A study by the Research University Institute of Mental Health said that girls showed higher addiction to social media than boys.
A study by the Research University Institute of Mental Health found that one in seven teenagers (13%) in Greece, mostly girls, spend so much time on social media that it has negatively affected their state of mind.
According to the daily newspaper Kathimerini, the data which have not yet been published for 2022 showed that girls' addiction (16%) was much higher than those of boys (9%).
"Most teen girls tend to value themselves based on their appearance; therefore, social media gives them the opportunity to present an ideal image of themselves through filtering or editing a picture," Thomas Maliaroudakis, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, told Anadolu.
"This can have a negative mental impact on their lives as they become addicted to the positive feedback and the approval they receive," he added.
When it comes to age, 13-year-olds and 15-year-olds showed that their addiction rates were higher (16% for both age groups) than those of 11-year-olds (6%).
"Direct visual communication has been significantly limited between teenagers and has largely been replaced by a refracted visual communication with the interference of the mobile phone," Anna Kokkevi, emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Athens who leads the study, told the daily.
According to the daily, the aim of the study is to find answers if the use of mobile phones and social media is associated with the mental health deterioration of adolescents in addition to looking into the profile of adolescent addiction on social media in Greece.
The study, which is conducted every four years, was conducted on approximately 6,250 students aged 11, 13 and 15.
