U.S. teens on Facebook more likely to use drugs

American teens who spend time on Facebook and other social media sites are at increased risk of smoking, drinking and drug use, a survey suggests.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University conducted the back-to-school survey of 1,006 teens who answered questions about their use of social media, TV viewing habits and substance abuse.

The findings suggested that compared those aged 12 to 17whospend no time on social networking sites in a typical day, teens whodo were:

• Five timesmore likely touse tobacco.
• Three timesmore likely touse alcohol.
• Twice asmore likelyto usemarijuana.

Half of respondents who said they've seen pictures of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs on Facebook and other social networking sites first saw such pictures when they were 13 years of age or younger.

"The relationship of social networking site images of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs and of suggestive teen programming to increased teen risk of substance abuse offers grotesque confirmation of the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., the founder of the centre and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

"The time has come for those who operate and profit from social networking sites like Facebook to deploy their technological expertise to curb such images and to deny use of their sites to children and teens who post pictures of themselves and their friends drunk, passed out or using drugs," he added in a statement.

Drunken images

Social media allows people to be exposed to images and stories of substance abuse at a younger age, said Dr. Shimi Kang, a youth addictions psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia who works with those aged 12 to 24.

Since young people are highly sensitive to what their peers are doing, seeing many images of drinking and substance abuse and partying may lead them to think the behaviour is normal.

"A scenario could be a young 13-year-old girl who spends three hours on Facebook," Kang said.

"More than half of the stuff she's going to be reading and seeing is going to involve substance abuse of people within her age group. If the cool girls or the popular people are posting this, she's going to believe number one, it's normal and number two, that's acceptable."

Alcohol advertising on social media isanother potentialfactor.

Parental controls are another aspect of the association between social media use and substance abuse.Moms and dadswhodo not allow any use of social media may also have zero tolerance towards drugs and alcohol, Kang said. And youth who are less involved in extracurricular activities are more likely to use social media.

Canada's anti-drug strategy suggests that parents be knowledgeable, communicate with their teens, and watch for signs of changes.

Setting limits on teens' use of social media is important, Kang said.

"In my 10 years of practice, what young people have told me is when their parents limit things in a healthy way, they find that they're able to better maintain a balance," she said. "Don't be afraid to limit and monitor the social media use. It's not being old- fashioned or out of touch. It's the same parenting principles that we'd apply to anything."

Kang also advised youth to recognize that social media like Facebook andTwitter aren't real life, but a filtered image with benefits and drawbacks that need to be recognized.

While the study was well designed, it draws associations and not acause-and-effect relationship between social media use and substance abuse, Kang said. She noted the findings likely would apply in Canada, with twoexceptions:difference in legal drinking ages and slightvariationsin ethnocultural demographics between the two countries.