A Study on Attitude Towards Social Networking Among Adolescents and Parents

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to know how students in school and parents perceive social networks. A random sample of 50 adolescents aged 17–21 and 50 parents aged 45–48 irrespective of gender were selected randomly from students in the eleventh and twelfth grades with their parents in Ambala, Haryana, India. A self-developed questionnaire consisting of 60 items about social networking was used, of which half of the items were in favour and half not in favour of social networking. The scoring of the questionnaire was done using scores 1 to 7 correlating to the options from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. Descriptive analysis and part–whole correlations and t-ratios were used to analyse the obtained data. The difference in opinion between parents and adolescents about social networking is more evident when one considers the generation gap, income group and rural and urban groups. The attitude of parents, teachers and adolescents towards social networking sites is neutral. Social networking sites are both a boon and a curse, depending upon the level of awareness pertaining to the different aspects such as privacy, accessibility and the purpose for which they are being used.