Extreme Internet Use Linked To Mental Illness In Teens

rgMekanic

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A study by the Education Policy Institute has found some interesting trends among UK children and internet usage. The study defines "Extreme Internet Users" as those who spend more than 6 ours online daily outside of school; using that parameter 37.8% of all UK 15 year olds are Extreme Users. One of the more interesting finds is that 12% of kids that are not on social media have symptoms of mental ill health, that figure jumps to 27% for young people on social media for over 3 hours per day.

Very interesting article, the full PDF can be found here. This is something that I'm sure has been in the back of many peoples heads for years, wondering how the rise of the internet and social media would impact children and young adults. With the release of this study, and I'm sure more like it parents would be wise to keep a close eye on their kids' online usage.

Research has linked excessive internet use with depression, and social media use with poor sleep quality and other social and emotional problems. Potential negative effects include increased physiological arousal, decreased attention, hyperactivity, aggression, antisocial or fearful behaviour, social isolation and excessive use or ‘technological addiction’.
 
I think "Internet Usage" is taken out of context here.

Internet Usage and Looking at Social Media frantically every 30 seconds or less is two different things. I game online more then that every day but I look at facebook maybe a couple times a week. Thus, Very high internet usage very little social media usage.
I also peruse news and stocks and shop online. I am sure the other kids use the internet much more then they think. However I have seen that Social Media Syndrome. It can wreak people.
 
Fake news. Common sense is like math, it's never wrong.

You can apply the same logic to real life with any multitude, in fact countless scenario's.
 
I've always said the use of social media is detrimental for you, now it's proven. The social media is pure evil. Zuckerberg found a way to exploit peoples vanity basically and it's affecting them like a drug. It has 10 times more negative effects than positive.

I can see how Tinder etc. can be a real life changer for shy people - that's what social media is usable for. But Facebook? It's insanity. Nobody should spend time watching that collective regurgitation that it is.
 
I mean considering every psycho and autist is viscerally drawn to 4chan, I understand the link.
 
The article only proves a link between mental illness and social media use, it does not prove whether it CAUSES mental illness or it is simply attracts more people with a PRE-EXISTING mental illness condition.

BIG difference.
 
The article only proves a link between mental illness and social media use, it does not prove whether it CAUSES mental illness or it is simply attracts more people with a PRE-EXISTING mental illness condition.

BIG difference.

That is also true. But tell me, is it healthy for people to hang around reading content that comes from a distribution source that's favored by the stupid and the insane?
 
That is also true. But tell me, is it healthy for people to hang around reading content that comes from a distribution source that's favored by the stupid and the insane?
No it isn't, I am perfectly well aware.

I was merely stating that correlation doesn't necessarily causation, but I also agree that regardless of one or the other, they are not good.
 
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Having to constantly dodge lasers while using the extreme internet is bound end up in a PTSD type situation.
 
IS this Smart phone making me smarter? Call of Duty and Halo could be doing a number on kids being a babysitter.
Basically the worst part about these games is the screen it'self led light exposure hell these kids could be using CFL monitors or worse yet cheap TVs.
I seen kids with sunken in eye sockets due to excess in videogames.
 
Having a bad day because your BFF jenny liked some other guy on facebook does not constitute mental illness.
 
No internet uses in teens linked to stupidity, football, and redneckism... news at 6...
 
This is the same nonsense that people said about watching too much TV rots your brain..... Same concept, same logic. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out,... What's next? Watching paint dry will make you mentally ill? Lol
 
Bah....I spent too much time playing video games, on MUSH/MUX/MU*s, and forums BECAUSE I was a weird kid, not the other way around. This is like saying ice cream sales make it hot outside.
 
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This is just typical human behavior. But they'll link it to depression and other normal things that need drugs to cure it. It's a scam.
 
Cool let's give kid more drug to become even more obedient mindless zombies.
 
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from: https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Social-Media_Mental-Health_EPI-Report.pdf
Part 6: Conclusions and scope for further research
There is, as yet, no scientific consensus on the impact of screen-based lifestyles on the mental health of young people. 92 More research is needed on the positive and negative influences of social media on young people’s mental health. In particular, further understanding is required before it would be possible to provide evidence of a causal link between social networking and mental health problems.


So what do you think it requires further study ? Yet there are numbers in this report.

Research into childhood resilience97 has identified learnable skills, such as emotional regulation, empathy and reaching out, which support young people’s resilience to harm. Longitudinal studies could be used to study the relationship between social media and mental health and to further understand what builds resilience in young people in the face of online risks

So this report did not do much of a study to get a better defined view of the problem.

