Abstract

RIAL, Antonio; GOMEZ, Patricia; BRANA, Teresa  and  VARELA, Jesús. Attitudes, perceptions and Internet and social networks use among Galician (Spain) teens. Anal. Psicol. [online]. 2014, vol.30, n.2, pp.642-655. ISSN 1695-2294.  https://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.30.2.159111.

Researchers and institutions have shown an increasing concern about how adolescents might misuse the Internet. Its psychological and behavioral impact often translate into the emergence of risk behaviors, school failure and family problems. Given the interest that this issue has generated on an increasingly wider scale, the aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to provide data to determine, from a descriptive point of view, what exactly are the attitudes, perceptions and habits of adolescent Internet and social networks use and (2) a deeper understanding of the issue, contributing to the design of prevention and control strategies which will encourage a more rational and healthy Net use. On the basis of a survey of Compulsory Secondary School students from Galicia, which involved a total of 2339 individuals, the results obtained demonstrate the high level of Internet use penetration among the studied population and make it possible to gauge the magnitude of the problem with empirical data. Although the obtained numbers do not justify an alarmist attitude, they do indicate the need to implement specific action plans immediately.

Keywords : Internet; social networks; adolescents; new technologies; ciberdependence.

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