Excessive use of social media increases loneliness among young people, according to a study
The journal OFAmerican College Healthtoday published the results of a survey of 64,988 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 at 120 universities in the United States.
A study has found that the excessive use of social media is causing a "plague of loneliness" among young Americans. According to this study, the greater the use of social media, the greater the loneliness that users feel, which also increases the risk of depression.
The journal Journal of American College Healthtoday published the results of a survey of 64,988 young people aged 18 to 24 at 120 U.S. universities.
Researchers at Cincinnati and Indiana universities asked local students how many hours they spend on social media in a normal week, while researching the feeling of loneliness that these young people felt alone or not.
To do this, they set the limit on the excessive use of social media in 16 hours, that is, researchers found it excessive to exceed that number of hours a week.
Those who are most likely to feel loneliness
Analysis of the results shows that the more the networks are used, the more isolated young people feel, so that those who use the networks at least 30 hours a week feel 38% more isolated than those who use less than 16 hours a week.
Of the 64,988 young people surveyed, 54 percent said they felt loneliness, which is consistent with the results of other recent studies in the United States.
Among the students, the most lonely were women and black men.
Setting limits
"We know that people who feel lonely are more likely to suffer depression and a higher risk of dying prematurely," said one of the authors of the study, Madelyn Hill.
"These results highlight the widespread loneliness among college students and show that excessive use of social media can replace personal interactions that protect young people's mental health," another author, Ashley Merianos of the University of Cincinnati, said in a statement.
These authors believe that young people should receive more informationabout the consequences of the use of social networks and that educational institutions should help set time limits for their use.
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