Social Networking Tied to Teen Drug, Alcohol Use

Social Networking Tied to Teen Drug, Alcohol Use

Aug. 23, 2011 — Teens who spend time on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social networking sites may be more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and use drugs.

That’s according to Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA). CASA recently polled more than 2,000 teens online or by phone, as well as 528 parents of teens.

The results show that compared to teens who don’t visit social networking sites daily, those who do are:

• Five times more likely to use tobacco
• Three times more likely to drink alcohol
• Twice as likely to use marijuana

Most teens — 70% — said they spend anywhere from one minute to hours a day on social networking sites.

But it’s not the fact that teens visit social network sites that makes them more likely to abuse alcohol or other drugs. Instead, the issue seems to be what they view on those sites. Forty percent of the teens in CASA’s survey said they have seen images of intoxicated kids, including some who are passed out, as well as pictures of peers using drugs.  

The CASA report does not prove that social networking caused teens to abuse alcohol or other drugs. Surveys like this show associations but cannot prove cause and effect.

Parents Just Don’t Understand

Parents may not see the risk. CASA’s report shows that about nine out of 10 parents don’t think that social networking raises their teens’ risk for drug or alcohol abuse.

But they may not know what’s on those sites. The survey showed that 64% of parents whose teen has a presence on a social network said they don’t monitor what goes on there.

“Parents need to monitor their kids with respect to social networking and the TV shows they watch, and know what their kids’ lives are like,” says CASA President Joseph Califano Jr.

Social networking sites pose some unique challenges for parents. These sites expand cliques and peer groups almost exponentially. As a result, parents should know what their kids are doing, what their friends are doing, and even what their friends’ friends are doings, Califano says.

Reality TV, Cyberbullying Also an Issue

It is not just what they see on the Internet that influences these decisions. Teens who watch “suggestive teen programming” such as reality TV shows like Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, and teen dramas such as Skins or Gossip Girl are also more likely to use tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana, CASA’s survey shows.

“It is a phenomenal assault on public health that we subject teens to pictures of drugs, alcohol, or teens being drunk or passed out on the Internet, in films, and on TV shows that are suggestive and glorify drinking and drugging,” Califano says.

Cyberbullying also plays a role. In CASA’s survey, teens who reported that someone had posted nasty or embarrassing things about them online are at greater risk for substance abuse. One in five teens aged 12 to 17 have been cyberbullied, the survey showed.

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Facebook to Hold f8 Developer Conference on September 22nd

Facebook this morning announced that it will hold 2011′s f8 developer conference on September 22nd in San Francisco. It will feature keynotes, networking, breakout sessions, and an after party. Facebook is now distributing invitations to developers, partners, and press, and those who don’t receive invitations can register to buy tickets here or watch a livestream of the whole event at f8.facebook.com.

While specifics about the conference’s agenda are sparse, we expect Facebook to launch several products about which information has leaked over the past few months, which we detail below. These include its HTML5 mobile gaming platform, the official Facebook for iPad app, and its music dashboard. Improvements to its mobile photo offering may also be launched, either in the form of new standalone apps or as additional features to its primary mobile apps.

The company explains that f8 “is your opportunity to learn about our new products and understand how to get the best out of your existing social apps and web sites. Best of all, you get to hear directly from the Facebook engineers who build these products, and interact with developers from around the world.”

Several major product were launched at Facebook’s last f8 in April 2010, including the Like button, social plugins, the Graph API, and Instant Personalization. Developers will likely be eager to attend the 2011 f8 to hear about new opportunities to create social apps and websites.

The conference will be held at San Francisco’s Concourse Design Center. Amongst “a day filled with new product announcements”, there will also be a QA with Facebook’s engineering and product teams, and strategy sessions detailing best practices for developing apps and experiences that utilize Facebook data.

There will likely be some big surprise announcements at f8, particularly around new developer tools that expand access to Facebook data, but here are details on the products we do expect to launch:

HTML 5 Mobile Gaming Platform aka Project Spartan

Facebook has been building an HTML5 version of m.facebook.com that will be capable of running applications through mobile browsers. Around 80 third-party developers including Zynga and The Huffington Post are reportedly preparing apps for the platform. It will permit Facebook to expand its Facebook Credits virtual currency to mobile, allowing it to make money on mobile purchases of virtual goods by sidestepping Apple’s App Store and the Android Marketplace.

Expect details of the HTML5 platform to be released and third-party developers to present their new apps at f8.

Official Facebook for iPad App

To date, Facebook has opted not to release an official iPad app, leaving third-parties to create tablet-optimized editions of the service. A working version of the app was leaked in July, though, so it appears that Facebook for iPad will be ready for launch at f8.

If the design stays similar to what we saw in the leak, the iPad app will feature multi-pane navigation to contrast with the grid view home screen of the iPhone app. Users will be able to simultaneously Chat with friends and browse the service. It may also tie directly into the HTML5 mobile platform, allowing games to be played within the app.

Music Dashboard

Facebook has been reportedly established partnerships with several online music services that it could aggregate into a music dashboard accessible from the home page. Spotify will likely be involved, as could Pandora, Last.fm, Rdio, Mog, or Grooveshark. It may let users stream music, view what their friends are listening to, and possibly purchase subscriptions to premium music services with Facebook Credits.

The music dashboard and its related partnerships could be unveiled at f8, bringing users a unified, native music experience on Facebook.

Mobile Photos Enhancements

In June, documentation was leaked showing a prototype of a new mobile photos app. At f8 Facebook could launch the new features as the second standalone native app following Messenger, or as enhancements to the primary mobile apps such as Facebook for iPhone. The app appears to offer a photo feed, multi-shot uploads, support for video, Instagram-like filters, and the ability to tag a Place or Event where photos were taken.

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