Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The use of technology and social media to communicate is a modern influence on the personal and social development of youth. The proposed study will investigate the influence of social media use on feelings of connection or loneliness among Canadian adolescents. The objectives are (1) To determine whether frequency of social media use, as a means of communication with peers, is associated with self-perceived loneliness in Canadian young people grades 6-10. (2) To identify through qualitative analysis the potential impacts of social media use on adolescents as perceived by young people and their parents independently, particularly as it relates to mental health. A mixed method study approach will be utilized involving an analysis of the frequency of technology use among youth across Canada in relation to their self-perceived level of loneliness. Additionally, individual, independent interviews with adolescents and their parents will be done in order to investigate perceptions on the possible impacts of social media use. By involving adolescents and their parents in this analysis, further insight into the dynamics of social media in the lives of youth will be shown. This study may help inform the development of family-based strategies for healthy technology use, particularly with the goal of promoting positive mental health outcomes during adolescence.