Teenagers who use social media frequently ‘drink more’

TEENAGERS who spend hours trawling social media are more likely to drink alcohol, a new study suggests. Negative experiences online or exposure to alcohol ads could be behind the link, researchers suggested.

But the new study took place a number of years ago and did not examine all social media channels which are widely used today.

The study, published in the journal Addiction, examined data on 6,700 participants aged 10 to 19 between 2011 and 2013. And 3,600 of these adolescents were then followed up between 2014 and 2016.

Teenagers were asked about how many hours they spent chatting or interacting on social media sites including Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

They were also asked about their alcohol consumption.

The study found that 18 per cent of participants aged 10-15 years drank at least monthly, with a greater risk of more frequent drinking for each additional hour of social media use.

Those who spent less time on social media were less likely to drink at least monthly compared to those with more than three hours’ social media use each day. And those aged 16-19 who spent more than an hour on social media each day were more likely to binge drink.

Study lead author, Dr Linda Ng Fat, from University College London (UCL), said: “Given the recent rise in the number of social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok it’s vital that greater attention is paid to this issue so we can better understand the intricacies of this relationship.”