Teen Depression Linked to Internet Overuse

[Umbrage]

Teenagers who have an unhealthy dependence on the Internet are almost twice as likely to become depressed as other teens, giving parents yet another good reason to limit kids' screen time. That's the news from a study in Pediatrics, which tracked the Internet use of teenagers in China, where "Internet addiction" is considered a serious and growing problem.

The researchers tracked 1,041 teenagers, finding out how much they used the Internet and whether that use was unhealthy. They used surveys similar to those used with pathological gamblers. A typical question asked: "How often do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you are offline, which goes away once you are back online?" The vast majority of the teens, 94 percent, weren't pathological Internet users. But 6 percent were considered moderately at risk. Nine months later, those students were one-and-a-half times more likely to have symptoms of clinical depression than teens who were less dependent on the Internet, though they had not been depressed before.

Depression is common among teenagers; each year, an estimated 2 million teens and preteens develop clinical depression, and last year the federal government recommended that all teenagers be screened for depression. So parents may want to note the link between "Internet addiction" and depression, and keep a closer eye on children who depend on screen time as a pacifier or mood stabilizer. A recent study also found a correlation between video game use and ADHD. Like the "Internet addiction" study, no causal link has been proven, but one-third of children exceed the two hours of daily TV and computer screen time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Setting limits on screen time-- and enforcing them--can really help.

"Think of media as a stranger being invited into your home to teach your kids for seven hours a day," says Victor Strasburger, a pediatrician who studies the effects of media violence and is chief of the division of adolescent medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. "Your kids could be learning 'good' things or potentially harmful things, or a combination of both." His advice: Stick to the AAP's guidelines on screen time; keep TV sets and Internet connections out of children's bedrooms; and no screen time for children under age 2.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/teendepressionlinkedtointernetoveruse

First off a big rofl to studying kids in China, a country known for heavily censoring the internet. Second, rofl at this whole study. You'd think that people who surf aimlessly all day are depressed already. And third WTF people need to be told that children under age 2 should have no screen time? Society really needs to stop pampering people and instead punish them for their terrible mistakes. The recurring argument here is "it's not my fault, it's the evil internet's fault"

And to think the internet was once so promising. It's simple: the internet was invented by smart people for smart people. But somehow stupid people have found ways to use the internet too. This became especially prevalent during web 2.0 with all the social networking sites (which are cancer to the internet, a sincere fuck you to those using last.fm, facebook and twitter) And now these same stupid people have found yet another way to blame anything other than themselves for their own stupid behavior.

Depression is common among teenagers; each year, an estimated 2 million teens and preteens develop clinical depression, and last year the federal government recommended that all teenagers be screened for depression.

Lol, keep feeling sorry for yourselves kids. Big government is coming to the rescue. They've got all sorts of neat pills for you to try out just in case our great modern society doesn't make you happy.

[dawn]

Seems to confuse cause and effect. Kids aren't depressed because they use the computer too much, they use the computer too much because they're depressed/rejected.

[beyond_godlike]

Seems to confuse cause and effect. Kids aren't depressed because they use the computer too much, they use the computer too much because they're depressed/rejected.

No, that's what the surveys were for. They were not depressed until later. You made the common liberal mistake of ignoring all the evidence and replacing it with your "correct" opinion.

I have a theory as to why the internet causes depression. The longer you are on the internet, the more likely you will stumble upon the ANUS(it's only a matter of time before everyone types anus into google). Confronting reality has been a known cause of depression for millennia.

[Phenoptosis]

The internet exposes kids to the true extent of human stupidity. That's a depressing realization for any intelligent person.

[Cargést]

kids... intelligent

What the fuck am I reading?

[Heydrich]

The longer you are on the internet, the more likely you will stumble upon the ANUS

Seldom have words been more meaningful and ridiculous all at once.

[dawn]

Seems to confuse cause and effect. Kids aren't depressed because they use the computer too much, they use the computer too much because they're depressed/rejected.

No, that's what the surveys were for. They were not depressed until later. You made the common liberal mistake of ignoring all the evidence and replacing it with your "correct" opinion.

I have a theory as to why the internet causes depression. The longer you are on the internet, the more likely you will stumble upon the ANUS(it's only a matter of time before everyone types anus into google). Confronting reality has been a known cause of depression for millennia.

The survey doesn't take into account the wide variety of external factors in the child's life which could drive them to depression and cause them to seek "refuge" in the internet. From the data, there is no way to infer that the Internet itself causes the depression, unless the kids spent the entire 9 months of the survey period living in an enclosed bio-dome with no outside contact (which would probably make them depressed).

[Cargést]

keeping up-to-date with all the damned world events constantly going,
that alone can be a quick way to get depressed.

Really?  I find it's a quick way to rage.

[wahn]

What I find problematic in this study is the lack of common sense is seems to indicate. Everyone knows that if you spend all day at the computer you will feel empty, we do not need studies telling us this.

[MediterraneanSun]

It doesn't matter if depression leads to internet addiction, or internet addiction leads to depression, or both. It is highly probable that internet abuse widens depression, because, hmm if a depressed kid looks (for example) for porn all day he will be more and more alienated (he is looking for the pain pills and not the solution to the problem), he is losing time and he is damaging his purity. Even if there is no depression, internet abuse is an attempt to escape from reality (internet games).

[indjaseemun]

It doesn't matter if depression leads to internet addiction, or internet addiction leads to depression, or both. It is highly probable that internet abuse widens depression, because, hmm if a depressed kid looks (for example) for porn all day he will be more and more alienated (he is looking for the pain pills and not the solution to the problem), he is losing time and he is damaging his purity. Even if there is no depression, internet abuse is an attempt to escape from reality (internet games).

I've damaged my purity with porn for like more than 8 years. It is really destructive.

[Caffeine]

I'm sorry, but I can't take this bullshit much longer.  I constantly hear, as a teenager myself, that media and the internet is destroying my psychological state.  I'm not supposed to listen to certain music because it makes me commit suicide, internet makes me look at porn and other stuff that causes me to become a demented sex offender, television makes me reckless, video games cause me to shoot up a fucking library......Where the hell is the rock-stable scientific evidence of media altering cerebral areas?  Oh that's right, all we have are surveys and "studies" (as if that shit isn't vague).  People get depressed, hurt others, kill themselves, etc. because they choose to do so, or sometimes (not to be fatalist) "shit happens".  I'm not a little kid, and sometimes I'm really sick of being treated like one.  This pampering of all teens is getting old; some of us are actually smarter than so called "mature adults". 

[scourge]

The studies are piling up.

Children who spend too long in front of a computer or television screen suffer psychological damage, a new study warns today.

Scientists also found physical exercise does not 'compensate' for excessive screen time.

The study, on more than 1,000 children aged 10 and 11, revealed that those who watched a small amount of television are happier than those who don't.   

Researchers found no evidence that being sedentary had negative effects - but certain activities such as watching television do.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1319462/Children-screen-time-risk-psychological-damage.html

[Wolfgang]

My kids think I am a TV nazi. They'll understand someday.

[Spectrum]

I have a theory as to why the internet causes depression. The longer you are on the internet, the more likely you will stumble upon the ANUS(it's only a matter of time before everyone types anus into google). Confronting reality has been a known cause of depression for millennia.

Agreed.

In all seriousness, this whole depression thing is overused.  Either that or people are finally realizing how droll our constricted, modern society is.