Statistics on Depression, Internet Addiction and Cyberbullying

Sometimes it just helps to see the numbers and figures of how many and who these issues are affecting.

This post provides useful and easy to read information detailing the occurrences of Depressive tendencies and internet addiction in populations of youth and adults today. The following statistics and information was gathered initially in respect to depression caused by internet use, but quickly I found that forms of internet addiction, cyberbullying and poor social reception in daily life were all factors to the onset of depression caused by or joined with excessive internet use. Many researchers are still in debate whether internet use causes depression or depression is preexisting and just heightened by extreme internet use. All agree that the two can be studied hand in hand in that they are closely related in our technological age and that there should be further research done in order to truly understand the phenomenon of depression and excessive internet use. Regardless, there are some obtainable facts about these subjects and the data can be quite alarming!

(1)

• In the first large scale Western Study conducted on the issue of internet use and depression, researches found after analyzing subjects for correlation of internet use and depression levels of 1,319 Britons between the ages of 16 and 51, that 1.2%were found to be "internet addicted". Although this may seem low, it is high in comparison to the mere 0.6% representing the incidents of gambling in Britain. Researchers conclude that "what is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive use of the internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies."(2)
• Studies from the University of Hong Kong revealed that 1 in 15 of local teens displayed 5 or more symptoms of internet addiction.
• Surveys from the United States and Britain showed the prevalence rates of internet addiction between 1.5-8.2%.(3)
• This study showed that depression increased with increased amounts of web surfing, only for those adolescents who had a low perceived friendship quality to begin with, signaling that depression would only increased with internet use if the individual was already showing signs of reclusion and poor social life to begin with. (4)

• An infographic created by a blogger on statistic involving internet addiction:

(5)

• "20.8% of U.S. adolescents in school having been bullied physically at least once in the last two months,53.6% having been bullied verbally, and 51.4% bullied socially (excluded or ostracized) 13.6% having been bullied electronically", Although the numbers may seem smallest for the amount that have been bullied electronically, this study showed that those cyberbullied showed the highest rates of depression than those who were just bullied.(6)

Resources:

(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/opinion/sunday/how-depressed-people-use-the-internet.html

(2) http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/03/us-depression-internet-idUSTRE61200A20100203

(3) http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/1096541/internet-addiction-can-cause-psychological-disturbances

(4)http://www.nutrociencia.com.br/upload_files/artigos_download/internet,%20depression.pdf

(5) http://social-brand-value.com/2010/06/03/and-some-more-stats-on-internet-addiction-infographic/

(6) http://www.nih.gov/news/health/sep2010/nichd-21.htm

All of the above resources provide links to academic or news articles that have interesting findings on rates of depression with internet use, internet addiction and cyberbullying. I encourage you to explore to learn more information!