Why some 13-year-olds check social media 100 times a day (PHOTOS)

NEW YORK. KAZINFORM - "I would rather not eat for a week than get my phone taken away. It's really bad," said Gia, a13-year-old. "I literally feel like I'm going to die," CNN reports.

"When I get my phone taken away, I feel kind of naked," said Kyla, another 13-year-old. "I do feel kind of empty without my phone." Both participated in "#Being13: Inside the Secret World of Teens," a first-of-its-kind CNN study on social media and teens. More than 200 eighth graders from across the country allowed their social media feeds to be studied by child development experts who partnered with CNN. This is the first large scale study to analyze what kids actually say to each other on social media and why it matters so deeply to them. "We see a lot of evidence of, if not out-right addiction to social media, a heavy dependence on it," said sociologist Robert Faris, a school bullying and youth aggression researcher who co-authored the study. "There's a lot of anxiety about what's going on online, when they're not actually online, so that leads to compulsive checking." Why are teens so anxious about what's happening online? #Being13 found that it's largely due to a need to monitor their own popularity status, and defend themselves against those who challenge it. • 61% of teens said they wanted to see if their online posts are getting likes and comments. • 36% of teens said they wanted to see if their friends are doing things without them. • 21% of teens said they wanted to make sure no one was saying mean things about them. "This is an age group that has a lot of anxiety about how they fit in, what they rank, what their peer-status is. There is fear in putting yourself out there on social media and they hope for lots of likes and comments and affirmations but there is always the chance that someone could say something mean," said child clinical psychologist Marion Underwood, the study's other co-author. The study was conducted with eighth graders at eight different schools in six states across the country. Participating students, with the permission of their parents, registered their Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts through a secure server created by Smarsh, an electronic archiving company contracted by CNN. The study's co-authors, along with their teams, analyzed an estimated 150,000 social media posts collected over a six month period. In addition, the teens also answered a number of survey questions about their use of social media. Read full story here