4 Troubled Teens Blog

Spending too much time on the Internet can make you depressed, according to a new study from the University of Leeds in Great Britain.

Researchers were unsure if Internet use causes depression, or if depressed people are more likely to spend too much time on computers.

People who spend excessive amounts of time online are more likely than than average users to be looking at sexual and gaming websites and interacting on online communities. If they substitute real life relationships for online conversations, there can be a "serious impact on their mental health," according to Dr. Catriona Morrison, the study's lead author.

Labels: depression, addictions, internet

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Naresh (not his real name) is 15-years-old and lives in Mumbai, India. According to an Aug. 24 Rediff Business article, Naresh spends eight to ten hours a day playing Internet-based computer games.

His parents have tried everything to get him to cut back, but attempts to cut access to the Internet or his computer have resulted in threats to run away or commit suicide. Writer Leslie D'Monte reports that Naresh is showing symptoms of being addicted to the Internet:

While mental health experts agree that the Internet has provided valuable service to people looking for support groups and treatment options through websites, newsgroups and email lists, they also caution that Internet surfing, gaming and texting can become an addiction akin to "being on drugs".

A survey of British Internet users, in fact, uses the term "discomgoogolation" to refer to a distressing condition, characterized by anxiety and stress at not being able to access the Internet.

These users showed changes in brain activity and blood pressure. An editorial last year in the American Journal of Psychiatry stated that internet addiction is a common compulsive/ impulsive disorder that should be added to the psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders which will be updated in 2012.

Though some parents may be hesitant to describe their children's computer obsessions as addictions, evidence is mounting to support the belief that people can, indeed, be addicted to video games and the Internet.

Labels: video_games, addictions, internet

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Social networking sites can be great places for teenagers to make friends and find acceptance. But they can also enhance feelings of grief, sorrow and despair.

"Cyberspace is fertile ground for suicide contagion. It provides a forum for prolonged and excessive grieving in a highly charged, emotional atmosphere - precisely the kind of atmosphere psychologists warn to avoid. ... It is also unmonitored by all but the most vigilant parents."

Psychologist and counselor Scott Poland warns that continued exposure to tragedy, especially suicide, puts a teenager at increased risk. It's a healthy warning for parents to pay attention to the social networking worlds in which their children spend so much time.

Labels: depression, internet, influences

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About one in four American children ages 3 to 17 years old participates in virtual worlds on the Internet. This means every month about 8.2 million children play games on websites like Webkinz and Club Penquin, according to research by Nielsen NetRatings.

By 2011, the same researchers estimate that about half of all American children will participate in computerized worlds of animals, games and avatars.

Labels: internet, virtual_worlds

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A study released May 20 found that teenagers who are addicted to the internet are more likely to hurt themselves. More than 1,600 teens were surveyed for the study, which was conducted in Southeast China.

While only about 10 percent of the students surveyed were moderately addicted to the internet, and less than 1 percent were severely addicted, those students were 2.4 times more likely to have self-injured one to five times in the past 6 months than students with normal internet habits, Dr. Lawrence T. Lam from University of Notre Dame, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues found. [Source: Reuters]

Additionally, teenagers who were moderately to severely addicted were nearly five times more likely than other teens to have intentionally hurt themselves six times or more in the past six months.

Researchers didn’t hypothesize on the causal relationship between internet addiction and self-harm, but instead urged parents to watch for signs of internet addiction, with the understanding that an addicted teen is more likely to be hurting himself, too.

 

Labels: addictions, internet, self-harm

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A study conducted for the British helpline Get Connected found that teenagers are more likely to search the Internet for answers to personal problem than to ask their parents.

“Only one third said they would turn to their mother to discuss a problem, while just one in 20 would speak to their father. Half said they would be likely to speak to a friend.” [Source: Reuters]

Studies in the United States have told a very different story, finding that teens are still very influenced by their parents and often turn to them for advice.

Of course, technology has become a significant source of information and communication for both children and adults in recent decades. However, parents need to be vigilant to ensure that their teen's internet use doesn't become an internet obsession or addiction.

 

Labels: parental_involvement, internet

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Boys perform more poorly in school than girls because they play too many video games, according to a study from Statistics Canada's Community Health Survey.

• The study found that 76% of the boys had played video games in the previous three months compared to only 35% of girls.
• About 16% of the boys played more than 11 hours of video games a week during that time compared to only 2% of the girls. 
• The long hours that the boys spent playing video games cut down on time spent reading.
• Among the heaviest users of video games, 27% said they had not read anything over the past three months. 
• Children who spent a lot of time watching television or on the computer tended to read more often than the most active video gamers.

Among the children ages 12 to 19 years old, twice as many girls --or 45% -- read for 11 or more hours per week compared to the boys. 

"Given the amount of time that young boys spent playing video games versus the amount of time that they read, the data may offer some insight as to why boys are performing less well than girls in high school," according to Jack Jebwab, author of the study.

Excessive video gaming and obsessive Internet use have been identified as risk factors and symptoms of a range of problematic issues among children, adolescents and teens.
 

Labels: video_games, internet, boys

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Teenagers who use the Internet too much are more likely to be depressed, especially if they surf the Net as entertainment, according to a new study from China.

Researchers from the Chinese Education Ministry studied the Internet habits of 1401 teenagers, and found that about 6 percent were using the Internet in "pathological" ways. When the researchers followed up nine months later, the teens addicted to the web were one and a half times more likely to feel or develop depression.

"The results suggest that young people who are initially free of mental health problems, but use the Internet pathologically could develop depression as a consequence," the authors wrote in a report published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

The teens in this study most likely to be addicted to the Internet were more likely to use it for entertainment rather than for studying or gathering information.
 

Labels: mental_health, internet, depresion, online_safety

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New research out of China finds that kids who spend an excessive amount of time online are at increased risk of becoming depressed teens. Dr. Lawrence Lam of the School of Medicine in Sydney studied over 1,000 teenagers and their Internet usage for nine months.

Lam studied 1,041 teens aged 13 to 18 from high schools in Guangzhou, China, and measured internet use with the Pathological use of the Internet Test (including such questions as "How often do you feel depressed, moody or nervous when you are offline, which goes away once you are back online?" [Source: Psych Central]

At the end of nine months, depression was two-and-a-half times as prevalent among teens who had “problematic” Internet-use habits. Dr. Lam believes his study shows a more concrete cause-and-effect relationship between excessive Internet use and depression.

Labels: depression, internet

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