Teenagers and social media .. "shocking truth"

Teenagers and social media .. "shocking truth"

A recent study found that symptoms of depression, associated with the use of social media, appear on adolescents more than in adolescents by the two.

This is mainly due to online harassment, sleep disorders, as well as a negative impression of body shape and decline in self-esteem.

The study analyzed data on about 11,000 young people in Britain. The researchers found that 14-year-olds were more likely to use social media, with about 40 percent using them for more than three hours a day, compared to 20 percent of adolescents.

According to Reuters, the study also found that 12 percent of those using social media with little, and 38 percent of those who use it intensively (more than five hours a day) showed signs of more severe depression.

When researchers studied the underlying causes of social media use of depression, they found that 40 percent of girls and 25 percent of boys were harassed or bullying online.

The symptoms of sleep disturbance appeared among 40 percent of girls versus 28 percent of boys. Anxiety and lack of sleep are associated with depression.

The researchers concluded that girls are more affected when it comes to using communication and anxiety of body shape and self-esteem.

But the boys were less affected by this.

Yvonne Kelly, a professor at the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care at University College London, who heads the research team, appealed to parents and decision-makers to pay attention to the results of the study.

"These findings are strongly related to the development of guidelines for the safe use of social media and the organization of hours of youth employment," it said in a statement.