Source: Bangalore Mirror dt April 23, 2014 NIMHANS poll finds teens laid low by digital excess Facebook lords over 47% of 200 polled; explicit content stresses out 21% The results of the preliminary exams of 15-year-old Naman Pandit (name changed), SSLC student of a private school in Koramangala, shocked his family. Known as a bright student, nobody, including Naman, expected him to score just about 50 per cent in the prelims. With final exams a couple of months away, his family was worried about Namans future. His teachers suggested counselling. After a few sittings, the culprit behind Namans poor academic performance was found — high usage of internet, especially social networking sites like Facebook. Naman is just one of the hundreds of teenage students in Bangalore who have grown to become compulsive users of digital media like the internet, video games, television, etc. and have as a result, ruined their academic performance, family, and social life. A survey conducted by a team at NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences) in December 2013 on 200 students in the age group of 13-15 years and 16-17 years (100 each) has found that 46.5 per cent (93 out of 200) were addicted to Facebook. In case of Naman, he used to spend about 6-7 hours everyday on Facebook! The survey, conducted by a 4-member team from NIMHANS found that about 53 per cent (50 out of 93) of those who used Facebook excessively were in the age group of 13-15 years. We also found that excessive usage of internet and other technologies affected their academic performance. Some 66 per cent of those surveyed performed poorly in studies. Again, 61 per cent also agreed that excess time spent on internet, playing video games, and watching television, reflected poorly on their family life, and 74 per cent were found to have lost their real friends to the virtual world, said Manoj Kr. Sharma, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS. Explaining Namans case, Sharma, a co-author of the study, said: He was brought to NIMHANS Center for Well-Being by his parents. Initially, he was reluctant to share details of his routine. But after about 10 days, he opened up and revealed that he used to spend about 6-7 hours daily on the Net, especially on Facebook. The compulsion to surf the Web was so much that when his parents objected, Naman started visiting a nearby Cyber Cafe. This affected his academic performance and also his equation with his parents and friends. ADDICTIVE PATTERNS
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 12:12:05 +0000
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