Study: Web-Addicted Teens More Likely to Self-Harm

Ashley Villanueva
Blog #9

This study was taken from usatoday.com. This study was done with Chinese teenagers and they found that those who were addicted to the internet are twice as likely to harm themselves as others who are not. They describe self harm to include pinching, hair pulling and deliberate hitting or burning themselves. Out of the 1,618 teenagers surveyed, 0.6% were severely addicted to the internet while 10 % were moderately addicted. These addicted teens also suffered from emotional problems when they weren’t on the internet such as nervousness and depression. Once they got back on the internet they felt much better.
This is an example of social control because in this case, the internet is controlling these teenagers. It has severely impacted their life to the point where they can’t function like a normal person anymore. They are always on the internet and when they aren’t they can only think about getting online again. It has emotionally affected them to where they harm themselves. This is a serious problem and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Technology has become such an essential part of our lives I think the world would be in chaos if it was suddenly taken away from us. We depend on it in so many ways, our cell phones, the internet, TV, etc. It has in a sense taken over our lives and controls us. It’s our way of communicating with the rest of the world.