SMARTPHONE ADDICTION AND DEPRESSION: ADOLESCENTS ON THE FRONT LINES

Jun 4, 2021 | Parenting Tips and advices

A study shows that smartphone addiction could have harmful consequences on mental health. In particular that of adolescents.

At the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, the results of a study on the effects of the cell phone were revealed. And the finding is far from positive, especially for teenagers.

A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE IN THE BRAIN

Presenting his study, Dr. Hyung Suk Sea of ​​the University of Korea claimed that teens addicted to their smartphones and the Internet have a chemical imbalance in their brains that increases the risk of anxiety and depression. But that’s not all; this imbalance causes severe insomnia as well as an increase in impulsivity. To reach these conclusions, this professor of neuroradiology and his team carried out their research with 19 volunteers (10 girls and nine boys) aged 15.5 years on average and addicted to the web and their cellphones but also with 19 others—volunteers with no dependence on any means of communication.

ALARMING FIGURES

In order to prevent depression and anxiety disorders, parents are advised to have their addicted teenager undergo behavior therapy. Because yes, smartphone addiction is a reality. According to a recent study, 77% of adolescents own a smartphone that they consult an average of 26.6 times per day. A figure doubled among 18-24-year-olds with 50 consultations per day! Well, that, the cure. 

HOW CAN PARENTS SAVE KIDS?

The next quest comes about prevention. Many parents ask for ways to save kids from becoming mobile addicts. Well, we have good news for you. Parents can surely save their kids from developing such addiction with the use of cell phone parental monitoring apps like FamilyTime. The app allows parents to first monitor the use of smartphones by their kids and then control it as per their own preferences using the parental control features offered by the same FamilyTime app. If we talk precisely about the features of this app, the app allows parents to limits kids’ screen time, and for it, there are features available such as screen time scheduler, TimeBank, and nonetheless remote lock. With these features, parents can either put a screen lock scheduler on their kids’ phones to regulate their screen time or allow kids some time to use their phones on a daily or weekly basis. The time bank keeps track of their usage details and once, the given time expires, the device becomes inactive for the kids. Not only that, ith FamilyTime, parents can view their app usage, app preferences, web consumption, coll logs, SMS history, and more. In parallel, they can even ban unwanted apps, activate safe search options, and apply internet filters to save ids from inappropriate content, etc. There are many other features of FamilyTime that are really helpful in limiting kids’ tech use.

FamilyTime helps families manage and protect their children’s digital lives.

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