With an average teen spending more time on smartphone than sleeping, does make us curious and with the dinner time loaded with constant texting and giggles are definitely things that parents would hate. With an increase in the number of social crimes and to avoid the aftermath of any internet fraud parents should be alert and have a clear picture of their wards social media activities.

About 75% of teens shield their online behavior from parents, according to a new survey conducted in America. 91% teens go online occasionally with the latest state of the art smartphone. And we cannot refuse the fact that teens are better than parents at internet.

Hence it’s important to have regular discussion with your child about their social media routine. Social networking sites have always made headlines regarding cyberbullying and threats of violations at high school.

What teens post today can undoubtedly affect their future. 42% of active social media users post personal information online out of which 5% are teens.

32% of college admission officers said they visited an applicant’s social networking page to study more about them. Not only in college but a similar trend is witnessed even by the job recruiters with about 93% potential employers view candidates social profile before making hiring decisions.

Therefore keeping a watch on your child’s social networking activity is very important and at the same time giving them their own space to work on their online network.

Here are some stats and figures.



Infographic by- GO-Gulf

Texting

Statistics have also shown that nearly 73% of youngsters between the ages of 13-17 have smartphone. This brings us to the most preferred way of communications by teens called “Texting”.

Texting has undergone revolutionary change in the one decade with the advent of smartphone-based messaging apps that have added features. Fully 91% of teen cell owners use text messaging, either directly through their mobile phones or through an app or a website.

Social Media

When it comes to social media, stats suggest that nearly 71% of teens are active on more than one social networking sites.

Facebook

Without doubt Facebook remains the most used social media site among teens with 41% of them using Facebook most often normally having 145 friends. A largest group of teens 30% say they have Facebook networks of 0 to 100 friends. Another 12% report networks of 101-200 friends and 9% say 201 to 300 friends. And 15% say they have more than 300 friends. And one out of three teen say they are not sure how many Facebook friends they have.

Instagram

Instagram is a photo-sharing social networking service that enables users to take pictures and edit them with a selection of digital filters. Instagram has more than 75 million daily active users. 50% teens are reported to be more active.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a video messaging application

According to Snapchat’s published statistics, as of May 2015, the app’s users were sending 2 billion photos and videos per day, while Snapchat Stories content was being viewed 500 million times per day. In November 2015 the number reached 6 billion sent videos per day. 41% teens are active on snap chat.

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called “tweets”. 33% of all teens use Twitter. Older teens are more likely to use the service than younger, with use rising steadily as teen’s age, from just 13% of 13-year-olds using the service to 28% of 14-year-olds and 43% of 17-year-olds.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a microblogging service where users can create and share posts of mostly visual content they create themselves or find elsewhere on the web. About 14% teens use Tumblr. Tumblr is predominately used by girls in this age group with 23% of girls 13 to 17 using the service, compared with just 5% of boys the same age.

Vine

Round about 24% teens use Vine, an app that allows users to share small videos. Vine is more popular among the girls wit 27% of the users being women as compared to 20% being men. As with many social photo and video platforms, the oldest girls ages 15 to 17 are the most likely to use Vine, with 29% of them reporting use.

Playing video games

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of teens play video games online or on their phone — 84% of boys and 59% of girls play such games.

Pornography

Porn Sites get more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. Study suggests that 93% of Boys and 62% of girls have seen porn before the age of 18. A Google Trends analysis indicates that searches for “Teen Porn” have more than tripled between 2005-2013. Experts have also stated that the rise in the viewing of pornography was implicated in a variety of problems, including a rise in the levels of STDs and teenage pregnancies. Additionally, males aged between 12 and 17 who regularly viewed pornography had sex at an earlier stage in life and were more likely to initiate oral sex, apparently imitating what they had seen.

And not to forget the minor injuries caused to them due to Bumping into walls, falling down stairs, tripping over clutter, stepping into traffic while using smartphone on the go.

I would love to conclude by saying that Social networking clearly portrays both positive and negative effects on the youth. It is decision of an individual to make whether to continue using the sites or not.

Thanks to http://www.internetsafety101.org/pornographystatistics.htm, Wikipedia, http://www.pewinternet.org/ for helping me complete this article and gaining most of the stats and figures.