Pornography, sexting and grooming, as well as addiction to video games and gambling, are the main risks of the use that teenagers make of the Internet. These are the conclusions of the largest study conducted so far to analyze the use that minors make of Relationship Technologies, Information and Communication (TRIC).

The study ‘Adolescence, Technology, Health and Coexistence’, presented this morning in A Coruña by the Barrié Foundation and the University of Santiago, covers the testimony of 10,051 adolescents belonging to 59 schools throughout. It has detected that one in four adolescents makes problematic use of the Internet.

The director of the Barrié Foundation, Carmen Arias Romero, and the professor of the Area of Methodology of Behavioral Sciences of the USC and scientific head of the study, Antonio Rial Boubeta, point out that this diagnosis should now serve to “design effective prevention actions conceived from an empirical point of view”.

In detail, the study focuses on the risks of misuse of sexual content on the Internet, where pornography, sexting and grooming are everyday realities. Thus, 44% of teenagers admit to consuming porno online and 42.2% have even exchanged sexual messages.

Worryingly, 11.6% say they have received a sexual proposition from an adult. In this section, 18.6% of girls have been pressured to send intimate photographs or videos compared to 6.9% of boys.

Gambling addiction

The report also highlights the impact of video games on adolescence. This translates into an addiction rate of up to 4%, which reaches more than 5,000 adolescents . To this percentage, an additional 13.1% of minors for whom video games “are beginning to become a problem” should be added. These figures increase the higher the frequency of play and the more hours they dedicate to it.

The researchers emphasize the relationship between the consumption of video games and bullying, which is currently suffered in by at least one in five adolescents (22.9%). The figures are higher among those who regularly play violent video games designated as PEGI 18. In conclusion, the study establishes that their frequent consumption at the beginning of adolescence, between 12 and 13 years of age, doubles the rates of aggressors (3.6% compared to 1.7%).

Gambling addiction is already a threat for at least one out of ten adolescents who gamble (12%). Up to 12.5% admit having been forced to borrow money to gamble or pay off debts, and 12.1% have even stolen.

Mental health

The report also analyzes the life habits of adolescents, both in terms of general health and mental health. It applies the screening instruments used by the WHO to assess emotional well-being, life satisfaction, depression and suicidal ideation. According to the promoters of the study, in this section the reality is “alarming”.

17.8% of adolescents present symptoms of severe and moderate depression and 12.7% have recurrent suicidal ideation. These figures are multiplied by three or four among those who suffer bullying.