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Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

jonathanhaidt.substack.com

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Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#81

Post by BryantD »

This is an important piece and I’m glad Haidt put it together.

I do wonder if there’s room in this analysis for specific social media analysis. It seems like it would be very hard to separate out effects of Facebook vs. effects of Twitter and so on, but at the same time I worry about throwing the baby out with the bath water.

A technology-intermediated social life is not inherently bad. Pen and paper letters are technology. Dumb phones are technology. We have been adapting culturally to new ways to communicate with each other for a long time; I want more about what’s driving this trend now, and I think it might be more than just feedback and cycle speed.

Or maybe it is simply the democratization of platforms; it’s bad when speech is filtered through a few trusted authorities but that doesn’t mean the opposite doesn’t have risks. (Yay, it’s the free speech debate!)

Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#83

Post by prepend »

warner25 wrote: post #2

I'm still reading it, but this is great so far. As a father to four little girls, though, it makes me feel really defeated. I can already see that social media has eroded my wife's mental health. I just don't know what to do in the next few years when our girls approach the age when everyone else will get an iPhone and have an Instagram account. I want to say no, but that leads to many other issues, including what th…

As a parent to a 12 year old girl, I’ve been fighting the “no social media” fight since she requested at 9. Every single one of her friends have social media and I think it is negative to be isolated in that way. But I also notice that she seems to have positive benefits over her friends, but of course it’s tough to measure.

It’s strange to me because I’ve talked about this literature and whatnot with other parents and they just shrug and say that their kid won’t abuse it and will withstand the negative effects. Of course, many of these are posting on social media quite a bit themselves.

It’s tough for parents but I’m encouraged by more evidence on this subject and hope that there’s soon public health guidance about when to allow social media.

Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#84

Post by bavila »

TheGeminon wrote: post #69
bavila wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Amish kinda slap For anyone else who was confused by this: https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/slap/

Slap means really good in this context, e.g. "this song really slaps". This makes me want to make a generational/chronological slang chart now

Thanks, just edited my post to link to the definition.

Guess I'd fall under the generation that would have said "rock" instead (although the Amish most definitely do not rock).

Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#86

Post by theGnuMe »

metalliqaz wrote: post #6
warner25 wrote: post #2

I'm still reading it, but this is great so far. As a father to four little girls, though, it makes me feel really defeated. I can already see that social media has eroded my wife's mental health. I just don't know what to do in the next few years when our girls approach the age when everyone else will get an iPhone and have an Instagram account. I want to say no, but that leads to many other issues, including what th…

Same. It have no idea what I'm going to do about it.

So we know that social media causes depression and anxiety and we know that kids will want to be on social media so we have to teach them the skills to regulate their emotions.

Most importantly that they can identify when they need to ask for help and will ask for it. We need to normalize asking for help.

Right now kids can learn these skills in therapy but that is not the only place those skills should be taught or reinforced. Schools for example are a good place for that.

Remember that cliques in school were reinforced by the telephone and just like the game of telephone a lot gets lost in communication. Social media is an extension of that.

Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#87

Post by mrpopo »

I don't necessarily disagree with the conclusion, but the dismissal of other factors is insufficient:

> Why did a measure of loneliness at school go up around the world only after 2012, as the global economy got better and better?

The economy didn't get better for everyone, in fact inequality rose starkly; this might be a correlating factor.

> It’s not because of the 9/11 attacks, wars in the middle east, or school shootings. As Emile Durkheim showed long ago, people in Western societies don’t kill themselves because of wars or collective threats

OK, so let's dismiss societal violence because a 120-y.o. study says so. How about climate anxiety/eco-anxiety? Car-dependant suburban life? Ever-growing parental control?

All these factors have been too easily dismissed.

Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#88

Post by concordDance »

anigbrowl wrote: post #53
IncRnd wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's letting kids parent themselves.

You're looking at it in isolation because you are not privy to the kids' social circle. What the gp is describing is a social cost imposed on the non-participant kid. If repeated often, this will lower their status within their social circle and (much like chickens) the least popular kids become the default target for emotional abuse and bullying. If they withdraw form their social circle to cut their losses, then th…

The problem comes down to putting kids in forced confinement with a bunch of other kids for 6 hours a day with no way for them to escape. Mandatory "education" of teens is harmful on the net. It wastes some of the most energetic and productive hours of life while teaching very few useful skills (and those could be taught in a fraction of the time).

Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#89

Post by theGnuMe »

IncRnd wrote: post #16
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Oh my god, did you see what Stacy posted last night!" But your daughter missed it because " you didn't let her have an Instagram account!" It seems to me that such worries are well-founded. At best, she made the decision herself and still feels the pain of it.

That's letting kids parent themselves.

What does it mean to parent anyway?

Re: Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls

#90

Post by culebron21 »

This made me think better of lurking at LinkedIn. The more I open it, the worse I feel about own achievements and skills. It keeps kindly reminding you that company X still hires but didn't reply to you; that friend Y got to that position that looks like what you dreamed of; or fellow Z got all those certificiations you have no time for.
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