A survey of 16,000 Myspace users in the UK found that around 36% of people aged 14 to 21 are more comfortable having conversations online than they are offline. The survey findings go on, along with some pretty tabloid-esque commentary about how the internet is “open to misuse and children can be vulnerable to bullying and abuse through this medium.” Disregarding that, I think we can pretty easily get at why people might be more comfortable online.
Someone growing up these days will probably spend a lot more time talking to people offline than off, and that’s juse a function of the technology. Take anyone who uses instant messenger services. More likely than not (especially if the person in question is a young teen), the person will be having multiple, disconnected conversations all at the same time. This is something which you not only cannot do in real life, but which adds up to a whole lot of socializing in what can be a very limited time frame. This makes for a big crowd of people who get a majority of their social experiences online. Remember, this is not to say that these people are nerds with a fear of real life social situations, but just that it’s really easy to wrack up a lot of time socializing online.
Again, the survey itself should not be taken at face value. To consider a population of teens on Myspace as representative of a generation shows a flat-out disconnect that the people who conducted the survey have with youth and technology. Anyone who is at all versed in tech realizes that Myspace is a dying platform. I would have a bit more faith in the correlations that the survey seems to try to draw with real life social withdrawal if I heard that a third of Facebook users felt more comfortable online than off, but even then I don’t think that “more comfortable talking with people online” means “I’m a social outcast.” Do teens avoid going to parties with their friends these days? There are some who do, but probably not many more than the number which refrained from socializing during years gone by.
