Internet time tied to teen depression
According to this article, teenagers who either are "heavy" internet users, using the internet for over two hours a day, or teenagers who do not use the internet, are more likely to be depressed. However, using the internet itself does not necessarily seem to be the cause of depression. Teens who do not use the internet frequently or at all might not do so because they may be socially isolated. While the article mentions another study that showed depression came before heavy or non internet use, I do not think this may always be the case. The internet is a relatively new invention, and social networking sites are even newer, and things like facebook are changing the way teens, and all age groups for that matter, communicate and interact. So one wonders, are kids not using the internet because they are socially isolated, or are they socially isolated because they are not using the internet? Heavy internet users were also more likely to be overweight. The correlation between internet use and depression seems to have more of an effect on females, as only 1/3 of males who were heavy or non users of internet were more likely to be depressed, while 86% of female heavy or non users were more likely to be depressed. This finding interested me. From personal experience, I have observed that females are more likely to post more pictures of themselves and have more of a presence on facebook than males, and seem to spend more time on this website. Also, females seem to talk about facebook in real life more than males seem to. However, my observations are only based on a small population of people I interact with, so they may not be very accurate, but the article states that this study found that the internet was more likely to affect females. I am very curious as to why this might be. If I had to guess, I think it might have something to do with the way females are targeted through advertising these days, and also the way these things, among others, may affect social interactions between females. From my experience, females are much more likely to be concerned with their physical appearance, spending a lot of time applying make up and hair products, and becoming frustrated and upset when they have "bad hair days." This shows that females may be more concerned with what other people think about them than males. This is not to say that males do not care what people think, but not many males worry about putting on makeup every day. So when this social interaction moves to the internet, on websites such as facebook, girls may be more concerned with the comments they are getting on their pictures, and spend more time looking at other girls' pictures, creating feelings like jealousy. This could be a reason that heavy internet use, at least the use of facebook, leads to depression, since it could cause a person to become overly obsessed with comparing themselves to other people and over analyzing the types of interactions that take place online.