Adolescence, Internet Use, Social Adjustment and Emotional Intelligence

Petro Van Der Merwe

doi:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p2327

Abstract

Instead of merely focusing on the use of new media itself, attention should also be given to the users in terms of their ability to interact with other people. The effect of the internet could be an increased variance in social adjustment rather than an average improvement or deterioration. Adolescent internet users might be well adjusted, as they report higher levels of social activity and network involvement; however, internet use and social involvement tend to vary according to education, income and age. Therefore other variables need to be investigated in order to determine the extent to which social isolation and behaviour problems are a result of internet use, regardless of any inherently social disposition on the part of the user. It is not the aim of this article to investigate whether socially isolated adolescents were deficient in social skills even before taking up the internet. The purpose is to investigate the extent to which emotional and interpersonal skills are related to internet use. The main relevant argument is that the internet will cut adolescent users off from genuine social relationships and ultimately lead to impoverished participation in social life. Counter-arguments highlight the potential of new media to enhance adolescents’ social lives as it enables them to engage more easily in communication with their peer group. The importance of peers is one feature of adolescence. Adolescents spend a great deal of time with friends and place a high value on these relationships. In order to determine whether internet use does in fact have a negative impact on social adjustment, it is important to understand what emotions are, and what exactly constitutes emotional intelligence. When used responsibly, the internet can be a great place to interact socially. Consequently, this generation requires a unique brand of education that will enable them to realize their personal dreams and serve the society they are a part of. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p2327

Highlights

For much of the previous century, emotion scholars generally subscribed to a cultural theory of emotion: emotions were believed to be culturally specific learned behaviours that could only be experienced by observing other people expressing such emotions (Creed & Beale, 2006)
The researcher classified anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise as emotions that are shared across cultures, and called them ‘basic emotions’
The researcher expected frequent adolescent users of the internet to be lower on emotional intelligence, extroversion and agreeableness, but at the same time expected to see that the internet is not inherently unhealthy

Summary

Introduction

For much of the previous century, emotion scholars generally subscribed to a cultural theory of emotion: emotions were believed to be culturally specific learned behaviours that could only be experienced by observing other people expressing such emotions (Creed & Beale, 2006). Ekman (1999:43) discovered that some emotions are not necessarily learned as previously believed, but are innate and shared across cultures. The researcher classified anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise as emotions that are shared across cultures, and called them ‘basic emotions’. Humans can express emotions in a variety of ways, the primary ones being the following (Creed & Beale, 2006:123):. People often express their emotions via stories, poetry and personal letters. People can literally state how they are feeling using emotive words such as ‘happy’, ‘sad’ or ‘ecstatic’ (Wang, Predinger, & Igarashi, 2004:1172)

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