Screen addicts ‘are more miserable’

TEENAGERS who spend more than an hour a day on social media become increasingly miserable, a study shows.

Researchers linked using sites such as Facebook and Twitter for more than ten hours a week to a 1 per cent higher chance of unhappiness in young people.

The study found the more time that youths spend seeing friends and exercising, the happier they are.

The results are drawn from a survey of 1million schoolchildren and students aged 13 to 18, analysed by a team led by San Diego State University in the US.

Experts say social media and internet use could harm teenagers’ wellbeing through sleep loss and addiction.

Lead author Professor Jean Twenge, from San Diego State University, concluded: ‘The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use.

‘Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media and try to increase the time you spend seeing friends faceto-face and exercising – two activities reliably linked to greater happiness.’

The survey found limited use of electronic devices – less than an hour a day – is linked to greater happiness among students. But as they go beyond an hour, their unhappiness levels rise.

Compared with those who use social media for one to two hours a week, teenagers online for ten to 19 hours are 1 per cent more likely to be unhappy, according to the study in the journal Emotion.