Teens are moving away from family, sleeping and exercising to be 'online'

Survey data shows that 93,3% of young people have access to screens during the night in the bedroom and 54,9% tend to use technology daily just before falling asleep or even falling asleep, which, according to the psychologist and researcher at the University Institute (Ispa) Ivone Patrão has an impact on "sleep hygiene" and concentration and attention on the following day or days during lessons.

Internet use also affects their diet, with 73,8% of young people admitting to having meals or "snacks" using the computer or mobile phone, the most consumed foods being sweets (54,9%) , dairy products (33,4%) and salty foods. (37,8%), says the study, noting that 54,7% say they do not practice physical activity.

The coordinator of the Geração Cordão project, Ivone Patrão, who carried out the study in partnership with the Portuguese Association for Victim Support, says that these data are worrying signs and warns of the harmful effects that these situations can have in the medium and long term. .

From the data, the researchers established "a risk profile" which lists the characteristics associated with young people presenting with severe "online" addiction, with a negative impact on their physical and mental health, the study coordinator said. in Lusa, which took place in 2020 and aimed to assess the impact of Internet use on mental health, in a sample of 344 young Portuguese people between the ages of 12 and 30, with an average age of 21 .

The profile of the user with a severe "online" addiction is aged between 16 and 21, is male, often attends secondary school, started in the "online" world at age eight, does not practice exercise, poor school performance, not dating, spending more than six hours a day on the Internet, sending and receiving intimate data (sexting), online gambling and being a victim or aggressor (cyberbullying).

The researcher points out that these are young people whose 24 hours a day are devoted to the "online" world, and that there is no balance with the "offline" world in terms of activities .

In the case of food, he illustrated, they deprive themselves of being at meals with the family to devote themselves to technology.

"These three areas, food, sleep and exercise, which are so important to our health, are areas where we should invest with young people in 'offline' activities to promote better well-being in these young people,” he said. . .

Nearly 47% of young people admit to using their mobile phone more than 31 times a day, the majority being on social networks, mainly Instagram (92,7%), followed by Tik Tok (51,2%) and Facebook (46,6, XNUMX%) .

"The 'online' world has a lot of appeal, a lot of entertainment, there's a lot to do and search at the click of a button, and it has a great socializing character" when playing with other users. However, 41,3% of young people say they have had at least one episode of “online” discomfort and a large percentage say they have not shared this situation with anyone.

Two-thirds of respondents admitted that someone had treated them in an offensive or unpleasant way (cyberbullying), 82,8% said they had spoken to someone they did not know personally, and 59,8% said they tended to to be "in line" when they have emotional problems.

According to the psychologist, what has happened in this context of socialization is that young people do not develop a way of being “online” “respecting social rules” as they exist in the face-to-face world. -face.

“We have noticed that those who practice this type of online socialization and behavior end up having mood swings, less empathy for what the other is feeling, for what the other needs,” he said. -He underlines.

On the other hand, the perception that young people have of parental supervision is that they do not impose strict rules regarding the use of the Internet and that the rules are made by them, a fact which, according to Ivone Patrão, constitutes “an important alert for parents”. ”.

“To play a football game we need goals and here we need goals too. We need well-defined rules regarding sleep, meal times, content, connection times, "he defended, stressing that" there is no uniform rule for everyone " .

The researcher noted that they did not intend to "design the technology or the Internet", arguing that "the way should be the early introduction of technologies, but with great awareness of parents and teachers about the era of technology and age-appropriate content. “.

HN // FPA