Sexuality and Intimacy: Development in the Digital Sphere

Digital media such as mobile phones, social media, and the Internet are entrenched in adolescents’ lives. Since these tools have become an integral part of adolescents’ interaction and communication with peers, they should be considered a social context in which development unfolds. During adolescence, youth are faced with the key tasks of adjusting to their developing sexualities as well as forming intimate relationships. Recent findings suggest that youth use digital media in the service of these developmental tasks. They utilize information available online as well as peer interactions to cope with and adjust to their changing bodies and sexualities. Adolescents also engage in sexting and other related behaviors, which have been found to afford healthy development while simultaneously imposing considerable risks. They also use digital tools such as social media to maintain friendships, develop romantic relationships, and even pursue interactions with strangers. Findings have shown that digital media can provide youth opportunities in the pursuit of developmental tasks, but they also come with risks. Nonetheless, many scholars believe that the risks are not intrinsic to the digital tools themselves but may relate to individual or contextual factors. The implications of these findings are discussed and questions for future research are identified.