“Online spaces are used infrequently for meeting romantic partners, but play a major role in how teens flirt, woo and communicate with potential and current flames”.
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The study notes that “Digital flirting has “entry level” and more sophisticated elements for teens, depending on the nature of the relationship and their experience with virtual flirting strategies”.
The study, which polled American teens ages 13-17, uncovered a number of factoids on the intersection of romance and technology among today’s young people, who now have Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and a whole host of other communication vehicles to turn to for matters of the heart. According to the survey, 29 percent of teens reported they have broken up with someone over the phone, and 27 percent have been broken up with in this manner. Of those, 8 percent say they met their romantic partner online, mostly on Facebook.
However, it seemed some of the teens may not have been 100% truthful on the survey – because quite a few had experience with the text-message break up.
Though almost half of teens said they see social media as an opportunity to show the world how much they care, more than two-thirds of teen social media users with dating experience agree that too many people can see what’s going on in their relationships.
A quarter of teens report having blocked or unfriended someone on social media to stop unwanted and uncomfortable flirtations. Among girls, the count has risen to a whopping 35 percent.
Pew also found that 85% of romantically involved adolescents expect to hear from their significant other “at least once a day, if not more often”.
Among boys, 16 percent took this step, the study said.
“On the one hand, it is a dominant mode of communication that teens have, so it’s a logical outgrowth”, Lenhart said.
Forty-seven percent of teenagers have flirted or expressed interest in someone by liking or commenting on someone’s social media posts. And even though again four in 10 youth said that social media gives them an outlet to expose their affections and to express more emotion to their significant others, but for in this area a third of the teens, social media was a source of jealousy and relationship insecurity.
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Only slightly more than that – 55% – said they’ve actually flirted or talked to a romantic target in real life to convey the message.
