Too much Facebook makes teenage girls depressed Posted by Chris Matyszczyk The big question is: does your teenage daughter co-ruminate? Please check now, as this is a very serious matter. Researchers from Stony Brook University have declared that excessive co-rumination--perhaps you would refer to it as "chatting with your friends about your problems"--by text, e-mail and on social-networking sites leaves impressionable teenage girls more prone to anxiety and depression. "There is a wealth of communication technology available to teens today that allows them to talk over and over again about the same emotional difficulties," declared Joanne Davila, the psychology professor who led the research. The researchers examined the lives of 83 13-year-old girls. No, they didn't do it online. And yes, the girls were accompanied by their parents. They re-examined them after a year. They concluded that the more the girls discussed their romantic ups and downs with their friends online, the more they became candidates for Prozac. And the more extensive their romantic adventures, the more they wanted to talk about them. With depressing consequences. "Parents may need to be aware when they are obsessing about a setback and set limits on the discussion," Davila told the Daily Mail. While I am sure the professor's heart is precisely where it should be, within a millimeter or two, I am depressed by her conclusions. Girls love to talk. If there wasn't Facebook, they'd find another way. Yes, bathrooms, coffee shops, school, you name it. However, I must take grave issue with the professor's instincts about boys. Her views suggest she might herself be prone to a little seasonal affective disorder at the very least. "It's most likely they are discussing the game last night or meeting up, but there's a possibility they could start discussing emotional problems more than in the past which would put them at risk," she said of teenage males. "Start discussing emotional problems?" This view seems miserably sexist. Don't boys talk about their romantic tragedies just as much as girls? If there wasn't Facebook, they'd be doing it in the pub or wherever else teenage boys hang out. I suspect they have even mastered the art of chatting to their buds while texting other friends on their iPhones. I know that many harassed, caring parents read Technically Incorrect. This was proved when I wrote about the teenage girl who sent 14,528 texts in one month. Readers had sons who easily beat that monthly tally. So I hope to hear from parents and their views of the depressing influence of Facebook. Isn't the truth really that we are all victims of the promise of the romantic ideal? The failure to get there makes everyone miserable.
The problem with this is most thirteen-year-old girls have misconceptions about romance (and most other things) based on all the shite movies they watch all the time. None of them know what it's like in the real world, and when they find out, they realize they ate a huge shit sandwich and there's nothing they can do about it but take fucking pills because that's how doctors make their money instead of just telling the girls that they're idiots in the first place. Now, I realize not all girls are like this, but most of them are. Sooner or later, they're going to realize Hannah Montana is fake and Noah isn't going to write them a letter every single day for a year and grow the fuck up. Jesus.
I agree. I understand girls chatting about their problems a tonne leads to fixating on them though, whether through facebook or other means. This said, I am totally guilty of doing the same thing . Also, I have a general issue with an overabundance of blame placed on media and an inadequate amount on personal responsibility.
I agree with Will fully and loved what Esaul said. People need to stop blaming OTHER things for their actions, It was their decision to use them in the first place. I admit, because I am Online so much, I wonder what I would have turned out to be like without the internet to help me contact friends so easily and so often. I can say with mega certainty that I wouldn't like it. I have always hated my surroundings and the internet allows me to find relief by listening to so much music, find so many movies and talk to amazing people I wouldn't have met or come in contact with otherwise.