My two sources essentially look into how social media can negatively affect children in relation to ADHD symptoms as well as how things outside of social media like television can be correlated to various health problems, sometimes more or less so depending on variables like socioeconomic standing, single parent households, being in a minority group, and more. I believe both of these sources have sensible knowledge that will allow people to more thoroughly understand the possible unwarranted effects of social media use and other forms of sedentary behavior that have similar consequences.
The amount of new users on social media sites among preteens and teens has increased rapidly in recent time. As maintained by researchers Boer et al., “social media use such as the use of Instagram and Snapchat has increased over the last few years, especially among adolescents (Boer et al., pg. 853, 2020). This expanded, young user base has shown to cause problems with ADHD related symptoms. “Their constant urge to go online may make them feel restless when they cannot immediately check and respond to incoming messages, for example, at school” (Boer et al., pg. 854, 2020). The newfound prevalence of this problem is likely due to the increased amount of social media usage in young people. “In 2018, 45% of the adolescents in the United States aged 13–17 reported being online almost constantly, while in 2015 this was 24%” (Boer et al., pg. 853, 2020). Boer et al.’s research focused on the differences between social media usage problems in adolescents and social media usage intensity in adolescents, and why they could have negative effects. Social media usage problems was based on a scale of “preoccupation, persistence, tolerance, withdrawal, displacement, escape, problems, deception, and conflict, which are in line with criteria for substance dependence” (Boer et al., pg. 855, 2020). Social media usage intensity was based on four questions asked that had to do with the psychological effects of social media. After a long series of testing for possible correlations, they ultimately found that “while social media intensity may not be harmful, social media usage problems need to be recognized as harmful to adolescent mental health” (Boer et al., pg. 854, 2020).
Outside of just social media usage, other activities that children often indulge in is watching television. Another reason such an increase is seen in users could be because “many young people find sedentary behaviors more reinforcing than physically active alternatives and appear
more likely to choose sedentary activities even when physically active alternatives are freely available” (Gorely et al., pg. 152, 2004). Because of this, understanding the reason behind this behavior is integral to prompting more physical activity in children’s lives. “It has become obligatory to understand sedentary behavior as a concept distinct from physical activity in order to better understand the appeal of inactivity” (Gorely et al., pg. 160, 2004). This empirical research consisted of 68 different studies that had at least one association between TV viewing in children and a correlate. They found that consistently associated variables with “TV/video viewing were ethnicity, parent income. parent education, body weight, between meal snacking, number of parents in the house, parents TV viewing habits, weekend, and having a TV in the bedroom” (Gorely et al., pg. 152, 2004).
Content By Dylan Nader
