the habits depended on the person when im home alone my first instinct is to go for the phone some kids will break out the bowls referring to a marijuanasmoking devicethere is very little hard definitive evidence on the subject said james anthony a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at michigan state university and an expert on druguse behavior still he said he has begun wondering about the role of technology on youth drug use youd have to be an idiot not to think about itto see declines in drug use mr anthony said it would not take much in the way of displacement of adolescent time and experience in the direction of nondrug reinforcers that have become increasingly availablethe statistics about drug and technology use depict a decade of changing habitsin 2015 42 percent of teenagers ages 12 to 17 reported smoking a cigarette in the last month down from 108 percent in 2005 according to the federal substance abuse and mental health services administration its survey also found that pastmonth alcohol use among 12 to 17yearolds had fallen to 96 percent from 165 percent while rising slightly for young adults ages 18 to 25the survey found smaller but still statistically significant decreases in cocaine use by youths ages 12 to 17 marijuana use was flat over the same decade in 2015 7 percent of 12 to 17yearolds said they had smoked the drug roughly the same number in 2005 but that was down from 82 percent in 2002 and it contrasted with the trend for the population as a whole such use was up to 83 percent in 2015 compared with 6 percent a decade agoat the same time gadgets are consuming a growing portion of young peoples time a 2015 survey published by common sense media a childrens advocacy and media ratings group in san francisco found that american teenagers ages 13 to 18 averaged six and a half hours of screen media time per day on social media and other activities like video gamesa 2015 report from the pew research center found that 24 percent of teenagers ages 13 to 17 reported being online almost constantly and that 73 percent had a smartphone or access to one in 2004 a similar pew study found that 45 percent of teenagers had a cellphone the first iphone which fueled smartphone adoption was introduced in 2007smartphones and computers are a growing source of concern said eric elliott alexandras father who is a psychologist at her school mr elliott who has counseled young people for 19 years said he had seen a decrease in drug and alcohol use among students in recent years he said he was more likely to have a challenge with a student who has a video game addiction than i am a student who is addicted to drugs i cant say that for the beginning of my careerin the case of his own daughter he worried more about the device than the drugsi see her at