Girls can “ruin their girlhood” by spending too much time on social networks. The new Stanford University study looks at data from girls between the ages of 8 and 12 – all subscribers to Discovery Girls magazine – who spend considerable time using social media and finds that they are likely to be less happy than their less-networked peers.
Multi-tasking and spending many hours watching videos and using online communication is linked to certain negative experiences, such as feeling less socially successful, having more friends whom parents perceive as bad influences and sleeping less, the research finds.