AUGUST 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 35
PRESS HEALTH
TEEN SCREEN TIME
By MICHELLE GABRIELLE CENTAMORE
It’s rare to see a teenager without a smartphone in hand.
Ninety five percent of teens ages 13 to 17 have access to a smartphone and
45 percent say they’re engaged in cyberspace almost constantly, according to
a 2018 Pew Research Center study entitled Teens, Social Media & Technology.
Many of those teenagers appear obsessed with social media apps such as
Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, but at what cost?
With alarming rates of teenage depression and suicide, some relating to
cyberbullying — a tragic local example being the 2010 suicide of West Islip teen
Alexis Pilkington — parents are finding themselves in unchartered territory.
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WHAT’S INSIDE
39 SENIOR HEALTH
40 THE
43 TAKE 5
44 BEAUTY 47 FASHION
& WEALTH EXPO
OPIOID
CRISIS