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Many teens enjoy stay fresh in spot with their friends on societal networking sites like Facebook and Twitter , but using such sites to surplus can be unhealthy and has even been connect to Great Depression , investigator say .

A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics describes a unexampled phenomenon recognize as " Facebook depression , " in which children and teen drop an inordinate amount of time on social networking site , then develop symptom of depression .

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The phenomenon is not common , and most children benefit from the land site because they are able tomaintain ties with friendsand feel a connection with their community , said Scott Campbell , an adjunct prof of communication studies at the University of Michigan .

But profound use of   Facebook , as well as other risk of infection of the online world such ascyberbullyingand sexting , can have serious consequences , so it ’s critical for parent to stay knotty in their small fry ’s lives .

" As kids have progressively open lines of communication with their peers online , it is extremely authoritative that parents keep the lines of communicating with their kids just as unfastened so they can have a gumption of what is go bad on in their societal lives … both on-line and offline , " Campbell said .

a teenage girl takes a pill

Facebook ’s dark side

Relationships with friends become critical in adolescent years . While Facebook allow teens to engage with admirer , that fundamental interaction could turn to envy , say Dr. Michael Brody , a child and teenaged head-shrinker in Silver Springs , Md. , who was involve with the AAP report .

" kid become are very competitory , and child desire to be pick out , " Brody said .

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Facebook countenance adolescents to see their champion ' successes , as well as the number of friendships those supporter have . " It jell up a competitive thing where kids might feel less than they are because their friends seem to be bear a better time than they are , " Brody said . " I conceive the idea of invidia and green-eyed monster becomes very enlarged through this medium . "

However , it ’s less clear whether Facebook itself lead to economic crisis , or whether sealed adolescents who are already depressed are prone to spending too much sentence online , Brody said .

" Like anything else in life history , too much time on Facebook — or the Internet in general , for that affair — can be a sorry thing . " Campbell said . " For the most part , depression and solitariness are associated with those super heavy drug user of the Internetwho permit the amount of clock time they spend online interfere with their offline joining . "

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Balanced life

One fashion to potentially prevent children from entering this type of depression is to verify they operate in a variety of activities , Brody said .

" I think tyke who have a balanced living , who do school assignment , who do after - schooling activities , who are in team , who are in club , who do residential area Robert William Service have a much lesser probability of becoming blue .

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" I would be worried as a parent if all my kid was doing was sitting in their room on the computer with Facebook , " Brody said .

Pass it on : Although it ’s uncommon , spending too much sentence online and on societal networking sites such as Facebook is associated with depression .

This write up was leave byMyHealthNewsDaily , a sister internet site to LiveScience .

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