Time devoted to Internet activities by Spanish adolescents: differences according to the practice of sport and affection received

Abstract

Adolescents are currently the age group that devotes the most time to using the Internet and are the most vulnerable to its harmful use.

Fostering strategies aimed at reducing anxiety and depression, and increasing self-steem may help reduce overuse of new technologies.

Using the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use Among High School Students in Spain, we analyze, estimating a linear Seemingly Unrelated Regression system, the time devoted by Spanish teenagers to the following online activities: email and messaging, social networking, games, gambling and pornographic and violent websites. The results suggest that fostering the practice of sports and advising parents about the benefits of caring relationships with their children can be useful strategies to reduce the time devoted to new digital technologies.