Teens and Their Social Media

By Ted Resnikoff

Youth_Connecting_by_any_Means

Youth_Connecting_by_any_Means

Connecting, Despite Everything

The increasing diversity in family life-style, advent of two-income families, limited public resources, shortened school days and paring instruction down to core subjects crete the impetus to place youth in structured after-school activities. The casualty of this has been "hang-out time", when youth could interact in less structured environment and connect on their shared experience.

New research suggests that young people use social media to make up for the time they no longer get to hang-out, showing that what they want most is the opportunity to connect and share with peers. This presents an opportunity for faith organizations providing a balance of strucutre and free-time in an environment conducive to growth and exploration to be relevant in the life of youth.

Learn how Unitarian Universalist youth group programs and the Unitarian Universal ist Association youth ministry accomplish this. Read the article from the Fuller Youth Institute about this research. Purchase the book "Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens", by Danah Boyd