Reuters has revealed a new study that shows around two thirds of teenagers are comfortable enough with their parents to have them as friends on Facebook. Kristen Campbell, executive director of the company responsible for the study, said that the results show how Facebook "continues to be the new frontier in the ever evolving relationship between parent and child"
Of the 2,313 surveyed, 65 percent said that they were comfortable enough in their relationship with their parents to have them as Facebook friends. 38 percent, however, said that in reality they would ignore requests from their parents, and 16 percent said that being friends with their parents was a condition for joining the website in the first place.
Kristen Campbell heads Kaplan Test Prep, an initiative that develops college prep programmes. The survey revealed that 82 percent are for the most part involved in their academic lives, revealing a level of relationship perhaps nonexistent in earlier times. Describing Facebook as being a natural step for those that have grown up with the internet, Campbell summed up the phenomenon as being "a generation that's communicating electronically and now the lines of communication are open in new ways."
As the lines blur between Facebook relationships and relationships based in reality, it's not surprising to see results such as these appear, but what is interesting is the idea that a generation that grew up without the internet are able to adapt to a new way of socialising. As Facebook grows ever larger, it begs the question of whether this is a passing phase or if Facebook is here to stay for even longer.
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