client who was very shy at school. He was on a popular social networking site, and found that he was able to become a hero of sorts for a group of individuals that were interested in the collection of rare coins. He had this hobby but at school no one was very interested in this subject until he found the confidence online to 'reinvent' his identity. By the time he was graduating from highs school he was able to start a coin collection club at school.


I always recommend that all families should first consider setting up safety measures to protect the families computer, consider signing a contract to communicate the expectations of the family being online, and parents should agree to find appropriate ways to monitor their child's online behavior so that the benefits of social networking can take affect in our homes.