Nearly half of Portuguese teens admit to suffering from anxiety due to their online habits, but only 17% of parents admit it, according to an analysis this Thursday by Deco Proteste magazine.
“There is a very large discrepancy between the symptoms that young people experience in connection with their activity” and “the reaction of parents,” Marta Mesquita, spokeswoman for consumer association magazine, told Lusa.
Between May and July 2022, Deco Proteste sent out an “online” survey to over 1,400 people, receiving 937 valid answers about the parent universe.
“We sent two questionnaires. We sent the teen survey in September and October 2022. We had 487 responses checked,” said Marta Mesquita.
According to a Deco Proteste spokesperson, the test has also been developed in Belgium, Italy and Spain.
“When surveyed, 65% of teens admitted to suffering from at least one problem, partly caused by ‘networking’ habits,” the study says.
In addition to the disparity confirmed by anxiety, 34% of young people also recognized mood swings, but only 18% of parents identified them.
“Globally, parents attribute the mental health of their offspring to 8.4 points out of 10, and they have 6.8 points left,” he emphasizes.
In a study by Deco, Protest explains that there is less difference in physical health and quality of life, pointing out that “girls, by these measurements, seem to live in worse conditions than boys.”
He also claims that the vast majority of young people access the Internet through their mobile phones, “one in four do not have a computer for any “network” activity, and 11% do not even have a shared device.”
“As regards the time of immersion of young people in the virtual world, there are no fundamental differences between the views of parents and children: on both sides they estimate the same duration from Monday to Friday and on weekends: on average, respectively, 02:00. 47 and 03:40 [horas]”, he refers.
In terms of time spent “online” and time spent studying, the difference is only 10%.
“The internet is a well-known front for exercise outside of school hours. While parents have a trust limit, there is more than a 10% difference between the time they think their children spend studying and the time they actually spend studying. spend on it: 88% versus 75%, respectively,” he points out.
“While boys use the Internet mainly for group games, girls prefer it for shopping. Young people are also visiting more adult ‘sites’,” he stresses.
According to the analysis, most teenagers use about four social networks, but “only about a third of parents reach awareness of this number, compared with more than half of young people.”
“What is considered known about visited networks differs by 30%, in the case of Discord, for example. With the same percentage of “fake” presence on Facebook is overestimated by parents, because young people, in fact, they have migrated to other networks. The average daily social media stay exceeds two hours for 61% of teens,” he notes.
In terms of mobile phone erotic messages – sexting, short for “sex” and texting – 48% of parents “state they have addressed the subject, while only 27% of teens have confirmed this conversation.”
“Given the amount of time spent online, which 40% of teens say has increased during the pandemic, it’s not surprising that they are exposed to such dangers,” he stresses.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.