ABSTRACT
Online peer engagement has gone through rapid changes in the past decades, largely due to the rise of social network platforms and availability of new digital technologies. Academic research into online peer interactions has not kept up with these quick developments, however, with the majority of findings on online peer engagement placed in “good” vs. “bad” camps. While this ongoing theoretical battle is taking place, offline as well as online social networking keeps transforming. This chapter highlights issues with the existing polarized literature, with scaremongering in the popular media as a direct result of findings from the “bad” perspective paralleling other moral panics concerning young people’s technology use. Some of the issues with the current scientific literature are highlighted, such as mainly cross-sectional studies and lack of research on overlaps between online and offline social networks. The chapter also emphasizes up and coming innovative frameworks offering alternative views of adolescent online peer engagement, including online socializing as an evolutionary mismatch. Finally, the importance of digital technology design in preserving aspects of social interactions crucial for a healthy adolescent social development is discussed.
