The Pew Research Center’s latest report on how kids are interacting with social media has some good news, for once.
While parents think social media is nothing but bad news for teens (their mental health in particular), the survey shows that a majority of kids feel more connected to their friends (80%), feel like it gives them a creative showplace (71%), and have a support group because of social networking (67%).
Thirty-two percent of the teens surveyed said social media was mostly positive; 59% said it wasn’t positive or negative. Only 9% said social media was outright bad. That said, check the graphic at the top. Many (32%) reported that they’d seen social media have a negative impact on others.
The breakdown is interesting between teen boys and girls—the latter are much more likely to be “overwhelmed by drama, excluded by friends, or worse” due to social media.
One area where teens do feel a lack of control is the data collected from them. But in the grand tradition of the last couple of decades of oversharing online, the teens aren’t all that upset about it. While 60% said they have little to no control over personal information collection, only 21% were extremely to very concerned. Forty-four percent were only a little or not at all concerned.
For more, including a look at the impact social media has depending on how teens identify politically and fascinating quotes from the focus groups conducted with the survey, read the full report at pewresearch.org.