Maybe it has a good catch line: are you on the internet then you must be mentally ill ;)
 
psychology is a pseudo-science at best that is infiltrated by very political leaning "leadership" that finds it perfectly fine to use extremely powerful drugs/hormones on adults and children when they don't even fully understand their effects. It is in such an infancy right now that future generations will call these people butchers, much as we look at those pre-19th century.

Studies like this are broad strokes of stupid, only feigning legitimacy by hinging on common sense. This is akin to doing a research study to prove a bullet to the brain is lethal.
 
Kind of a BS Click bait title (I know HardOCP didn't make the title) if you actually take the time to read the study they really only conclude that more study is needed. It's just correlation data not experimental data. Could just as easily be that People with mental health issues are more likely to spend inordinate amounts of time on the internet. It would also be more fair to say that the study really discussed time spent on social media. I spend every minute of my day "on the internet" for work but this study is really talking about time spent on Facebook.
 
Kind of a BS Click bait title (I know HardOCP didn't make the title) if you actually take the time to read the study they really only conclude that more study is needed. It's just correlation data not experimental data. Could just as easily be that People with mental health issues are more likely to spend inordinate amounts of time on the internet. It would also be more fair to say that the study really discussed time spent on social media. I spend every minute of my day "on the internet" for work but this study is really talking about time spent on Facebook.
But what's the difference if one spends 8 hours a day on social media vs hanging out at a friend's house for the same amount of time? The only problem I can see is it affecting your work or family life if it's excessive. The "mental illness" excuse is BS.

They're going to label it something so that big pharma can rake in more cash.
 
Well when you have handheld devices now that can make your dopamine and serotonin levels act like a rollercoaster all day....there are bound to be side affects.

I didnt own a smartphone until 2014 and sometimes I wish I never got one.

But what's the difference if one spends 8 hours a day on social media vs hanging out at a friend's house for the same amount of time? The only problem I can see is it affecting your work or family life if it's excessive. The "mental illness" excuse is BS.

They're going to label it something so that big pharma can rake in more cash.

I agree with your big pharma comment, but you really thing staring at a screen is the same as hanging out with a friend? Um, no.

Edit: Using an extreme of 8 hours though....yeah I can see it from that angle that would be pretty much make anything bad if done like that every day.
 
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I agree with your big pharma comment, but you really thing staring at a screen is the same as hanging out with a friend? Um, no.

Edit: Using an extreme of 8 hours though....yeah I can see it from that angle that would be pretty much make anything bad if done like that every day.
True, it's more personal with a friend, but the end result is the same.

We all need human contact from time to time, but social media should be the least of our problems.
 
The anonymity of the internet allows teens to act like mentally ill (i'll go ahead and say it... fucking retards), and some of that carries over to the real lives?

Not sure if that's the direction the study went but I could see that very well being possible.
 
This is the same nonsense that people said about watching too much TV rots your brain..... Same concept, same logic. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out,... What's next? Watching paint dry will make you mentally ill? Lol

Watching TV DOES rot your brain. It hasn't gone anywhere. With social media you not only watch but actively feed your dormant or not so dormant narcistic tendencies and get exposed to all the filth humanity can produce via others posts.

You're not supposed to watch paint dry but do something with your life. Improve yourself. Improve others lives. Don't be a zombie.
 
The anonymity of the internet allows teens to act like mentally ill (i'll go ahead and say it... fucking retards), and some of that carries over to the real lives?

Not sure if that's the direction the study went but I could see that very well being possible.

What's even worse they're doing these things even when they're posting with their own face and name.
 
What's even worse they're doing these things even when they're posting with their own face and name.
It's a lot easier to "stand up" to someone when you don't actually have to face them.

People can be very "brave" when they feel there's no eminent threat... kind of like how bullies operate, they don't pick on the football players who could squash them, they pick on the weak nerdlings.
 
It's a lot easier to "stand up" to someone when you don't actually have to face them.

People can be very "brave" when they feel there's no eminent threat... kind of like how bullies operate, they don't pick on the football players who could squash them, they pick on the weak nerdlings.

That has nothing to do with being stupid enough to not see the repercussions of making opinionated or political statements in a global public database where everything is indiscriminately stored perpetually and potentially used against you.

Many politicians have already felt their social media history bite them in the behind.

Since these things aren't breaking the news threshold, nobody knows how many teenagers and adults have already lost their jobs or job opportunities due to them. The number is high nevertheless.
 
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