The impact of social media towards youth conflict resolution skills / Muhammad Fazli Izhar Nazli ... [et al.].

Growing concern exists among researchers regarding the effects of the Internet on youth regarding potential risks to safety, well-being, and skill development (Selfhout, Caplan, & Gross delsing,2009). Social networking is a current phenomenon that consists of both web-based communication with Internet users through websites (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube) and interaction with others via cellular phones. According to Facebook statistics, there were 526 million daily active users on average in March 2012. Further, the 2010 Media Industry Fact Sheet reported that two-thirds of the population over the age of 13 are connected by cell phones. Social networking has become common today, especially among adolescents and young adults, and continues to grow in popularity. These activities occur among people who already know each other personally as well as those who have never met in person. Increased utilization of computers and cell phones to communicate, tasks that have historically required interpersonal skills and face-to face interaction, may be altering the means in which young people attain and practice skills that are necessary to function in their daily lives. Over the past decade, technological advances have reached all segments of the population across the globe. The 20th century was epitomized by youth staying connected through face-toface interaction or the use of the landline telephones (Hinduja & Patchin, 2007). Social networks thought of as a set of people in which support is exchanged (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008; Wellman, 1981) or relationships that are important to an individual (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008; Kahn & Antonucci, 1981) were typically managed through interpersonal or conventional telephone contact. However, the growth in Internet access and software availability as well as advancements of cell phones, combined with a population of youth who have grown up exposed 2 to this technology, has resulted in social networks being replaced online (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008) and through telecommunications.