According to an article on teenagers and depression, “Spending time online is normal behavior for teenagers. But too much Internet use by teens — or too little, for that matter — might be related to depression”
Other health concerns that were pointed out that are related to heavy internet use, of two hours or more, were obesity in males and sleep deprivation in females. The study involved 7,200 individuals ages 16 to 20 about their Internet use.
Moderation is the key to so many things in life… eating, partying, even working. The internet needs to be used in moderation too. Kids need help with moderation as we see at Halloween when they would probably eat their entire bag of candy if we as parents let them. Kids would stay up till the wee hours of the morning unless they had a bed time. Kids need help with moderation and time management with the computer as well.
How? Parents need to be paying attention and monitoring kids use of the computer. Many kids are on the computer late at night when their parents are sleeping, when they too should be asleep. Parents need to pay attention to how much time their kids are online! ScreenRetriever allows parents to check on their child’s computer use via real-time recorded videos. Depression related to heavy use of the internet can be prevented with parental oversight, intervention and teaching.
