Department of Extension and Communication, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The M.S. University, Vadodara, India.
Online published on 4 April, 2012.
Facebook has become the most popular medium of socialization and communication in recent times. Its popularity is so widespread that you find people from all lifestyles-professionals-nonprofessionals, young-old, men-women, rich-poor. Being on Facebook is must in today's mediated world since we spend more time with electronic gadgets than human beings. The day of many of us starts by updating status on face book and ends with status update. This has created concerns and worries amongst parents and teachers regarding the effect of Facebook on young minds. Teenagers have started using face book to convey their feelings, expressions, anger and love through Facebook, without realizing its consequences regarding security issues. They are on face book more than anywhere else is. The communication and socialization is indirect rather than face to face, which is of concern to media researchers, academicians and educational administrators. The present paper describes about the influence of Facebook usage on school going teenagers as perceived by themselves and their mothers. Influence of it was studied in terms of their academic work, socializing and communication pattern.
