Interesting findings from the Youth Connectedness Project at New Zealand's Victoria University about adolescent behavior and Internet use. The key take-away seems to be that 48 percent of adolescents with online friends displayed “indicators of conflict” (which the researchers defined as bullying in school, fighting with friends, family conflict, etc.) vs. 26 percent of Internet users with no online friends.

According to researcher Dr. Jo Kleeb, one possible explanation is that young people “interact with strangers online in order to vent the emotional stress from their daily lives with little or no consequence.”

I’d like to hear what others – especially teens – think about these findings.

JayKay, thanks for posting.

Maureen Kochan
ConnectSafely forum manager