Extra hours of smartphone use trigger teenage depression. Researchers propose time limits for the online world. According to a recent study, too much time spent texting, sharing memes, looking through social media feeds, and viewing videos of cats or dogs on smartphones may be harmful to your teen’s mental health.
Teenage females, in particular, seem to be susceptible to depressive and gloomy moods following frequent and extra hours of smartphone use, occasionally even considering suicide.
According to the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., mobile phone ownership among adolescents increased from around 23% in 2012 to 73% in 2015, which is why researchers link this alarming trend in part to the popularity of cell phones.
SOME MAJOR RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS IN THE MATTER
In the November edition of the journal Clinical Psychological Science, the study’s overall findings were published. Founder Jean Twenge, Ph.D., a psychology professor at San Diego State University, and Thomas Joiner, Ph.D., the head of Florida State University’s psychology clinic, combed through 16 years of national self-injury data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As well as data from multiple continuous teen surveys as they are looking for answers to the abrupt rise in depression, suicide attempts, and suicide among the upcoming generations. The reason is extra hours of smartphone use. This all began in 2012. The following are a few of the most significant findings:
1. GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES
In particular, youth from the generation z era (born after 1995) use smartphones far more frequently than their Millennial (born between 1981 and 1997) and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) predecessors did at the same age, coinciding with the advent of smartphones and their dominance in use.
2. RAISE IN THE SUICIDAL CASES
The CDC’s five-year snapshot reveals a 65 percent surge in suicide rates for girls aged 13 to 18 between 2010 and 2015. However, both teen boys and teen girls experienced an increase in mental health difficulties. Around 12 percent of young females reported having thoughts of suicide during this period, and more of them reported feeling hopeless. Extra hours of Smartphone use exposes them to all kinds of favorable or non-favorable information for their developing brains.
3. INCREASE IN DEPRESSION CURVE
Teenage females’ reporting of depression increased by 58 percent during these same years, according to data from the two teen polls Monitoring the Future Study and Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey.
The experts issued a warning about blaming these shifts only on the extra hours of smartphone use. Genetic predisposition, cyberbullying, familial environment, trauma, and frequent insufficient sleep are other established risk factors for depression and suicide.
However, they caution that “the timing of this increase in mental health concerns, commencing around 2011 to 2012, is also worth mentioning,” which reinforces the notion that there is unquestionably a relationship between cellphones and vulnerable children.
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
Interestingly, kids who are extroverted socially perform better than their less outgoing counterparts who spend a lot more time online. However, researchers discovered that youths who used their gadgets for five or more hours each day had a 66 percent higher risk of outcomes associated with suicide. This is why there is a huge responsibility of saving them from extra hours of smartphone use.
TO ALL THE PARENTS OUT THERE!
Parents should limit their children’s screen time to no more than two hours per day, and should also keep an eye out for consistent changes in mood or eating and sleeping habits.
Similar time limits on all forms of digital media, including cellphones, are likewise advised by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for teens and, particularly, younger children.
The AAP also advises parents to impose limits on their personal use of technology as well as extra hours of smartphone use in their children, serving as “media mentors” for their families by setting apart periods when they may all be media-free as well as certain areas of the house.
In a prepared statement released by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2016, the lead author of the “Children and Adolescents and Digital Media Technical Report,” Yolanda Reid Chassiaskos, MD, stated that “even though the media environment is continually evolving, some of the same parenting standards still apply.”
Parents are crucial in guiding kids and teenagers through the media landscape, just as they are in teaching them appropriate offline behavior.
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