News Psychology

Online spaces may intensify teens’ uncertainty in social interactions

Digital interactions differ from real-life ones, complicating social identity

Tracking feature in Snapchat can make people feel excluded.

A feature on Snapchat lets people track their friends’ locations in real time. That can leave people feeling left out in concrete, quantifiable ways.

Bob Collet / Alamy Stock Photo

By Sujata Gupta

Deciphering other people’s thoughts and feelings tends to generate considerable uncertainty. In a conversation, for instance, how does one know if another person’s smile is sincere? In real life, physical cues like body language and tone of voice provide some tangible hints.