STUDY: Too much time online makes teens violent and depressed

Internet users (Reuters)

Teenagers who show signs of being addicted to the internet are more likely to have aggressive behavior. Most say they have shoved, threatened or hit someone in that past year.

The study, published online by the Journal of Adolescent Health, did not however prove that Internet addiction does indeed manifest violent behavior in children, but it did illustrate how these "internet addicted" kids and teens had lower measures of self-esteem and depression.

The study was done on more than 9,400 Taiwanese teenagers.

Some online activities encourage kids to "release their anger" in a way that they wouldn't normally do so in the real world. If teens experience the internet as their only source of relief for anger or frustration, they can begin to blur the lines between the real and virtual world.

It is possible that violence-prone teenagers are more likely to obsessively use the Internet, explained lead researcher Dr. Chih-Hung Ko, of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan.

Dr. Ko warned parents to pay close attention to how much time their children are using the Internet and check to see if their behavior is changing.

According to Ko's team, some signs of Internet addiction include preoccupation with online activities; "withdrawal" symptoms, like moodiness and irritability, after a few Internet-free days; and skipping other activities to devote more time to online ones.