Michigan [US]: While many parents and guardians fear that teenagers spend too much time on cell phones, video games, and social media, a researcher from Michigan State University advises against being concerned. Keith Hampton, a professor in the Department of Media and Information and the Quello Center's director of academic research, claims that he is more concerned about adolescents who are disconnected due to their limited access to the internet than he is about screen time.
"Teens who are disconnected from today's technologies are more isolated from their peers, which can lead to problems," Hampton said. "Many young people are struggling with their mental health. While adolescents often grapple with self-esteem issues related to body image, peers, family and school, disconnection is a much greater threat than screen time. Social media and video games are deeply integrated into youth culture, and they do more than entertain. They help kids socialise, contribute to identity formation, and provide a channel for social support."
Hampton and his associates study disconnection. The majority of teenagers have access to the internet often. Only when they decide to restrict their gadget use or when their parents intervene to limit their online time do these teenagers feel disconnected. A sizable group of teenagers, mostly in rural areas of America, are alienated for a totally different reason. They reside in homes with incredibly shoddy broadband access infrastructure. These teenagers frequently don't have access to the internet outside of school, have very sluggish access at home, or have sporadic data coverage on smartphones.
"Rural teens are the last remaining natural control group if we want insight into the mental health of adolescents who have no choice but to be disconnected from screens," Hampton said. Hampton and his team compared the self-esteem and social activities of teens with no or limited home internet access to teens who are the heaviest screen users as well as teens whose parents strictly monitor or limit their screen use in a peer-reviewed paper based on a survey of 3,258 rural adolescents. This is what they discovered.
Being a girl was the single most significant indicator of having lower self-esteem. This wasn't shocking because it has long been known how difficult adolescence is on young girls. Poor grades in school were the second most significant factor in determining self-esteem for both males and girls. Although only slightly so, teens with inadequate internet access at home and those whose parents exercised the most control over their media use had significantly lower self-esteem than average girls or students who performed poorly in school.
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