Status Update: It's Complicated

Here is a link to one of the research findings I have come across which covers topics of technology and communication-oriented Internet sites and the online interaction that adolescents have. Authors Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield examine young adults' relationships with friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, strangers and even their families in the context of their online communication activities.  This article illustrates how the users of these sites are maintaining their existing relationships as well as gaining new ones.  In finding this research, I am not surprised at all by the information these two authors have presented.  There have been numerous accounts of sexual predation and Internet over-use cases that tend to be very prevalent in today's society.  This article was just reinforcing and expanding on some of the issues that many of us know today from the news media and other media outlets.  In fact there have been numerous stories about Facebook and how relationships have been ruined over its use.  ABC news posted an article titled, 'Love and Heartbreak on Facebook,' with author Zunaira Zaki explaining how "a simple click of a button can mark the beginning and end of a relationship." The fact that this issue is so widely covered, shows how important and relevant it truly is in our society today, which makes my work that much more important!