1.INTRODUCTION
Human society is a group of people involved in constant social interaction, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or social territory; it is characterized by patterns of social relationships between individuals who share a distinctive culture. A given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its members. A society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would otherwise not be possible on an individual basis.
In sociology, the web of social relationships is a form of social capital that individuals of the society harness through communication and its different modes. Social relationships are also being constructed and maintained through the advanced technologies in this information society apart from traditional means. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and social capital put forward thought provoking questions. To a sociologist it poses question for the possibility of studying the relationship between social capital and ICT use at the individual level, whether social capital be addressed as individual or collective characteristic. Sociological theory points it to be fundamentally an issue of social interaction, social networks, norms of reciprocity and trust. It is difficult to assess these human-social relationships and the tools of interaction to frame them. However, it is equally important to attempt to do so as these social relationships are the backbone of society as they promote interaction between individuals, enhances collective coordination of activities and support the attainment of individual and collective goals. The social relationships or networks affect the ways of living and behaving in society that follows to individual’s well-being.
This work stresses upon the connections between the use of ICT in obtaining social relationships i.e., a form of social capital amongst the young Finnish high-school adolescents who are a part of the ‘digital natives’, a term coined and popularized by Marc Prensky in his article ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’ (2001). The digital natives are the individuals who are born after 1980s, who unlike the digital immigrants live their lives online often failing to distinguish online and offline lives. It tries to explain, understand and analyze the impact of Internet usage through different high-tech advanced technological gadgets in acquiring social-relationships (i.e., a type of social capital) by the Finnish high-school adolescents of sparsely populated areas of North Karelia region. It also examines the social attachment of the respondents through face-to-face social-interaction or communication in the social activity groups or centers. In doing so the intertwining of social capital and ICT
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can be studied and the differentiation between face-to-face and online interaction in creating and maintaining social-relationships.
Humans, being social-beings need to communicate with others for their necessities. Without communication, no relationship can be formed and without relationship, no society can sustain. Hence, for a society to survive social-relationships or ties are pivotal. Consequently, humans have tried to invent with newer forms of communicating mediums over time to gather social-ties, a form of social capital.
In this 21st century, physical connectivity has loosened to a considerable extent. However, communication, the crux of human relationship, has not stopped. In this digitalized era, ICT has tremendously effected the human communication system and allowed to gather social capital in a faster process. ICT provides Internet based social networking services that connect people who share interests and activities across political, economic and geographic borders within no time limitation. People can get in touch with their dear ones over video-chats, messengers and even send gifts without being physically present. Such social networks are providing a different way for individuals to communicate digitally. They allow for the sharing of information and ideas in a digital environment.
The young adolescents who have born in this digitalized era, experience relationships differently than their previous generations who have also been part of the non-digitalized system of communication. These adolescents depend on the Internet to fulfil cognitive, personal and social needs. ICT affects everyday life, including relationships, entertainment, work etc. Social networking sites are used by young adolescents of high schools, colleges and universities to network with professionals for internship and job opportunities (Castells
& Cardoso 2005). Apart from this, youngsters use social networking sites, chat rooms, messengers for meeting new friends, finding old friends or locating people who have similar problems or interests they have (niche networking). Moreover, for higher studies, internships or other purposes they move away from their families and friends, hence use online communication as a medium to reach their loved ones and to make new connections in the new setting.
The places where this survey was conducted are all small towns with less people, little scope of higher study and job opportunities. Hence, adolescents have to move for better future to nearby cities that would mean estrangement from family and old friendship ties. Friendship or peers play a vital role in the lives of adolescents. Therefore, in these cases the ICT would
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assist them in maintaining old ties. Internet is particularly useful for keeping contact among friends who are geographically and socially scattered.
