More than 50% of teens visit social networks daily

As teenagers head back to school after the long summer vacation, many parents are breathing a sigh of relief that their children are back in a safe framework and studying, rather than hidden in their rooms hooked up to their computers.  But a new study released by CommonSense Media, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the media and entertainment lives of kids and families, reveals that teenagers are heavily involved in online social networking, and that is unlikely to stop with the start of the school year.  According to the study, over half of all teens (51%) check social networking sites more than once a day, and almost a quarter (22%) check more than 10 times a day.

The good news for the third sector, is that these teens aren’t just surfing for themselves, but using social media tools for Tikkun Olam.  More than a third (34%) of teens have volunteered for a campaign, nonprofit organization or charity and more than half of them (54%) have joined an online community or a ‘group’ on Facebook or MySpace in support of a cause.

A perfect example is the recent Tweet4Shalit campaign for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit, which reached number two ranking on Twitter, partially due to the tweeting of teenagers around the world who have adopted his cause.  Ninth grader Daphne Gruber, who goes by the twitter name Daphne Duck, has taken her support for Shalit one step further by designing her  Twitter page with a Gilad Shalit theme, and including the number of days Gilad has been in captivity on every tweet she has sent out since March.

Israeli Teen twitters on behalf of Gilad shalit

Many teenagers do want to change the world for the better, and they have the time and talents to turn social networking into a medium for good.  The important thing, as CommonSense Media states, “Communication and socialization in our kids’ world is increasingly moving from face-to-face to face-to-cyberspace. Families need to keep up regular conversations about life in a digital world and what it means to be a safe, smart digital citizen — including ethical behavior, privacy, bullying, and reputation management.”

Whether offline or online, in school or at home, we should focus on helping our teens use all the tools they have access too for the good, to expand their horizons and help make the world a better place.

Tags: Social action, Teens, Tikkun Olam

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