There is solid evidence that social media is harming young people – the debate is wrong – ThePrint – PTIFeed

Sydney, November 15 (The Conversation) The Australian government is developing legislation that will ban children under 16 from using social networks. There has been a great deal of public debate about whether there is enough direct evidence of harm to implement this regulation.

Participants in this discussion include academics, mental health organizations, advocacy groups and digital education providers. A few steps back to look at the entire research landscape.

It is critical for the public to understand that all research has limitations and must be interpreted within the context in which the data were collected. To understand any report, we must study the details carefully.

Several mechanisms are involved. In recent years, anxiety has been increasing among children and young people. Understanding why young people are anxious, depressed, or overly self-centered is not an easy task.

When it comes to the potential negative effects of social media, there are several mechanisms at work. Unpacking them requires data from many perspectives: Internet mood studies, mental health studies spanning several years, school relationships, even brain scans, to name a few.

Despite all this complexity, the public usually hears about it through loud headlines. One example is the “small and inconsistent” results of a comprehensive study of several meta-analyses involving 1.9 million children and adolescents.

However, it is important to recognize that this comprehensive study included many research articles from an early time when researchers could not measure social media use as precisely as they can now.

One influential data set asked people to disregard time spent “connecting with friends and family” when they rated their time on social media. However, in 2014-2015, the main use of social media was to share photos, follow and communicate with people. A few years later, the results emerged as part of a larger study that led to a headline that said, “screen time may be no worse for kids than eating potatoes.”

With so many sources of error, it’s not surprising that there is a heated debate among researchers about the extent of social media harm. Limitations are par for the course. Worse, researchers often don’t have full access to social media companies’ data.

That’s why we need to pay more attention to big IT whistleblowers who have insider access.

In the meantime, these companies have access to the data. They use it to exploit human nature.

Focusing on debates between researchers is misguided and makes us complacent. There is ample evidence that excessive use of social media can be harmful to young people.

Here’s what the evidence shows. One argument you may hear a lot is that it’s unclear whether depression and anxiety cause more screen time, or whether more screen time causes more depression and anxiety. This is known as a bidirectional effect – something that goes both ways.

But this is no reason to ignore the potential harm. If anything, bidirectional effects are more important, not less, because the factors feed off each other. If they are not stopped, they lead to the growth of the problem.

The harms of social media use are shown in studies examining the effects of selfie sharing, the impact of algorithms, influencers, extreme content and the rise of cyberbullying.

Social media fuels envy, comparison, and the fear of missing out, or FOMO. Many teenagers use social networks to procrastinate.

It is through these mechanisms that the connection with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and self-harm is clearly traced.

Finally, by the age of 16, increased time spent on social networks is associated with a feeling of less satisfaction with appearance and school work.

There is also strong evidence that limiting social media use reduces anxiety, depression and FOMO in 17-25 year olds.

We ignore this evidence at our peril.

There is enough evidence. Understanding how every aspect of modern life affects mental health will take a long time. The job is difficult, especially when reliable data from technology companies about screen time is lacking.

However, there is already enough solid evidence to limit children’s exposure to social media to their benefit.

Instead of debating the nuances of research and levels of harm, we need to recognize that for young people, social media use has a negative impact on their development and their school communities.

In fact, the government’s proposed ban on children’s use of social media has parallels with banning phones in schools. In 2018, some critics argued that “banning smartphones will prevent children from gaining the knowledge they need to work online”.

However, evidence now shows that banning the use of smartphones in schools has led to a reduction in the need for mental health care, a reduction in bullying and improved learning – the latter especially for girls from socioeconomic backgrounds.

It is time to accept that there is harm, that it is harming our community, and that we need strong, thoughtful regulation of social media use among young people. (Conversation) PY PY

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