Time spent on social networks affects adolescent mental health
Talk about social networks is to treat a tool that we all use on a day-to-day basis. Either to know the news or just send a greeting to their acquaintances, these instruments have become commonplace in our society, especially in the youngest. The so-called digital natives have been brought up in a virtual environment where these platforms are present.
How has the presence of these elements influenced the youngest? What impact can the social networks in these generations? To this question he wanted to answer the study carried out by the University of Central Florida and of which the magazine Psychiatric Quarterly echoes.
Search for attention
This study conducted a survey 467 young people in which they were asked about the time of use of social networks and the importance that these platforms had in their day to day. At the same time they were questioned by the presence or not of health problems such as anxiety or feelings such as sadness or depression in them. Finally, this questionnaire also deepened the level of empathy of the participants.
The researchers found the presence of a phenomenon called 'vaguebooking' That is, publications on social networks that lack important content but with which it seeks to draw attention. Either share a sad image or a well-known phrase. The intention of these publications is to get the contacts to interact with them and awaken some concern in others.
Those people who used social networks to claim attention were related to feelings of loneliness and had symptoms of depression. "Certain forms of social media use function as a 'cry for help'," he explains. Chloe Berryman, principal author of this investigation.
Effects of social networks
This is not the first research that deals with the effects of social networks on adolescents. Other studies such as the one carried out by a specialist Clinic Las Condes, published in Medical Magazine. Consequences derived from the dangers related to the online world:
- Grooming Behavior carried out by adults and that are developed to gain the trust of a young person through the internet, acquiring control and power over it.
- Cyberbullying. Harassment through the network, either through the publication of vexatious images on social networks or constant insults in the profiles of the victims. Cases favored by the anonymity that these platforms ensure.
- Cyberdiction. The adolescent does not know how to live without internet, he understands social networks as an extension of his being in which to develop his life, leaving aside other forms of interpersonal interaction. This leads to aggressive behavior when parents try to limit their children's access to the internet.
Damián Montero
