In a cross-cultural study of children and adolescents in Canada, Japan and Sweden, Waygood, Olsson, Taniguchi and Friman find that where children can safely and conveniently navigate their communities, social media use often supplements frequent face-to-face sociability.

In environments hostile to walking, cycling and transit use, however, social media offers a make-do substitute for precluded face-to-face sociability. Prevented from meeting their friends in person, teens resort to social media instead.