Virtual Socialization Hits Adolescents

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Much like the school cafeteria, com labs/mobile phones, virtual socialisation can be seen as informal social networks: they represent electronic locations where children can gather to interact. Even though interaction between individuals is mediated by technology, it is important to note that people perceive electronic-mediated interactions to resemble real-life interactions. For instance, overwhelming evidence that humans treat computers, and media in general, as if they are human, ‘Media equals real life … In short, we have found that individuals’ interactions with computers, television and new media are fundamentally social and natural, just like interactions in real life. Equating mediated and real life is neither rare nor unreasonable.

It is very common, it is easy to foster, it does not depend on fancy media equipment, and thinking will not make it go away.’ virtual socialisation can take a number of forms, the most important of which we summarize below.

Self-assertion and self-control

In the cafeteria/phones children learn to interact and deal with a number of people ranging from the bully to the class clown. Because these individuals are also present on social networks, children often face them online as well. A challenge is that these individuals can remain anonymous or take on other people’s identities via the use of fake or dummy accounts. Even though fake profiles may enrich and extend the experience of participating in social networks, anonymity also allows individuals to become more aggressive and persistent, acting in ways that may not have been appropriate in the ‘real’ world. As children learn to deal with such behaviors and protect their personal space from possible abuse (e.g., obscene messages), they learn how to assert and control themselves, in effect enhancing their social judgment.

Identity and Cultural/Subcultural Identity

Children, and especially adolescents (Erikson, 1950), struggle to define who they are. Adolescence (the age range for adolescence is from ten into a young person’s early twenties) is a time of physical and sexual maturation when young people attempt to shirk off close ties with parents while strengthening peer relationships. Adolescents are given ample opportunity to define and redefine who they are.

The ability to design one’s profile provides children with the ability to promote their interests, likes, and dislikes, gaining ownership of their profile and personalizing their virtual space. For example, MySpace enables users to modify numerous profile options (e.g., colors, look-and-feel, layout, songs) while Facebook, although limiting visual modification, enables individuals to reorder profile boxes and add applications of interest (e.g., displaying friends’ pictures and places of travel).