New research from Finland finds that teen girls spend more than five hours a day on their smartphones.
The find also reveals that most are addicted to social media, a fixation that has been tied to poorer health and well-being.
“The implications of nearly six hours of daily smartphone use and its associations with adolescent wellbeing are serious,” the study authors wrote in findings published Tuesday in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.
The participants also rated their health, mood, tiredness and loneliness. The researchers found that about 17% of the teens were possibly addicted to social media, while 37% showed signs of an anxiety disorder.
Social media addiction was linked to higher levels of anxiety, poorer body image, poorer health, lower mood, more tiredness, and greater feelings of loneliness.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to combine objectively measured smartphone use with validated measures of social media addiction and well-being,” the researchers wrote.