Analyzing Adolescent Girls' Perception of Social Networks in Cyberspace: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to analyze adolescents' perception of cyberspace.

Methods and Materials: This research is a qualitative study of the descriptive phenomenological type. The statistical population consists of adolescent girls aged 12 to 18 who are dependent on cyberspace and reside in the city of Talesh, Gilan Province, during the summer quarter. They were identified using purposive sampling with Young's questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 individuals, continuing until saturation and repetition of responses were reached. After recording each interview, the extracted content was transcribed verbatim. Data coding continued simultaneously with data collection. The data analysis was conducted using Colaizzi's seven-step method.

Findings: A total of 2 main themes and 10 sub-themes were obtained from 11 interviews. The main themes include "perceived challenges of presence in cyberspace" with sub-themes such as "family challenges; psychological challenges; challenges arising from intergenerational gaps; challenges of changing cultural patterns and instability of accepted values; transformation of leisure and recreational styles; informational challenges beyond the age of transnational groups" and "perceived opportunities of cyberspace" with sub-themes such as "space for dialogue and exchange of views on social issues; opportunity to present models compatible with local culture; creation of social networks compatible with adolescent characteristics; access to equal educational opportunities." The results indicated that adolescents dependent on cyberspace perceive their presence in cyberspace with various challenges as well as beneficial opportunities.

Conclusion: Therefore, it is necessary for officials and stakeholders to consider the needs of the adolescent period and use the opportunities provided by communication technology and virtual networks to design appropriate digital content to meet the needs of adolescents.