THE thin teenage girl women spend almost 6 hours a day on their smartphones, while a large percentage of them are likely to be addicted to social media, research has found. published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood magazine.
Addiction to social media is linked to poor health and well-being, according to findings.
Recent research has linked increased stress levels in teenage girls to social media use, researchers say. This may include several factors, one of which is addiction, with an estimated international prevalence ranging from 5% to 31%, they added.
Because stress and the use of social media more often associated with women, researchers want to: to measure the amount of time adolescent girls spend on their smartphones and especially on social media, examine whether girls are addicted to social media using a valid scale, and examine the associations between social media use and addiction to well-being.
Therefore, they are also in contact with middle and high schools in 3 major cities in Finland: Helsinki, Espoo and Vanda. In total, 21 geographically and socio-economically diverse schools, attended by 1164 female students aged 15-16 years, chose to participate in the research.
All teenage girls were asked to estimate daily usage smartphones which they did. And of the 656 (56%) who provided smartphone information, 564 (86%) provided the researchers with 3-7 days of screenshot data that included an average of 7 apps—the rest (92) had only 1- 2 days of screenshot data excluding applications. Another 508 (44%) did not provide screenshot data but were included in analyzes to compare potential addiction and benefit.
From the screenshots, The researchers recorded the number of days with available data on screen time, daily smartphone use, type of most frequently used apps, and time spent using each.
Average daily smartphone usage time it is 5.8 hours and the average time spent on social media is almost four hours. No significant differences were found between weekdays or weekends.
“The effects of almost six hours of daily smartphone use and its associations with adolescent well-being are serious”wrote the authors of the study’s findings published on Tuesday, May 21.
Social media addiction associated with higher levels stress worse body image, worse health, lower mood, more fatigue and greater feelings of loneliness.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to combine actual measured smartphone use with validated measures of social media addiction and well-being”the researchers wrote.
They noticed some limitations in their study, just as they did not include anyone, some of the participants may have mental health problems, or some of the participants provided incomplete information over the phone.
Researchers say so caregivers should create no-go zones technology in the lives of children and to help teenagers develop personal relationships, while policy makers tech companies should be encouraged to prioritize safety and health when developing social media.
“While some advocate increasing mental health services to address the rise in adolescent stress, none of these services will be adequate unless the underlying causes are addressed.”they noticed.