DIGITAL WELLBEING & SOCIAL
MEDIA USE AMONG THIRD CULTURE
KIDS
Sharon Brown-Peters, Debra Rader,
Mariam Mathews & Sujoy Chaudhuri
Introduction
Teenage use of social media continues to be a hot topic of research, with
interest in understanding how and why teenagers are using social media
as well as potential implications, positive and negative, of its use. A recent
report indicates that there are more than 3. 5 million students globally
who collectively attend more than 7,000 international schools (ICEF
Monitor, 2014). During their academic careers, many international school
students will experience multiple moves and transitions from one
country to another. The abundance of social media tools and platforms
allow these students to maintain previous relationships with peers as
they migrate to different countries and schools around the globe.
In order to explore how students are using social media, we conducted a
survey to better understand how international students are using social
media to maintain relationships with peers as they move to new
countries and schools. Students from five schools in Central Asia and
Europe participated in the study. The study took place between February
and March of 2015. The participants in this study are teenagers who have
experienced a transition to a new country and school. The survey
collected data on how these internationally mobile students use social
media and communication tools.
