Adolescents who are nonusers of fashionable social networking platforms

Abstract

Social media use is central to the organization of adolescent peer groups. Nonetheless, a small percentage of youth report that they do not have an active presence on any of the social networking platforms that are commonly accessed by their peers. The current study examines the academic and social functioning of this under investigated subgroup. We recruited 376 adolescents (M = 14.4 years of age; 209 girls) from an ethnically diverse urban high school. Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing digital communication tendencies. A peer nomination inventory was used to index social reputations and reciprocated friendships. In addition, achievement data were obtained from school records. Forty-eight adolescents (12 girls) reported that they did not use any the social networking platforms that were in vogue with their peers (i.e., Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter). Our findings presented a mixed picture regarding the adjustment of these youth. Compared to their classmates, nonusers of fashionable social networks were less popular and had fewer friends. On the other hand, nonusers were relatively high achieving and tended to establish a small number of friendships with academically high achieving peers.