Frequent online consumption disrupts bonding ability
Teenagers who spend an excessive amount of time playing online games and visiting adult websites have weaker bonds with their friends. They communicate less, trust their friends only to a limited extent, and feel more alienated from others.
This is the result of a study published on Tuesday by the Mainz University Medical Center. All of these factors ultimately promote social exclusion. According to the study, which was published in the run-up to the German Congress for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, 3.4 percent of the young people surveyed use the internet addictively. They are online for more than six hours a day, no longer have any control over it, give up their interests and suffer negative personal, family and school consequences as a result of spending so much time in front of the computer or on their cell phone. 13.8 percent do not exhibit addictive use, but nevertheless excessive and rampant use. Girls and boys are equally affected. The research team led by Manfred Beutel from the Mainz University Medical Center reportedly surveyed around 2,400 young people between the ages of 12 and 18. (SDA)
