National
Centre of the Columbia University on Drug and Solvent Abuse
(CASA) questioned 2000 teens online
or by telephone, as well as 528 parents.
Teens, who
spend most of their free time at Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or
other social networks are more frequent smokers, they are more
addicted to alcohol or drugs.
The results demonstrate
that kids, who are at social networking sites every day :
- smoke
5 times
more often;
- drink
alcohol 3 times more often;
-
smoke
gage twice as often.
most
of teens - 70% - stated, that
they spend from 1 minute to 1 hour at social networking sites every
day.
Social
networks themselves do not cause abuse. The scientists believe that
this effect is produced by the photographs, added by users: teens
with cigarettes or alcohol drinks, dunk or stunned.
Scientists
produce no conclusions on that, the urge parents to make difference
between reason and consequences. The research demonstrated that 64%
of parents do not control the child's behaviour on the web, and each
9th of the parents doesn't know that internet may bear
danger.
However,
internet is not the only to blame. Youth reality shows put the
teens' health on threat, provoking uncontrolled sexual behaviour
usage of alcohol and drugs. Besides cyberthreat affects kids:
threats, sent via email or via private messages as well as things
that make a teenager feel incomplete.
CASA report
doesn't prove that social networking influences teen alcohol or drug
abuse.
