Study finds link between ADHD and teens’ social media use
NZ Herald 19 July 2018
Family First Comment: Yet more reasons for both parents AND schools to regulate screentime (but we’ve been saying this since 2015 when we released a report warning about this!)
Teenagers who check social media several times a day are at risk of developing ADHD, research suggests.
Adolescents who use mobile phones and other digital devices the most are at twice the risk of displaying symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a study has concluded.
Experts believe receiving constant digital updates while the brain is rapidly developing makes teenagers find it hard to give anything their full attention, reports the Daily Mail.
The constant beeps and pings of a mobile phone, alerting them to a text message or social media update, draw attention away from other tasks.
The research team, from the University of Southern California, tracked 2,600 teenagers aged 15 and 16 for two years.
They asked them how many times they checked their phones and other digital devices for various reasons, and then monitored them for symptoms of ADHD, including impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattention.
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