A new survey is drawing a lot of controversy. The results said teens that used social network websites like Facebook were more likely to get involved in drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes or pot.
The survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University said teenagers who regularly used social networking sites were five times more likely to use tobacco, three times more likely to drink alcohol, and twice as likely to smoke marijuana compared to their friends who didn’t log on.
On Thursday, The 33 News caught up with Madison Lewis and her father Alan at a local coffee shop. She was on her laptop on Facebook.
“It keeps you update with everything,” said Madison Lewis.
Madison said she sees pictures of people smoking and drinking on Facebook, and she said it could be influential.
“It does drive some people to do it, because they’re like, ‘Oh, look at them, they’re cool, and they can smoke and stuff like that,’” said Madison Lewis.
But Madison said teenagers simply had to overcome the peer pressure.
“You’re exposed to it, but it’s like you have to know what you’re avoiding. You can’t block yourself away from it; you have to know what you’re not going to do,” she said.
Amara Durham with Caron Texas, a non-profit provider of alcohol and drug addiction treatment, said it’s tough being a kid in 2011, especially being inundated with images from social networks.
“It is so available, and it is so consumed, that it does change the way in which we choose all of our actions,” Durham told The 33 News.
While Durham was concerned about the accuracy of some of the findings in the study, she said it was a good opportunity to start a conversation with your children about the challenges they faced every day.
“It’s important to realize you don’t want to throw the laptop out the window. It’s not a good solution, but what is a good solution is to talk. Communicate. Engage. Be available,” said Durham.
Madison Lewis’ dad, Alan, said that was something he did to keep his children safe.
“I stay, and my wife stay on top of what my family does anyway. And I think if you do that, then you definitely have less risk of that kind of thing happening,” said Alan Lewis.
The survey said of the more than 1,000 teens surveyed in the study, 70 percent used a social network website on a typical day, compared to 30 percent who said they were never on a social network site.
