Child development experts, in partnership with CNN studied the social media feeds of more than 200 eight graders from across the country, allowing them a peek into the daily online lives of these teens.
This is the first large scale study to analyze what kids actually say to each other on social media and why it matters so deeply to them.
Sociologist Robert Faris, a youth aggression researcher who co-authored the study a school bullying said, "We see a lot of evidence of, if not out-right addiction to social media, a heavy dependence on it. There's a lot of anxiety about what's going on online, when they're not actually online, so that leads to compulsive checking."
The study was made among eighth graders at eight different schools in six states across the United States. Participating students, with their parents' permission registered their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts through a secure server created by Smarsh, an electronic archiving company contracted by CNN. The teens answered a number of survey questions about their use of social media, while the study's co-authors, along with their teams, analyzed an estimated 150,000 social media posts collected over a six month period.
The study also revealed that the more the teens look at social media posts, the more distressed they become and that the heaviest social media user admitted to checking their social media feeds more than 100 times a day, sometimes even during school hours. There are teens who are so cautious about those who may have something negative to say about them, resulting to following the social media accounts of not only their friends, but also their enemies. Zack, one of the study's subject, said, "I want to see what they're talking about and if they're talking about me, because if they're talking about me, I'm going to talk about them."
#Being13 found that teens no longer see a distinction between their lives in the real world versus the online world. These teens said they'll still post something online they admit they'd never say in person. The study also found that the most common reasons why teens feel the constant need to know what's going on online is to monitor their popularity, and defend themselves against people who say negative things about them.
