Many teenagers love to spend more time on social media sites but the scientists revealed that teenagers who use social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for more than two hours every day suffer from poor mental health, high psychological distress, suicidal thoughts.

The researchers Hugues Sampasa-Kanyinga, MD and Rosamund Lewis, MD, Ottawa Public Health (Ottawa, Canada) analysed data on students in grades 7-12 from the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. About 25 percent of students reported using social networking sites for more than 2 hours daily.

"The findings send an important message to parents and suggest an opportunity to increase mental health support service offerings on these websites," the authors noted.

"Since teenagers are on the sites, it is the perfect place for public health and service providers to reach out and connect with this vulnerable population and provide health promotion systems and supports," Wiederhold added.

Experts advise parents not to allow their kids for more than 2 hours a day. The paper appeared in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking.

By Lizitha