And within that same age group, the adolescents most immersed in social networks are five times more likely to smoke; are three times more likely to drink alcohol; and twice as susceptible to using marijuana as those who spend none of their time on social media.
Knowledge Networks surveyed 1,037 teens ages 12 to 17 and 528 parents of those teens online. QEV Analytics conducted the annual telephone survey of 1,006 young people between the ages of 12 and 17, asking questions used by CASA to follow trends.
The results revealed that half of the teens who had used a social network on the day of the survey had seen photos of young people "drunk, unconscious or using drugs on those pages."
But even beyond those who visit them daily, 14% of young people who had not used a social network that day said they had seen such images on the pages.
According to the study, young people who had seen those images were four times more likely to be able to get marijuana, three times more likely to get prescription drugs without it and twice as likely to get alcohol.
In addition, those teens who had seen the images were twice as likely to think they would try drugs in the future, and were much more likely to have friends who used illegal substances.
"Especially troubling – and alarming – is that almost half of the young people who have seen those images ... they were first seen when they were 13 or younger," the study states.
But the surveys, which also questioned adults, found that nine out of ten parents don't think teens who spend time connected to social media are more likely to drink alcohol or use drugs.
The report's authors urge parents to present a united and consistent front on substance use. They also ask social media administrators to remove those images and cut off access to the teens who hang them.
In a statement, Facebook said: "Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our service, especially the many teenagers who use Facebook." "Our communications standards prohibit the promotion of drugs, and we remove this kind of content when we are reported," he adds.
Source: Live Connected
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