'The Phrase "No Evidence" Is A Red Flag For Bad Science Communication'
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/the-phrase-no-evidence-is-a...
No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
91–100 of 137 posts
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#92Is a control group even possible in this day and age?
And even if you could find a significant number of kids without phones, they're likely still interacting pretty closely with kids who have them. There's a theory that kids with phones and social media are missing key developmental stages that contribute to things like empathy, which would explain the increasing rates of narcissism we've been seeing. Kids without phones are subjected to to all the toxic second order e…
A cigarette company’s wet dream made real by social media companies.
And no physical products (no more marginal profits) nor pesky FDA approvals to go through either.
What a time to be alive! /s
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#93The APA has lost it's credibility some time ago with it's political stances. It doesn't take a researcher to see a correlation between phone time and youth issues.
There is also a clear correlation between deaths from falling down stars and phone time. Perhaps we can infer that deaths have increased due to more people falling down stairs, and, from that, conclude that those who survive but bump their heads are more likely to encounter these mental health issues?
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#94"I conducted a meta analysis of 46 studies and concluded that there is _no correlation with social media and teen mental health issues"
What about the studies that that _do_ show a correlation, of which there are more than one. Why were those discounted?
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#95Anecdata isn't useful, but each of three children in our family experienced "externally observable" and self-reported improvements to their "mental health" each and every time they were banned from devices they used for "social media time", with immediate regressions/worsening once the bans were over. You could say maybe they needed better friends, and I wouldn't argue that, but that's three very different teenagers…
Every parent already knows this. I wonder why they're trying to disprove it so badly?
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#96Interesting how most comments are bending over backwards to argue against the findings and support the moral panic narrative (“social media is making kids commit suicide at dramatically higher rates”). It seems a majority of people really want this to be true. That’s what makes me most skeptical that it is. I’m fully open to the idea that social media is uniquely harmful to humans. But the burden of proof should be o…
I called 100% BS on the last one (video games desensitise children to violence), "but this time it's different" ;)
Moral panics are usually baseless, but this doesn't fit the usual mould. This is rather coming from the other direction, where parents and teachers are observing children change for the worse in real time. They also observe how they get better when internet devices are taken away (usually as punishment for poor behaviour).
The only two demographics that are hard bent on denying these effects are sub-groups of childless young adults, and parents who don't parent ("I have work to do, here's an iPad").
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#97Anecdata isn't useful, but each of three children in our family experienced "externally observable" and self-reported improvements to their "mental health" each and every time they were banned from devices they used for "social media time", with immediate regressions/worsening once the bans were over. You could say maybe they needed better friends, and I wouldn't argue that, but that's three very different teenagers…
Every parent already knows this. I wonder why they're trying to disprove it so badly?
Because big tech companies who own these social media platforms have exceptionally deep pockets?
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#98Jonathan Haidt, who's been driving a lot of the work against social media for kids, directly refutes these findings in this post https://www.afterbabel.com/p/fundamental-flaws-part-3 .
Refutes is a strong word. This is an ongoing debate and it’s not clear to me Haidt is on the right side of it. The Studies Show did a great episode on this, but unfortunately it’s paywalled. However, the show notes are public and link to the relevant back and forth if folks want to make up their own minds. https://www.thestudiesshowpod.com/p/paid-only-episode-12-jon... Edit: And here’s a link to their earlier free ep…
I'm not sure if anyone is ever going to "refute" much in this tussle
or that this can really be called a "debate", But there's an ugliness
to it and the casualty is science.
I'm not old enough to remember doctors appearing in TV adverts claiming the health benefits of smoking. But I do remember those 1980s green-washing campaigns from Shell and Esso (Exxon) showing animals frolicking through the wonderful planet oil and gas were creating. I also remember all the plastic recycling campaigns that turned out to be rotten hoax.
Let's face it science gets used and tossed aside these days. Seeing research papers that flat-out contradict each other every week is tiring. All I want to say is that this utterly devalues science to see such disingenuous conflict, and to know that at least one side is making stuff up. It's going the same way as political debate and is an embarrassment to everyone who participates and believes in science.
Obviously there is emotion on all sides. And there is surely a humongous pot of money on one side. But I think where this is heading... it's classic Sirkov style full-spectrum disinformation, funding both sides and designed to undermine the very belief in scientific research itself.
It benefits the anti-rationalists and nihilists who can say, "you know what.. fuck science, I'm just going to assert what I like based on my emotion alone!" That tends to favour the might-is-right crowd and the shrill angry mob.
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#99Not so sure about this; would need to read the whole paper. "No evidence" could just mean that causality could not be proved (admittedly very difficult to prove), which doesn't mean that there is indeed no causality. I'm not sure I'd trust this researcher any more than I'd trust any other single paper on the topic; and the preponderance of papers has shown there is a link though the details may be in dispute. What is…
https://libgen.li/file.php?md5=65ffe05c8aa64367b0e87965de1c2...
I don't see funding or conflict of interest mentioned, but the author has previous publications about videogames not causing increased violence.
Re: No evidence social media time is correlated with teen mental health problems
#100I don't want to sound unscientific, but when a paper is directly in conflict with what is obviously true, it's OK to use common sense.
That sounds an awful lot like not Trusting the Science.
I trust science completely, it's all we have. I don't trust the people doing the science.
In the same way that you can trust laws, but not most lawyers. Medicine, but not certain doctors. It's not the scientific method that's at fault, it's its abuse.