Young adults' reflections on their experiences of social media use during adolescence

Abstract

Social media and the internet play a prominent role in society, not just in South Africa, but also globally. It has become the form of modern communication, as well as the platform where one can have access to various types of information at the touch of a button. Social media and the internet have equally become more significant among adolescent users; the influence that it has on them however remains unclear. In addition to the various adverse effects caused by the use of social media and the internet, adolescents also find it challenging to decide whether the use of social media is mostly positive or negative. The rationale for this study was that there is limited research providing insight into how social media influences the development and functioning of adolescents in the South African context. The goal of the study was to explore and describe young adults’ reflections on their experiences of social media use during adolescence. The study was qualitative in nature and formed part of a group research project. Qualitative research tends to be interpretivist in nature and seeks to understand the phenomenon being studied in greater depth (Nieuwenhuis, 2011a:60). The study was exploratory in nature and the type of research was applied, as it attempted to generate knowledge which could be applied in practice in the form of recommendations which could assist social workers and other professionals working with adolescents and families in guiding them through the effects that social media might have. The research question that was addressed was: What are young adults’ reflections on their experiences of social media during adolescence? An instrumental case study design was utilised to enable the researcher to answer the research question. Ten participants took part in the research. Non-probability sampling, specifically the purposive and snowball sampling methods, were used to select participants for the study. Data was collected from young adults who made use of social media during their adolescent years; thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The empirical findings indicated that social media use among adolescents had positive and negative effects depending on the purpose for using social media during their adolescent years. It became evident in this study that many young adults do not perceive social media as a safe platform for adolescents due to criminal activities that occur regularly, as well as easily, on social media. It is concluded that adolescents are not well informed about the risk factors of social media due to parents who are uninformed and unable to inform their adolescent children about social media use. Recommendations were made based on participants’ experiences and perceptions of the use of social media. The importance of awareness was highlighted in this study; therefore, the role social workers and other professionals play in creating awareness features prominently in the recommendations based on the study. It became clear that there is a gap in research with regards to how Application developers can assist children, adolescents and their parents with regards to social media safety. Key words • Social media • Internet • Social network sites • Adolescence • Young adult