I used to teach a healthy living/ sustainability class to sixth-graders so I was not surprised when The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) released its annual “Back to School” survey last week. Among the findings: teens who use social networking sites like Facebook are five times more likely to use tobacco, nearly three times more likely to use alcohol and nearly twice as likely to smoke marijuana than those who do not. I am the mother of a tween who has not yet discovered FB and when she does, there will be VERY strict rules about how she uses it.
In a statement accompanying the release of the report, CASA founder Joe Califano writes, “The results are profoundly troubling. This year’s survey reveals how the anything goes, free-for-all world of Internet expression, suggestive television programming and what-the-hell attitudes put teens at sharply increased risk of substance abuse.”
However, as with much of the center’s previous work, the research methods used here cannot actually determine whether social media causes increased substance use or whether the association is simply related to a third factor, such as teens’ concern about their social status or conversely, having strict parents.
Seventy percent of the teens surveyed said they used social networks daily. However, only 10% of social networkers used tobacco products, 26% drank alcohol and 13% admitted marijuana use.
The survey included more 1,000 teens aged 12 to 17 and their parents, who were contacted based on their home address and then asked to fill out the survey online. Overall, the 21% of teens reported ever using alcohol, 8% said they had used tobacco and 11% had smoked marijuana, statistics that are comparable with other recent household surveys.
Another correlation identified in the CASA report links watching sexually suggestive shows like Skins, Jersey Shore and Teen Mom with greater risk of tobacco, alcohol and drug use. But previous research has shown that teen rebellion rarely restricts itself to one type of behavior, so such correlations are hardly surprising.
The CASA survey further found that 40% of teens who spent time on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites said they had seen pictures online of kids getting drunk, passed out or using drugs. These teens were more likely than those who didn’t view such photos to report using alcohol, marijuana and other drugs — but here, too, it’s impossible to tell whether the link is causal.
Teens who use drugs themselves are almost certainly better at identifying pictures depicting drug use than non-users, and may be more likely to recall such images.
Especially troubling — and alarming — are that almost half of the teens who have seen pictures of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs on Facebook and other social networking sites first saw such pictures when they were 13 years of age or younger; more than 90 percent first saw such pictures when they were 15 or younger. These facts alone should strike Facebook fear into the hearts of parents of young children.
Likewise, even if it were possible to stop teens from using social networks — or for adults to truly monitor teen Facebook use — the odds that this would reduce drug use are low.
There have also been a bunch of studies linking Facebook use to lower GPA’s in students of all ages. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, the one thing I learned when teaching the sixth-graders was that many of them didn’t complete their homework because they were (after I really grilled them about it!) too busy connecting with their friends on facebook – well into the night. Their homeroom teacher also made a point of connecting with all of her students on FB so she could watch their activity – she told me that poor performance (particularly homework-wise,) seemed to be a direct result of kids whose parents didn’t supervise their computer/FB time.
I would add a third concern, which is from my direct experience. Spending more than a few minutes on FB robs me of really connecting with those around me, and my environment. If I choose to spend an hour messing around of FB, rather than taking a beautiful walk, I rob myself of important mental, physical and spiritual benefits.
I love technology and I love FB, but like all things that I indulge in – chocolate included, it’s all about moderation. Ten minutes on FB and 2 squares of dark chocolate a day might be the perfect balance. The less time my daughter sees mommy on FB, the more ammunition I’ll have when it’s time to limit her use – anyway I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Teaching our kids healthy living habits is not just about diet and exercise, it’s also about how to slow down and connect to their surroundings and their rich imaginations, which social networking can take away from them.
