“Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault, they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first."
From "A Study in Scarlet", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1891
It’s not as if the matter is not well documented:
June, 2012 - The findings revealed that the Smartphone Addiction Scale scores of females were significantly higher than those of males.
October 1, 2012 – They found that teenagers who used their cell phones after going to bed ... putting teens at increased risk for depression and suicidal thoughts.
November 5, 2013 – Internet Use May Up Self-harm, Suicide in At-Risk Youth - Medscape
October 9, 2014 – Association between problematic cellular phone use and suicide: the moderating effect of family function and depression.
Five hundred thirty-two adolescents (10.54%) had problematic CPU. The rates of suicidal ideation were 23.50% and 11.76% in adolescents with problematic CPU and without problematic CPU, respectively. The rates of suicidal attempts in both groups were 13.70% and 5.45%, respectively.
This study found that problematic cell phone use was associated with suicidal tendencies among all groups of adolescents.
(suicidal ideation increased by 11.74% and suicide attempts increased by 28% in the group afflicted with “problematic cell phone use” over the group not in the thrall of that compulsive addiction. - ed)
April 4, 2015 – Other research proposes a correlation between social-media use and increased depression and suicide. A 2012 article in the American Journal of Public Health noted that more people using the internet is positively correlated to a higher general population suicide rate.
(says it’s ‘social media’, but it’s ‘the internet’, period. Connection to it. The beam, the wavelength - ed)
2016 - 2016 - But there is something even more surprising and strange in this report. The suicide rate has increased for women in particular during this period of time, narrowing the gap in the suicide rate between men and women (men have always taken their lives more often than women). The suicide rate is up 63% for women aged 45-65 and up 200% for girls aged 10-14.
January 27, 2016 – Can smartphone-assisted therapy help prevent suicide?
June 15, 2016 – Korea - A recent study by Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, in fact, found that Korean women are twice more likely to be addicted to smart devices as their male counterparts.
July 27, 2016 - Suicide is a leading cause of death for Nebraska teenagers and a new study finds Internet use is among the top contributing risk factors.
August 16, 2016 – Your Phone is the New Frontline for Suicide Prevention
September 10, 2016 - Suicides continue to steadily increase, and experts don't know why