Everybody knows that social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat tend to pose a lot of risk to mental and emotional well-being of teens.
This seems to have become a pressing concern among teenagers and even though social media brings across lot of opportunities in terms of self-expression and connection, it also brings across major risks in terms of mental and emotional well-being of teenagers.
In Denmark alone, teenagers had close to on an average 4.2 electronic devices in their bedroom and around 2.3 personal electronic devices.
In a study by Accelerometer, around 4,000 adolescent aged between 11 to 19 years were studied and survey data on sedentary behavior from around 6,300 participants from around 14 geographically and culturally diverse countries were also considered.
Though social media emerged as a major contributor towards sedentary lifestyle in teenagers but even home and neighborhood environment played a role in keeping teenagers stay in their rooms.
On an average teenagers were spending close to 8 to 10 hours a day performing sedentary activity which has been linked to multiple disorders such as diabetes, obesity and mental health issues.
So if you want your child to stay healthy, please control their watch time or else stay ready to face the consequences.As per a study by Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, teens in India had an average of 1.2 and 0.5 electronic devices and personal electronic devices in their bedroom whereas in Denmark it stood at 4.2 and 2.3 respectively.
Teenagers who had less screen time lived in walkable neighborhoods having better perception of safety from crime and traffic. Concerns about crime and traffic were found to influence a chance of teenager being active.
So if you want your child to stay healthy, please control their watch time or else stay ready to face the consequences. It has been noted that social media accounts contribute towards sedentary life in adolescents. Teens worldwide spend eight to ten hours a day performing sedentary activities which have been linked to various mental and physical disorders.
Though social media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram provide different opportunities for self-expression and connection, it also gives several types of emotional, mental and physical problems to teens. Generally, teens tend to spend eight to ten hours a day and performs sedentary activities which leads to several problems in life.
Mental conditions tend to cause disability across the globe. In countries like Finland, depression, anxiety is a major cause of sickness allowance in youth. Use of cell phones and spending more time on screen tends to people experiencing many more symptoms of depression.
Use of cell phones and screen time is one of the major contributors to poor mental health and is measured by perceived stress levels and depressive symptoms. Kids using cell phones and screens for a long period of time have reported depressive symptoms and high levels of stress in adolescents. Lack of positive association between sedentary behavior and adverse mental health suggests that the type of sedentary behavior matters. Combination of unhealthy behavior tends to be more damaging.
Too much use of social media tends to reduce self-esteem in adolescents and leads to poor sleep. Screen time guidelines are important for improving the health and well-being of children by creation of a safe and balanced digital environment.
Due to social media, young girls have started facing dramatic increase in PCOS due to this digital trend. In this case, social media is a central driver causing problems in sleeping, increased stress levels and poor nutrition. Also, it has become a breeding ground for extreme and unverified diet trends.
So if you are a teen and reading this, please slow down on using social media else you would end up with lot of physical and mental problems in your life.
