TEEN SOCIAL MEDIA USE DURING COVID-19: PARENT PERCEPTIONS AND OVERSIGHT

ABSTRACT

The paper investigates how parents of American teenagers navigated teen social media use during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid school closures and stay-at-home orders. Through an online survey, parents of teenagers reported on teen engagement, happiness, and social media use along with their own levels and types of oversight related to that social media use. Findings showed that parents perceived their teens to be similarly or less engaged in school and social activities than usual, and generally happy with social media use contributing somewhat to that happiness. Parental monitoring of social media use was the same or lower than during pre-pandemic times overall, with some significant differences related to parent gender, teen age, and teen gender. © 2022 IADIS Press. All rights reserved.