Teenagers’ used to stay up late talking on the phone, pass notes to each other in class and gossip in the loos. But now every bit of new, rumour or event is talked about online via social media.
Nearly all (92%) teenagers aged 13-17 go on the Internet every day, according to the Pew Research Center, and 24% say they are online “almost constantly”. Much of this time is spent on social media, with 71% of teens reporting Facebook as their top social media platform, followed by Instagram and Snapchat.
What these services have in common is their ability to turn real-life experiences into easily sharable content. What’s less clear is how this is will shape young people’s perception of their youth. These precocious social media users are growing up with an ongoing archive of their lives – a comprehensive daily diary of tweets, Facebook posts and Instagrammed photos. But unlike printed photographs and handwritten notes, these records won’t fade. Even seemingly ephemeral exchanges, like a Snapchat photo, can be captured and stored with illicit apps like Snapsave or a simple screenshot.
