Internet chatting among young people

Abstract

Based on the conviction that Internet chatting has increased drastically over the past years, this research project aims to investigate what motivates young people to chat. This study also aims to shed light on what adolescents who do not chat do instead. Using a questionnaire with 191 young people who attend four different Church schools, the study investigates why young people chat, how these behave online, any friendship and/or relationships that adolescents are initiating and maintaining online and whether this medium is affecting adolescent's way of living and other implications. This research also explored why a number of young people do not chat, how these perceive chatting, whether they are planning to start chatting in the near future and how they spend their free time. Apart from the quantitative aspect of the study, a qualitative approach was also adopted by means of interviews with nine individuals. Three of these individuals were chosen since they are habitually in contact with young people in order to explore how they perceive chatting amongst adolescents. The other six interviewees were chosen since they have been chatting for a considerable number of years and hence are well versed in this field. This was done in order to compare the outcome of these interviews with that of the questionnaires, with the aim to explore whether there exists any relationships between chatting habits and age. From this research it became evident that 89% of the sample chat. 36% have started chatting at the young age of 9 to 11. 57% of the participants indicated that they have built a friendship and/or relationship with someone they met online and 85% of these met this online person face-to-face. The majority of those who do not chat indicated that they cannot chat since they do not have the necessary connections or equipment. Most of these indicated that they are planning to start chatting in the near future. The study finally attempts to put forward recommendations on how young people can be better educated on how to use this medium. Further recommendations deal with how this medium can also be utilised by youth workers in as much the same way as outreach workers go to places where young people gather.