WhatsApp groups allow students to express themselves better: Study

In this digital era blackboards have been replaced by projector screens and now classrooms might be replaced by WhatsApp groups. A recent study entails that WhatsApp actually provides a more intimate forum than school for youths to communicate and openly express themselves.

The study says, according to Israel’s University of Haifa, class WhatsApp groups allow young people to express themselves in ways they cannot at school. It outrightly shuns the concerns of cyber-bullying on social media and in WhatsApp groups. Notably, it also introduced a new feature recently the pinned chat.

The groups help them develop closer and more open relationships that allow them to express themselves in ways that were not possible in the non-virtual world. Arie Kizel from University of Haifa in Israel, was quoted as saying to nocamels.com, “the group chats are based on trust among the members of the group, and this enhances the possibility to be in contact.”

The study finds its basis on the fact that young people across the globe use the WhatsApp application as a means of interpersonal and group communication. We find the relevance of WhatsApp groups almost everywhere from friends, family to networking groups.

Similarly, most of these young people spend many hours in this virtual world, particularly in the evening and at night when they are alone in their room. Hence, the study examines the way young people experience this virtual space.

The sample space of the research included two groups of eight youths aged 16-17 and two groups of eight youths aged 14-15. The groups included equal numbers of boys and girls. The study intended to find the answers to questions like “What do you feel about the relationships that were created in the virtual domain?” “What did the group give you?” “What didn’t the group give you?” “How was this group different from groups that don’t operate online?”

The results were surprising, a student described WhatsApp as “a place where there is respect for language and where all those involved share common terms and signs.”

A student who was part of the research study says, “on WhatsApp, I usually feel that I am not being judged, particularly because there isn’t any eye contact or physical contact, only words and signs. So I feel more intimacy and security.”

Well, hope the teachers are listening and will work on this new age interpersonal tool for communication more often from now on!