'Internet addiction' linked to depression

The BBC reports on how there is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, according to UK psychologists:

The study, reported in the journal Psychopathology, found 1.2% of people surveyed were "internet addicts", and many of these were depressed. 

The Leeds University team stressed they could not say one necessarily caused the other, and that most internet users did not suffer mental health problems.The conclusions were based on 1,319 responses to an on-line questionnaire.Recruitment was via links on social networking sites. People were asked how much they used the internet and for what purposes.They were also asked a series of questions to assess whether they suffered from depression.

The respondents were aged 16 to 51, with an average age of 21.

The authors found that a small number of users had developed a compulsive internet habit, replacing real life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites.

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