Frequent use of social media harms teenagers

山东鄄城县第一中学 李克望

社交软件的使用程度与青少年的心理压力的大小存在相关性，其中女孩受到的影响是男孩的两倍多。过度使用社交媒体会危害青少年的身心健康，这种伤害是网络欺凌以及其导致的睡眠不足和体育活动的减少而间接造成的。

体裁 说明文 文章词数 367 建议用时 7 min

难词探意

1.statistical/stə΄tıstıkl/ adj.统计的；统计学的

2.participation/pɑːˌtısı΄peıʃn/ n.参加；参与

3.psychological/ˌsaıkə΄lɒdʒıkl/ adj.心理的；心理学的

4.distress/dı΄stres/ n.忧虑；悲伤；痛苦

5.disrupt/dıs΄rʌpt/ v.使中断；扰乱

Frequent use of social media does damage the mental health of teenage girlsbut it causes harm indirectly through cyberbullying,sleep loss and reduced physical activity，rather than directly by affecting brain development.

That conclusion comes from the first detailed study of how social media affects the mental health of young users,carried out by researchers from Imperial College and University College London and published in The Lancet Child&Adolescent Health journal.

The study examined lifestyle,health,wellbeing and use of technology in almost 10,000 adolescents in England over three years aged 13-16.During this period,frequent users of social media in the research rose from 43 percent to 69 percent of boys and from 51 percent to 75 percent of girls.

Statisticalanalysis of the results showed that moreparticipationin social media was associated with greaterpsychological distressin both sexes,though the effect was more than twice as strong as in girls.Almost all the harm was caused by three factors:Most important was cyberbullying,followed by loss of sleep and then reduced physical activity.

“Social media itself doesn't cause harm,but frequent use maydisruptactivities that have a positive impact on mental health like sleeping and exercising.Meanwhile,increasing exposure of young people to harmful content，particularly the negative experience of cyberbullying is also a concern,”said Russell Viner,professor at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health,who led the research.

“Parents need to know what their children's social environment is online as well as in the real world,”said co-author Dasha Nicholls of Imperial College. That means that some parents should change their message.She added，“Rather than constantly saying‘Get off your phone,get off your phone! ’,insist on your kids leaving their phone downstairs when they go to bed.Then they can't be bullied while they're in bed and they will sleep better.”

Although the researchers said the study was the best available analysis of the effects of social media on teenagers,it still had many limitations.For example the data showed how frequently the subjects accessed or checked social media but not how long they spent doing so.

Reading Check

True（T）or false（F）

（ ）1.Social media can harm the mental health of teenage girls directly.

（ ）2.Girls were exposed to social media by a larger percent in the study.

（ ）3.Cyberbullying,loss of sleep and reduced mental activity were the three factors causing psychological distress.

（ ）4.The negative experience of cyberbullying could be worrying.

（ ）5.The study of the effects of social media on teenagers was very all-around.

Language Study

Sentence for writing

Frequent use of social media does damage the mental health of teenage girls.

【信息提取】does/do/did 可用于表示强调，意为“确实；的确”，放在肯定句中，后接实义动词。

【句式仿写】他的英语说得的确很流利。