Clad teenagers through the internet

Internet use among young people: a lot of online and alone

03/21/2015

If young people spend a lot of their time using the internet, social seclusion threatens, according to a recent study by the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine at the Mainz University Medical Center. The study is presented by the research team headed by Professor Dr. med. med. Manfred Beutel, Director of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, at the press conference on the German Congress of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy on March 26, 2015 in Berlin.

In their latest study, researchers from Mainz investigated the question of how real relationships suffer from the use of social networks such as Facebook and online games such as World of Warcraft. For the computer and the mobile phone seem like a substitute for real friendship for many children and it is not without reason that parents fear that their child will end up in a vicious circle of internet addiction and loneliness. The research team led by Professor Beutel has now examined the extent and consequences of using the Internet for adolescents on the basis of surveys of approximately 2,400 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years.

Social bonds suffer from internet usage
According to the researchers, the results of the current study are questionable. Excessive use of the internet makes young people uncommunicative, irritable and leads to social isolation. If the adolescents are online for over six hours a day, whether on their mobile or computer, they find it harder to build relationships with their peers, according to the press release in the run-up to the German Congress of Psychosomatic Medicine. „Teenagers who frequently use online games and online sex portals are less loyal to their friends“, reports Professor Beutel. Those affected would communicate less, not trust their friends so much, and feel more alienated from others. „All these factors ultimately favor social exclusion“, the study director continues.

Danger of Internet addiction
According to the scientists, social networks such as Facebook and Co have no comparable negative effect on real friendships and relationships. They can even be conducive to building ties with peers. However, there is also the risk of addiction, which in turn can negatively affect attachment to peers. According to the researchers, 3.4 percent of the surveyed adolescents showed addictive internet usage. This means that they are online for more than six hours a day, have no control over their online hours, give up other interests, and suffer harmful personal, family, or academic consequences due to spending time in front of the computer or on the cell phone.

Girls chat and shop, boys play
In 13.8 percent of the young people surveyed, the researchers did not recognize any addictive, but nevertheless excessive and „escalating“ Use of the Internet. Here, girls and boys are equally affected. However, girls online are more concerned with social exchanges, research and online shopping, while boys spend more time playing online games. It should also be noted that „socially insecure or inhibited young people are more likely to turn to online activities that require less contact and exchange“, reports Professor Beutel, who also treats affected adolescents and parents in his clinic at the Outpatient Clinic for Gambling Addiction. The expert advises „Parents and teachers to accompany young people both in the development of their media use and to pay attention to their social interaction.“ Further results of the study and consequences for the practice will be presented at the press conference on the occasion of the German Congress of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy.

Anonymity makes the Internet attractive
In response to the question of whether Internet use makes young people lonely or whether lonely people use the Internet more intensively, Veit Rößner, Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Dresden, replied to the „dpa“, that both should be seen. The reasons for the high attractiveness of the Internet for young people are also quite different. Last but not least, anonymity plays an essential role here. „You do not have to be afraid of being hurt as a person. An online rebate is different than going to a girl and getting a basket“, quotes the „dpa“ the experts

Computer games can also bring benefits
The Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU), however, highlights the community experience. „Playing together has always been a key component of many games and has become even more important in recent years due to the increasing use of the Internet“, becomes the BIU managing director Maximilian Schenk of the „dpa“ cited. In computer and video games relationships and friendships - in contrast to other media such as television - even strengthened. The Dresden doctor Rößner, however, sees the advantages of computer games on a different level. Thus, computer gamers are often well-trained in the fine motor skills of the hand, attention performance or spatial perception, which in the modern world of work is characterized by rapid multitasking and increased computer use. „On the other hand, one can only approximately learn the social“, Rößner continues. For example, the teens might „do not kiss online.“

Critical attitude of the Germans towards new media
The critical attitude towards new media is sometimes compared in the discussion with earlier developments such as the book printing, as critics have warned against an increasing readiness to read. However, in the opinion of Rößner, this comparison is out of place, as decades of printing or centuries passed by the time the book was printed, until books had established themselves as a whole in society. At the current „insanely fast development“ However, society has hardly any tools to teach children how to use the internet well. „That was different with the invention of the printing press“, quotes the „dpa“ the Dresden doctor. (Fp)