6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.com

Hello this is 6 minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil, Beth. What are you doing? Get off your phone.

Oh sorry and I'm Beth. Are you addicted to social media? It wouldn't be a surprise. With so many

different apps out there, Snapchat, Tik-Tok and the latest threads, it's easy to

spend a lot more time on your phone than ever before.

Yes, I don't think I'm addicted, but I definitely spend more time on social media than I'd like to.

However, there are plenty of studies out there looking at how

social media affects mental health, with some saying it can be as addictive as gambling.

Research in the US has found that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social

media have double the risk of developing depression and anxiety.

An adolescent is someone aged 10 to 19, between childhood and adulthood.

With that in mind, it's no wonder parents are worried. To help with this, the US is currently in the process of regulating

social media apps for teenagers. Some scientists think the UK should do the same.

There has been growing agreements among health experts about the negative chronic health

effects of social media use on teenagers. They have revealed in surveys that social media

makes them feel worse about their body image

and 64% of teens have said they're regularly exposed to hate-based content.

In this program we'll be discussing how social media affects teenagers and as usual

we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well. But first I have a question

for you Beth. The app Snapchat is a very common way that teenagers

communicate these days. This is partly because messages and photos disappear after a certain time period but what percentage of 13 to 24

year olds use Snapchat is it a 70 percent be 80 percent or C 90 percent I'll guess percent,

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