Anxiety about accessing, desire to spend more and more time online, abstinence when offline, failure to control time. But also the neglect of other activities, tensions with parents and others. These are the effects of the problematic use of social media in adolescents.
Around 4 out of 5 adolescents use them every day, with 1 in 10 at risk of developing problematic use with repercussions on their psycho-physical well-being. This was revealed in the Report on digital technologies, the use and potential problems of tools within the adolescent population, published by the ISS as part of the international multicenter study HBSC (Health Behavior in School-aged Children) carried out in collaboration with the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The study involved 89,321 boys and girls between 11 and 17 years of age from all over Italy.
Girls are at greatest risk for problematic social media use across all age groups. The gap between the two sexes widens particularly in 13-year-olds, 15-year-olds and 17-year-olds, where females who show problematic use of social media are double those of males. Furthermore, for children the problematic use of social media seems to have its peak at the age of 11, and then progressively decreases up to the age of 17, the category with the lowest prevalence. Girls, on the other hand, show an increase between the ages of 11 and 13, and then show lower levels of problems.
Finally, males are more exposed to risky behaviors associated with video games. About four in five boys report daily or weekly use, compared to a small share of girls (about two in five girls).
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