Teens, Technology and Friendships

A new report from the Pew Research Center explores the new contours of friendship in the digital age. For today’s teens, friendships can start digitally: 57 percent of teens have met a new friend online. Social media and online gameplay are the most common digital venues for meeting friends. Text messaging is a key component of day-to-day friend interactions: 55 percent of teens spend time every day texting with friends. Video games play a critical role in the development and maintenance of boys’ friendships. Overall, 72 percent of teens ages 13 to 17 play video games on a computer, game console or portable device. Fully 84 percent of boys play video games, significantly higher than the 59 percent of girls who play games.

Teen friendships are strengthened and challenged within social media environments. Social media also plays a critical role in introducing teens to new friends and connecting them to their existing friend networks. Girls are more likely to unfriend, unfollow and block former friends When friendships end, many teens take steps to cut the digital web that connects them to their former friend. Girls who use social media or cellphones are more likely to prune old content and connections:
58 percent of teens who use social media or cellphones have unfriended or unfollowed someone they used to be friends with, and 45 percent of teens have blocked an ex-friend.
63 percent of girls who use social media or cellphones have unfriended or unfollowed an ex-friend, compared with 53 percent of boys.

The report found that phone calls are less common early in a friendship, but are an important way that teens talk with their closest friends.