Online Social Networking: Usage in Adolescents

Abstract

Online social networking (OSN) has played a significant role on the relationship among college students. It is becoming a popular medium for socializing online and tools to facilitate friendship.   Young adults and adolescents are the most prolific users of OSN sites. The frequent use of OSN sites results in addiction toward these sites and simultaneously influence students’ daily life at large. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of usage of OSN sites by students of professional colleges in terms of duration and dependency and to find out the association of selected variables with OSN usage. A questionnaire was used to explore this issue and 350 college students participated in the survey. The findings revealed that most of the students logged in to OSN sites for more than 30 minutes a day and many of the students were dependent on these sites.

Keywords: Online social networking sites (OSN sites), Reasons for use, Dependency