Impact of the Internet on Relationships and Community During Adolescence :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

From birth, manhood seek connectedness. Regular social interaction is almost as fundamental as eating or sleeping, and is achieved through social activities and relationships with family and friends. Creating and maintaining these relationships is a summons that occurs throughout an respective(prenominal)s carriagetime. Yet, during adolescence these interpersonal relationships start to have a particularly important function. Interactions with family and peers are vital to young identity formation, and the authoritative role of these relationships places additional stress on the bonds during this life spirit level. As Steinberg mentioned in a recent paper, Adolescence has long been characterized as a time when individuals stimulate to explore and examine psychological characteristics of the self-importance in order to rel help who they really are, and how they kick the bucket in the social world in which they continue(Steinberg, 2001). The idea that adolescence is a time of role experimentation and a stage of identity formation (Erikson, 1956) has existed for decades, dating back to Eriksons definition of the life stage Identity vs. Role Confusion. In this stage, as the adolescent begins to be conscious of how their identity is perceived by others, a heightened level of identity awareness develops. Although Eriksons idea of a life stage with absolute delineated boundaries is now fairly obsolete, the struggle to define ones identity during adolescence is still very present and relevant. With the advent of the internet, the possibilities for defining the self have expanded dramatically. The youth sector latched onto this technology, using it to help ease and facilitate connections with others. Email and Instant messenging allowed people to communicate quickly in a non-confrontational fashion, and weblog communities encouraged individuals to share their thoughts, feelings, and opinions with others online. All of these methods of communication allow th e individual to assume multiple identities. According to (Lenhart, 2001) almost one quarter of teens accede to pretending to be someone else over Instant messenger or email. Thus, it is undeniable that this online medium is forum where the boldness of role confusion and scattering can occur freely. But, what impact does this have on the formation of a single identity that is congruent with the ego? An important part of the adolescent identity formation process is the recognition that others notice the outward expression of the self, and that this outward expression must agree with others in order to fit into a social group.