Wait… didn’t its authors say that “higher…social media use” is associated “with greater depressive symptoms” among 9-12-year-olds? Let’s examine what that means.
Thank you, Mike. Please write another witty article criticizing Texas' latest folly that will likely pass any day now. If it passes, and the courts don't strike it down soon enough, it could become the law of the land nationally and then possibly even globally as well. And don't think they will stop at 18 either:
I started a comment on Texas a few days ago and will post soon. The idea of the Texas legislature caring about the safety of young people is a bad joke.
Thanks. That bill can become law any day, hour, or minute now, and looks very likely. Meanwhile, Texas just now signed into law yet another bad bill requiring parental consent and age verification for downloading apps from app stores.
Well said, Mike! Shout it from the rooftops! This study, if anything, should be the final nail in the coffin for the social mediaphobes. And the authors also noted that the less than a handful of other longitudinal studies done on the topic yielded mixed and inconsistent results as well. Honestly, if there is practically no signal in the noise, and the supposed signal cannot be boosted even with great effort and large sample sizes, it's almost like...it was really just noise all along.
Yes, it's been noise all along in scores of studies, as even Twenge and Haidt admitted back in a 2021 paper in which they called for lowering social science standards to accommodate "small" findings like those for social media and teen mental health.
Very true. If they feel the need to lower the social science standards to accommodate their questionable findings, essentially moving the goalposts, that is one of the biggest red flags of junk science there is.
The APA's more nuanced review of the topic comes SO CLOSE to getting the point, but still ends up missing the mark.
https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/youth-social-media-2024
Thank you, Mike. Please write another witty article criticizing Texas' latest folly that will likely pass any day now. If it passes, and the courts don't strike it down soon enough, it could become the law of the land nationally and then possibly even globally as well. And don't think they will stop at 18 either:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna208238
I started a comment on Texas a few days ago and will post soon. The idea of the Texas legislature caring about the safety of young people is a bad joke.
Looks like the Texas social media ban bill is dead. But the app store bill passed.
Friendly reminder to post that comment on Texas. Thanks in advance 🙂
Thanks. That bill can become law any day, hour, or minute now, and looks very likely. Meanwhile, Texas just now signed into law yet another bad bill requiring parental consent and age verification for downloading apps from app stores.
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/texas-poised-enforce-age-verification-apple-google-app-stores-2025-05-27/
If the courts don't strike these abominations down, which I hope they do, both of these would go into effect on January 1, 2026.
And now Texas has well and truly drank the Kool-Aid:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna208238
Well said, Mike! Shout it from the rooftops! This study, if anything, should be the final nail in the coffin for the social mediaphobes. And the authors also noted that the less than a handful of other longitudinal studies done on the topic yielded mixed and inconsistent results as well. Honestly, if there is practically no signal in the noise, and the supposed signal cannot be boosted even with great effort and large sample sizes, it's almost like...it was really just noise all along.
Yes, it's been noise all along in scores of studies, as even Twenge and Haidt admitted back in a 2021 paper in which they called for lowering social science standards to accommodate "small" findings like those for social media and teen mental health.
Very true. If they feel the need to lower the social science standards to accommodate their questionable findings, essentially moving the goalposts, that is one of the biggest red flags of junk science there is.