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Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

bbc.com

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Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#321

Post by dr_orpheus »

jefftk wrote: post #40

Here's the paper: https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/EPI-PT_Young-p... It's all correlational (observing that people with higher social media use are worse off in various ways). This approach is not capable of detecting reverse causation (people use social media more because they are unhappy) or third causes (something else causes people to both use more social media and also be unhappy)

They do acknowledge in the article itself that it is correlation and that it could be reverse causation:

> “Those who feel worse may turn to social media for solace or community,” Dr Amy Orben, research fellow at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, said of the research.

“It’s not a vacuum, it works both ways."

But the actual article headline is the typical clickbait interpretation of a scientific study.

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#322

Post by herewegoagain2 »

ktzar wrote: post #282

I wrote a novel that takes place in the near future (2035) and the main character is a 18 year old. I predict that using phones will be banned until you come off age and their technology interaction is restricted to smart watches. Social media is damaging to adults, I wonder why nobody has put a limit by law to younger people.

I think China introduced a law recently, limiting usage to a certain amount time.

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#323

Post by MetaWhirledPeas »

tester756 wrote: post #317
MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with totally unplugging is that you effectively put your head in the sand. You're less informed about what is going on around you. Sure you can read books, but you're increasing your risk of exposure to bias or falsehoods when you limit your selection like that. We may be getting pummeled with "fake news" right now, but at least we have the ability to discuss the matter and see more than one side. The ear…

> You're less informed about what is going on around you. majority of things from the news has no impact on me at all

Let's take one big example: climate change. Without the news, things would be different. It might never have achieved the level of funding and attention it has so far if it weren't for general public awareness.

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#324

Post by handedness »

watwut wrote: post #242
ohduran wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's what I thought when I read the article. > One in three girls was unhappy with their personal appearance by the age of 14, compared with one in seven at the end of primary school. That comparison doesn't support the hypothesis. It should have been compared to teenagers from 10 years ago. Otherwise, you can't rule out the effect of growing up on the mental health if these girls.

Anorexia was a thing before social media. So, yeah.

The fire was already there, but social media has added a significant amount of accelerant.

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#325

Post by CountDrewku »

T-A wrote: post #315
CountDrewku wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I generally dislike banning things because a few individuals can't handle it. Punishing those people that have self control seems ridiculous and I hate sin taxes for that reason. However, I think putting restrictions on stuff for younger people that don't have fully developed brains seems perfectly reasonable. If you're under 18 (21 in some cases) you cannot drink, smoke etc. Social Media should be treated the same w…

https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/adult-brain

Ok what's your point? Legally the adult age is 18 in most states. If you want to argue changing what legal age is that's fine but it doesn't really have anything to do with the main point of my comment. Additionally, this study specifically shows it harms adolescents.

If you're going to apply laws that strip rights away from people you have to have a cutoff somewhere. Unless you're suggesting a blanket ban on social media for everyone.....

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#326

Post by ajarmst »

Based on a single cohort study (all subjects born within a year or so of each other), UK only. Primary evaluation is questionnaire. No focused investigation or hypothesis testing. Correlational study only, no control group. no peer review. At best, this study supports only two conclusions: (1) 20 year-old Britons who report higher use of social media also have a tendency to answer leading questions in a way that could be interpreted as reflecting somewhat higher levels of anxiety and depression: and (2) Prince's Trust-funded research is a good gig if you can get it.

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#327

Post by CountDrewku »

executive wrote: post #245
CountDrewku wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I generally dislike banning things because a few individuals can't handle it. Punishing those people that have self control seems ridiculous and I hate sin taxes for that reason. However, I think putting restrictions on stuff for younger people that don't have fully developed brains seems perfectly reasonable. If you're under 18 (21 in some cases) you cannot drink, smoke etc. Social Media should be treated the same w…

Wisconsin does not have a minimum drinking age.

Ok? so? I don't see what that has to do with the main point of my comment. Also the law is that you have to be accompanied by an adult if you're under 21 in Wisconsin so you're being a bit disingenuous.

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#328

Post by handedness »

nineplay wrote: post #138
astura wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a 14 year old girl in the 90s and I share your surprise its only one in three. I would guess the majority of my peers were unhappy with their appearance at that time based on my experience and observations. I was one too. I (objectively) looked just fine but I thought I was a disfigured ghoul.

The irony was that my conviction that I looked ghastly only made it worse. I permed my hair and teased my bangs and piled on the makeup and held my breath while I pulled on jeans that were too small for me. If I'd really seen myself when I looked in the mirror I would have been better off. I didn't, I saw someone who was supposed to look like Cindy Crawford and was failing miserably.

As difficult as that era was, I worry that the present dynamic is somehow even worse than the decades-long ill of young women comparing themselves to airbrushed supermodels: young women comparing themselves to an endless stream of social media personalities who work tirelessly and deliberately to maintain a facade of contrived believability.

And to whom anyone who isn't keeping up the same level of image consciousness, won't compare.

"But she posted a video without makeup when that hash tag was trending, and I look nothing like that when I do the same," at the social media star's most flattering angle, filmed through a $5K lens attached to a $3K DSLR body, with ideal lighting, post-processed...

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#329

Post by TeaDrunk »

mtippett wrote: post #217
TeaDrunk wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might make more sense to say that social media usage is just one large aspect of a child- like the presence or lack of presence of supportive adult figures, the presence or lack of presence of food security, good education, physical safety, etc. I'm sure a teenager who runs exclusively in cutting or pro-anorexia social circles online is a much different teenager to one who primarily uses the internet to keep up to…

You got one too eh? tw sh / tw ed?

I don't know what this means; I don't have children if that's what you're asking.

Re: Heavy social media use associated with lower mental health in adolescents

#330

Post by throwaway894345 »

throwaway2245 wrote: post #316
throwaway894345 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't using "machine" in the figurative sense of an advertising department, I meant "a literal machine", like Twitter's algorithms. I can't imagine Phillip Morris in its heyday having 1% of the influence that Twitter enjoys today.

I'm not sure why we have gone down this rabbit hole, but you're just mistaken. Phillip Morris used its propaganda to lie to people about health risks and "benefits" of smoking, sold an addictive product to addicts, and used its resulting people power to subvert democratic decisions. It didn't do this with transistor technology, sure. But cigarettes have hugely more Daily Active Users than Twitter, still today.

You're insisting on fighting that straw man. Yes, Phillip Morris used propaganda and influenced a politician here or there. That's fundamentally different than Twitter, whose very essence is a machine for influencing people at scale, including who they vote for. At a certain point, a difference of degree becomes a difference of kind.

You could argue that "airplanes are no different than hot-air balloons" on the basis that they're both aerial modes of transportation, and you'd be right in the strict sense that you've framed the debate, but you'd be ignoring the original point and steering the debate away from anything that might be considered insightful. Frankly, I don't have any interest in engaging in that kind of discourse (and also it's generally against the spirit of this forum).

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