Social networking sites assist in developing and maintaining relationships. Online formed relationships are carried offline later and vice versa. ICT helps in growing networks that facilitate cooperative activities within groups. The link between social isolation and reduced psychological well-being is well established in sociology, dating back to Durkheim (Kawachi and Berkman 2001). Smaller social networks, fewer close relationships, and lower perceived adequacy of social support have all been linked to depressive symptoms (Barnett
& Gotlib 1988). Individuals having lesser social-ties have a feeling of exclusion that can negatively affect her/his mental and physical well-being. Youths with low self-esteem seem to benefit from the use of the online networking sites (Ellison et al. 2007). Adolescents, who are shy to talk in a physical setup, can mix with people online that helps them to communicate and gain social-ties.
On the contrary, it is contended that the digital world created through the ICT weakens real-world ties, curtail face-to-face interactions, erodes psychological well-being and reduces community involvement (Kraut et al. 1998). Playing with friends outside after school has been replaced with online computer games. Youngsters nowadays prefer to sit back at home and play online games rather than go outside for playing. Studies have been digitalized too.
The physical setting of a classroom with teachers teaching the student, have been replaced with online courses. Students can now sit back in front of the computer or laptop and take online courses, learn about different subjects etc. All this have put back the students from interacting with the real world, with their friends and teachers. It has made them incapable of carrying out physical activities. Sitting in one place for a prolong period of time, devoid of physical activities is not good for health. Presently this is a growing concern in the medical field. Physical well-being is connected with psychological well-being. Therefore, if the body is physically unfit, it would affect the mental fitness too. If on one hand ICT is opening new ways to gain online connectivity, on the other hand it is curtailing physical face-to-face connections that are equally important. This paradoxical notion has raised question in terms of social capital, that is how social interaction, communication and connectivity is taking place to build up and maintain social relationships through these two ways- ICT and face-to-face interaction.
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In an developed country like Finland, Internet is used every day in almost every aspect of life. Students get free access to Internet in their educational institutes and also have connections at home. It is a country to give access to Internet for all its citizens a legal right.
This sparsely populated country is a hub for online gaming industry, IT industry and also the Nokia mobile phone company. The cold and dark winter is a hindrance for doing outdoor physical activities. In such a backdrop, it is interesting to find out what the Finnish high-school adolescents of the small municipalities of the North Karelia region feel about the ICT and face-to-face connectivity for gaining and maintaining social-relationships.
In this study, the exploratory method was been selected as the research seeks to explore and gain new insights, discover new ideas and increase knowledge about the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in acquiring social-ties i.e., a type of social capital amongst the Finnish high-school adolescents of the North Karelia region.
Ilomantsi, Nurmes, Kontiolahti and Outokumpu are distant and small regions with less scope for better academic and career opportunities. Regions and distance are important factors in making different choices. In such scenario, it is an endeavor to find out how the ICT is used, and has affected the adolescents of these four regions to gain social ties.
In this study by using random cluster sampling method, the sample was selected. The sample consists of young Finnish adolescents between ages 16-19 of the four high-schools of Kontiolahti, Nurmes, Ilomantsi and Outokumpu municipalities out of the thirteen municipalities of North Karelia region of Finland. The sample size is 255 that makes the total number of respondents (N).
Five more chapters and their sub-chapters follow this introductory chapter. The consecutive chapter gives the conceptual framework of the work. It explains about communication and social capital as conceptualized for this work. The third chapter brings upon the set-up or contexts of the respondents. Herein, the Finnish education system along with the four different areas of North Karelia region where the survey was conducted are discussed. This is done to give the readers an idea about the respondents’ social setup that has effects on both their nature and nurture. It is followed by chapter four that has the methodology used in carrying out this study. Methodology chapter discusses about the problem statement and objectives of the research, gives a detailed account of how and upon whom the research was conducted. It also lays out about the research ethics that was maintained in conducting this study. Using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) the data was analyzed which is
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stated in chapter five. The chapter gives an account of the population and the statistical result are interpreted. At the end is the conclusion followed by the references and appendices.
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