Social Networking Sites and Youth Transition: The Use of Facebook and Personal Well-Being of Social Work Young Graduates

Abstract

Research on youth transitions, and the well-being of young people, has to take into consideration the digital context in which they are immersed. Digital interaction of young people increase year by year, social networking sites play a key role in their personal and professional relationships, and a very high percentage of jobs require digital skills. According to Eurostat (2019), participating on social networking sites (one of the most common online activities in the EU-28), is growing every year [more than half (56%) of individuals aged 16-74 used the internet for social networking sites], and this percentage increases among the younger generations. In this article, we present the results of our research on the digital skills and well-being of young people on Facebook, based on a survey with a sample of 126 young people graduated from the University of Málaga (School of Social Work) (Spain). Based on certain scales, the level of digital skills that students have on Facebook was measured, considering strategic aspects for information search, level of use and presence of Facebook in life, maintenance of relations and tolerance to diversity. Variables of psychosocial well-being were also measured (social capital, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and personal wellbeing). Variables of digital skills on Facebook were subsequently related to well-being variables. Results show that certain digital skills relate to the well-being of young people. In this sense, we deem it crucial to develop education policies that could provide young graduates with general digital skills to be used on social networking sites.

Information Literacy Experience of Undergraduate Students during Their Involvement in the University Creativity Program

“…This information is relevant in the research of López-Fitzsimmons and Nagra [5], who indicated that Google is easier to use and more straightforward than library databases. However, this study confirmed the findings of Castillo de Mesa, Gómez-Jacinto, López Peláez, and Erro-Garcés [21], who found that Google and social media are also used by undergraduate students for educational purposes.…”

“…Other studies have found that Google and academic databases [20] are the students' preference during information search; the participants indicated that they have different perspectives about information resources. However, Castillo de Mesa, Gómez-Jacinto, López Peláez, and Erro-Garcés [21] indicated that social media is used by university students not only for engaging with friends and family but also for searching information related to their study.…”

Young people, social workers and social work education: the role of digital skills

“…This paper studies the role of ICT in young people's lives and its impact on social workers. By studying both collectives in parallel, the paper contributes to the previous literature on e-social work, young people, and technology (Castillo De Mesa et al, 2020;López Peláez et al, 2018;López-Peláez & Marcuello-Servós, 2018b). To this end, data from the International Digital Economy and Society Index 2019 and Eurostat were used for the analysis.…”

Young people and social work part II

“…In fact, although various studies have highlighted the positive effect of digital skills on young people's physical and psychological well-being and self-esteem, it has also been shown that technology does not solve all problems in and of itself, and that the acquisition of digital skills does not necessarily imply greater tolerance to diversity. 1 In dialogue with the monograph already published on young people in Social Work Education 2 in January 2020, this monograph addresses the invisibility of young people in different spheres of welfare states. As it shows, public policies are not as effective as they should be and do not adequately respond to young people's needs in relation to employability, social benefits, and other resources they require such as accessibility to digital training tools or even attractive leisure alternatives.…”