Pew Survey Reveals Teen Tactics For Digital Romance

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers are intelligent creatures. In the latest effort to dissect youth culture, Pew Research Center recently published a report titled “Teens, Technology, and Romantic Relationships.” The report revealed stats on the digital strategies of how teens find love in the digital age. For example, approximately 50% of teens have expressed interest in someone by friending them on Facebook or another social media site, and 47% by commenting on or liking a post. (Poking is so outdated now.) The report breaks everything down so even us millenials can understand it all—apparently “entry-level” digital flirting is adding or following someone on a social media platform. 

Some teens reported their experiences of abusive or controlling behavior from their significant other such as an ex reading text messages without their permission, or being threatened on the phone or Internet. (One can't help but wonder what the results would have been if teens had been asked about facilitating or receiving nudes.) Of the 59% of teens overall that felt that social media helped them emotionally connect to their significant others, a whopping 65% were guys, so maybe fuccbois don't start developing so young after all. Furthermore, 70% of teens claimed that they “felt closer to their significant other because of exchanges or conversations they had online or by text" and 48% of teens “resolved an argument with their significant other online or by texting that they were having difficulty resolving in person.” On the flipside, 43% percent "felt that their significant other was distracted by their cell phone when they were together" and 27% percent said that “social media makes them feel jealous or unsure about their relationship.”

Unfortunately, this is something that doesn't go away with age. (Yes, kids, grown-ups are distracted by their devices too.) If anything, this report shows that teens and adults play the same game, except for the fact that some of us resort to dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Sizzle. Personally speaking, I want to know which emojis seal the deal, but Pew is probably hard at work studying this in their next investigative report.

(via The Atlantic)