A new study suggests that an increase in social media usage during the epidemic may have exacerbated tic problems in youngsters. Tics are recurrent twitches, motions, or noises caused by a lack of bodily control.
Throughout the pandemic, 90 percent of 20 tic sufferers aged 11 to 21 stated they used social media more. While the researchers discovered that greater screen time was connected with more serious tic behavior. Author Dr. Jessica Frey cautioned that the findings are preliminary. A bigger trial including additional tic sufferers is currently in the pipeline.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, social media usage soared, especially among adolescents, she noted. Along with increasing social media use has come increased tic intensity and exploding tic syndromes.
Tics usually start in infancy or adolescence and gradually improve or disappear in maturity, while up to 20% of adults still have tics. For children with tics, prejudice and harassment are proven to cause social difficulties, as well as interpersonal, psychological, and intellectual deficits.
Study results
For research, teenagers were prompted to indicate how much time they spend on social media throughout the epidemic. Most people use social media four to five times each day, for an overall of 5.6 hours each day. Up to 85% indicated their tic activity had risen since the epidemic began, and half claimed using social media worsened their tics. Tic severity was connected to social media usage, not tic frequency. Frey attributes some of it to a recent rise in the quantity of social media recordings demonstrating tic behavior. This might inadvertently foster tic-like behavior in those who view the films.
