Ricerc@Sapienza

Objectives: Social Media (SM) and on-line communities have
become important communication channels for young people.
The massive use of these technologies by new generations gave
rise to an international debate regarding the potential effects on
relationships and sexuality. This review aims at: highlighting
advantages and limits of SM as sexual education tool and their
impact on youth development; analyzing the attitudes of professionals
involved in sexual education programs toward SM and

Objective: Social Media (SM) and On-line Communities (OC) are increasingly important in youth’s life and
the massive use of these technologies by new generations gave rise to an international debate regarding the
potential effects on relationships and sexuality.
The aim of this paper is to review advantages and limits of SM and OC as ways to build and care
relationships and obtain formal and informal information on sexuality by youth, and moreover as sexual
education programs delivery tools.

Summary: Helplines are common counselling services for men and women seeking advice forhealth, psychological and sexual problems. With the advent of the social media era, users havenow more possibilities to search for information about sexual health than before. Comparing therecent data of a long-standing telephone counselling service on sexual health by the Instituteof Clinical Sexology of Rome, we aimed to investigate the range of sexual concerns reported byusers, to describe the differences, if any, between male and female callers, and the changes incontents and usage in the last years.

Summary: The Social Media and online communities have become important communicationchannels for youth and the massive use of these technologies by new generations gave rise toan international debate regarding the potential effects on relationships and sexuality. The aimof this paper is to study advantages and limits of Social Media, as formal and informal sourceof information on sexuality, focusing on their impact on youth and professionals involved insexual education programs. A review of scientific literature from January 2006 to May 2017was performed.

Résumé Les médias sociaux et les communautés en ligne sont devenus des canaux de commu-nication importants pour les jeunes et l’utilisation massive de ces technologies par les nouvellesgénérations a donné lieu à un débat international concernant leur effet potentiel sur lesrelations et la sexualité. Le but de cet article est d’étudier les avantages et les limites desmédias sociaux, en tant que source d’information formelle et informelle sur la sexualité, enmettant l’accent sur leur impact sur les jeunes et les professionnels impliqués dans les pro-grammes d’éducation sexuelle.