Recent research published in Computers in Human Behavior explores how adolescent social media usage is related to social skills and time spent with friends offline. The study finds that increased social media activity does not adversely affect social skills and is associated with more offline interactions with friends. This challenges the common concern that digital platforms might hinder adolescents’ social development.
“Socializing with peers outside of the family is crucial to adolescents’ (socioemotional) development and well-being,” said study author Silje Steinsbekk, a professor of clinical child and adolescent psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
“Therefore, as young people have increasingly turned to social media for interpersonal interactions, concerns have been raised that social media use may displace time adolescents spend with friends offline and may negatively impact the development of social skills. If so, their mental health and psychosocial functioning could be harmed. Knowledge is needed on how this new social landscape affect adolescents.”
For their study, the researchers analyzed data from the Trondheim Early Secure Study (TESS). TESS is a longitudinal study involving children born in Trondheim, Norway, during 2003 and 2004, designed primarily to explore mental health outcomes but adapted to investigate social behaviors as well.
The initial sample recruitment targeted all children born in the specified years, with their participation beginning at age 4. Parents received an invitation and a behavioral screening questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which they completed and brought to a mandatory health check-up.
Based on the SDQ scores, children were stratified into groups, with higher scores indicating more pronounced emotional or behavioral issues. A total of 1,250 children were ultimately drawn from those who consented, with follow-up assessments every two years up to age 18, covering eight data waves.
From age 10, participants were assessed for their social media usage through semi-structured interviews conducted by trained personnel. These interviews, conducted at ages 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18, collected data on the frequency of specific social media behaviors such as liking, commenting, and posting content across various platforms.
Social skills were evaluated using parent-reported instruments: the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS-P) and the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales (SSIS-RS). These tools helped quantify social behaviors like cooperation, assertion, self-control, and responsibility. The assessments provided a total social skills score, which was analyzed for its relationship to social media usage.
Steinsbekk and her colleagues found no evidence to suggest that social media use impairs the development of social skills over time. This finding contradicts the commonly held fear that social media might replace more meaningful face-to-face interactions that are crucial for developing complex social skills. Social media might serve as an additional platform for social interaction, not necessarily at the expense of traditional interactions.
“The findings suggest that social media use may neither harm nor benefit the development of social skills and may promote, rather than displace, offline interaction with friends during adolescence,” Steinsbekk told PsyPost.
Increased social media use was associated with an increase in time spent with friends offline, particularly from the ages of 12 to 14. This finding supports the “social enhancement hypothesis,” which posits that social media can enhance users’ social lives by providing additional avenues for interaction that complement face-to-face encounters.
“I was a bit surprised that social media use was linked to more time spent with friends offline,” Steinsbekk said. “However, research has shown that online interactions may fuel existing relationships and enhance the initiation of new ones.”
While the general findings were positive, the study also highlighted that the effects of social media are not uniform across all individuals. Specifically, increased social media use was found to predict a decline in social skills among adolescents with higher levels of social anxiety. This suggests that for socially anxious individuals, social media may exacerbate certain challenges, potentially because these platforms can offer overwhelming stimuli or foster comparisons that may heighten anxiety.
As with any study, there are some limitations to note. The reliance on self-reported data may not perfectly capture actual social media usage. Rapid technological advancements and the ever-changing landscape of social media platforms may also affect the generalizability of the findings over time.
“It should be noted that the effect revealed was small,” Steinsbekk noted. “Further, the rapid pace of technological developments makes it challenging to study social media use. It is impossible to know if the results would be the same if we studied today’s 10-year-olds and followed them until they turned 18 in 2032.”
Future research should explore these dynamics further, examining how different types of social media interactions influence various social outcomes and how these effects may vary among individuals with different personal or psychological characteristics.
“Our aim is to generate knowledge about how social media use affect adolescents’ development, health, and wellbeing – identifying who is at risk and who may benefit from social media use, and what kind of social media use is harmful and beneficial, respectively – and for which outcomes (e.g., mental health, self-esteem, social relations),” Steinsbekk explained.
The study, “The new social landscape: Relationships among social media use, social skills, and offline friendships from age 10–18 years,” was authored by Silje Steinsbekk, Oda Bjørklund, Patti Valkenburg, Jacqueline Nesi, and Lars Wichstrøm.