Browsing Blues?

Hours spent in front of that glowing blue screen might leave your teenager feeling blue themselves.

You know parental computer control is very important. The internet can be a dangerous and addictive place for many unassuming users. Parental computer control is a very effective measure to take in protecting children from online predators, online bullying and excessive use. It is the parent’s responsibility to monitor usage to avoid the negative effects that misuse or abuse of the internet can incur. Case in point, check out the findings of this latest study about the connection between the internet and depression:

Spending hours on the internet may trigger depression, according to a study reported by time.com. Lawrence Lam, an epidemiologist at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, Australia, and Zi-Wen Peng at SunYat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, set out to find out if too much time on the computer web surfing could lead to depression or other mental issues.

If you or a loved one is suffering from depression, you should seek the counsel of a psychiatrist or psychologist. Depression from obsessive internet use, like any type of depression, is a serious problem that needs to be addressed and treated. If you have the desire to help other people with their mental problems, then you should consider enrolling in Psychiatrist college courses or online degree programs.

The researchers studied a group of more than 1,000 high school students in Guangzhou to assess their internet usage and mental-health status over the course of 9 months. At the genesis of the study, nearly 6 percent of the students were pathological web surfers based on a 20-question survey addressing their internet addiction. This particular 6 percent of the study population also reported feeling nervous,  moody or uncomfortable when they were not on the computer.

At completion of the nine-month study, the researchers measured  the students’ symptoms of anxiety and depression. Their findings showed that the individuals who reported their internet addiction at the beginning of the study were 2.5 times more likely to be depressed than those who were not addicted. Additionally, the researchers were unable to find an association between anxiety and excessive internet use.

The connection between obsessive internet use and depression is not something to be taken lightly as our youth spends lives, works and plays in an internet-based world.

“This study has a direct implication on the prevention of mental illness among young people,” Lam said in an e-mail. “The results indicate that people who use the internet pathologically are most at risk of mental problems and would develop depression when they continue with that behavior.”

What was not addressed in the study? Why internet use might increase the risk of depression. What causes depression in children is still widely ambiguous with so many factors involved. Depression causes and treatment are so varied that it is difficult to pinpoint one singular cause or effective treatment. A possible reason for the connection between internet use and depression is that the pathological users grow infinitely more isolated and connected to others as the internet usage increases, which can trigger or reinforce depressive symptoms. Maybe internet addicts are already predisposed to depression, whether it be biologically or socially, and so they use the internet as a coping mechanism in response to unhappiness or relationship problems. This missing factor of the study was noted by Lam, but baseline symptoms of depression were accounted for.

If you’re looking for simple ways to improve your mood and overall health this summer, check out these health and wellness tips.

Signs and symptoms of depression are sometimes hidden or masked so this study may be prove to be a very useful tool in recognizing the symptoms of depression in adolescents and being able to properly assist the individual in receiving help and healing. Interestingly, the internet and depression are connected in such a way that makes it difficult to help the person because you might not be able to tell if their depression is from internet use.

“It is because this sort of behavior may be a manifestation of some underlying problems that they are more insidious,” Lam says. “Even mentally healthy young people may succumb to depression after a long exposure of problematic use of the internet, so the mental health consequences of problematic internet use for those who have already had a history of psychological or psychiatric problems would be more damaging.”

Parents should take advantage of this useful screening tool for identifying symptoms of depression. One huge help: computer parental control! With the causes of depression so vast, parents should watch for every red flag that could signal a problem. Parental computer control can prove to be a very effective way to monitor your child’s habits and tendencies. Parental controls on computer usage can alert the parent of any excessive use which could generate a conversation with the child regarding his/her feelings and current emotional and mental state. There are many different types of computer parental control software out there that can assist a parent in keeping abreast of their child’s situation.