The habits of use in social networks of preadolescents

Abstract

Social networks are an attractive environment for young people nowadays. Preadolescent children access to this reality without adult supervision since early ages. They learn by trial and error. The objective of this study is to know the habits and use that younger students make on social networks. With this purpose, a quantitative research and quasi-experimental design has been carried out. A group of preadolescent students from several centers in the Basque Autonomous Community have participated. The results indicate that as much boys as girls use social networks, although some networks are more successful than others among students of different genders. It is also observed that the participants show contradictions between self-perception of the safe use in the networks and the risk behaviors that they carry out in the networks. Finally, it is noted that students do not receive training or guidance on the proper and safe use of networks. The need to create pedagogical practices aimed at guiding students in the safe and risk-free use of social networks is concluded.