“A study published today in the journal JAMA Psychiatry suggests that teenagers who spend more than three hours a day on social media are more likely to develop mental health problems including depression, anxiety, aggression, and antisocial behavior. The study: Nearly 6,600 12- to 15-year-old Americans self-reported how much time they spent per day on social media, as well as whether they had any mental health problems. The effects of social-media consumption on teens manifest in two main ways, according to the study’s authors: internally (depression and anxiety, for example) and externally (aggressive behavior or antisocial behavior). The latter were essentially nonexistent among teens who reported that they didn’t use social media. Teens today are way less likely to use Facebook and more likely to flip through TikTok. They’re also using social media differently, Snapchatting or Instagram DMing pals text-message style, which could explain why some teens are on social media so much in the first place. It’s the study’s broader point that Kira Riehm [a PhD student at Johns Hopkins and the lead author of the study] says is worth remembering: excessive time on social media doesn’t help people’s mental state.” “Teens are anxious,” MIT Technology Review,” Sep. 11, 2019 Comments are closed.
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