Drug abuse, promiscuity and other risky behaviors are more commonly found amongst teens who text excessively or spend massive amounts of time on social networks, according to a new report.
Researchers at Case Western University, led by Scott Frank, a family physician and public health professor, surveyed roughly 4,200 teenagers in an "urban city in the Midwest" to determine whether such behaviors led to health problems. Hypertexting is defined as 120 texts or more a day; hypernetworking means spending three or more hours on social-networking sites.
Although the findings didn't show any causal relationship, Frank found higher rates of high-risk behaviors like promiscuity, suicidal tendencies, eating disorder patterns, and drug and alcohol abuse among teens who hypertext or hypernetwork.
They were also physically unhealthier: more likely to be obese, stressed or skip class because of an illness.
Nearly 20 percent of the teens were hypertexters and 12 percent were hypernetworkers. The most common profile is a female from a low socioeconomic background.
On the flip side, teens who didn't hypertext/hyper-network were mentally and physically healthier.
While the findings stop short of drawing any causal relationships, Frank has been widely quoted as saying, "The startling results of this study suggest that when left unchecked texting and other widely popular methods of staying connected can have dangerous health effects on teenagers...this should be a wake-up call for parents to not only help their children stay safe by not texting and driving, but by discouraging excessive use of the cell phone or social websites in general."
Last year, researchers in China found links between Internet addiction and self-harm.