I feel like this issue is a “both / and.” It is, most likely the case that the parental structure is the primary or greatest source of mental health issues in boys and girls, but devices and social media definitely also play a role. To sacrifice one for the other, I believe, would be irresponsible. Both need much attention.
Devices and social media literally don't play a role per the data. There's no evidence for your "both/and" theory. It frustrates me so much when people are so determined to make anti-tech conjectures in the face of contradictory evidence or in the absence of evidence. How can you say that devices and social media "definitely" play a role in youth mental when there is zero evidence that is the case?
Don’t get frustrated. Just read the actual available evidence. It’s out there everywhere. Or, just observe the lives of those around you and utilize common sense. Which I realize is a super power in today’s society.
Thanks for your comments. First, in dozens of substack posts, I have indeed reviewed scores of studies, analyses, reviews, and original survey data. The evidence that social media negatively affects teenagers’ mental health is incredibly weak, largely outdated, and reliant on poor before-after study designs, illogical correlation = causation assumptions, and very low association (effect size) findings. More recent, better-designed studies and surveys are reaching new results. Please see https://mikemales.substack.com/p/new-better-research-emphatically
So, I suggest that those who want broader issues included to confront the social-media-blamers who have created a massive hullaballoo based on scant evidence that has sucked the oxygen from discussion as to the real reasons many teens are depressed.
Second, the crux of the problem may lie in the sentence, “observe those around you.” I assume this means personal observations would confirm the dire impressions dominating After Babel, Generation Tech, and similar sites that social media is dangerous, corrupting, and damaging (horrified quotes soon to be posted). If that’s how they, their kids, and people around them use social media, I’m sorry for them.
But that is not my impression of online life at all. The children, teenagers, and adults I’m around benefit greatly from social media as an enhancement, not threat, to offline, physical-world life. There are tradeoffs, as with anything in society. In general, online worlds are much safer, with serious problems easier to avoid. Online life lacks the face-to-face contact of the physical world, both for better and for worse. Both worlds are necessary.
One-third of teens told the Pew survey social media is good; 9% harmful; 6 in 10, neither good nor bad: it’s a tool most use to their advantage. You can use a hammer to build something good, or you can hit yourself in the head with it. I’m continually struck by how many of the terrible problems teens and adults report on After Babel and similar anti-social-media sites can be resolved by the <delete> and <block sender> buttons – something you can’t do so easily in the physical world. For the fraction of social-media victims who won’t or (for some reason) can’t do that, I suggest individual remedies, not mass bans.
That is true, of course. But the dark side of social media, phones, and Big Tech are also true for ALL ages, not only children and teens.
If we really want to solve the Big Tech problem, for example, here's how to throw the proverbial One Ring into the fire for good, and best of all, without violating anyone's rights or causing an undue moral panic. To wit:
I feel like this issue is a “both / and.” It is, most likely the case that the parental structure is the primary or greatest source of mental health issues in boys and girls, but devices and social media definitely also play a role. To sacrifice one for the other, I believe, would be irresponsible. Both need much attention.
Devices and social media literally don't play a role per the data. There's no evidence for your "both/and" theory. It frustrates me so much when people are so determined to make anti-tech conjectures in the face of contradictory evidence or in the absence of evidence. How can you say that devices and social media "definitely" play a role in youth mental when there is zero evidence that is the case?
Don’t get frustrated. Just read the actual available evidence. It’s out there everywhere. Or, just observe the lives of those around you and utilize common sense. Which I realize is a super power in today’s society.
Thanks for your comments. First, in dozens of substack posts, I have indeed reviewed scores of studies, analyses, reviews, and original survey data. The evidence that social media negatively affects teenagers’ mental health is incredibly weak, largely outdated, and reliant on poor before-after study designs, illogical correlation = causation assumptions, and very low association (effect size) findings. More recent, better-designed studies and surveys are reaching new results. Please see https://mikemales.substack.com/p/new-better-research-emphatically
So, I suggest that those who want broader issues included to confront the social-media-blamers who have created a massive hullaballoo based on scant evidence that has sucked the oxygen from discussion as to the real reasons many teens are depressed.
Second, the crux of the problem may lie in the sentence, “observe those around you.” I assume this means personal observations would confirm the dire impressions dominating After Babel, Generation Tech, and similar sites that social media is dangerous, corrupting, and damaging (horrified quotes soon to be posted). If that’s how they, their kids, and people around them use social media, I’m sorry for them.
But that is not my impression of online life at all. The children, teenagers, and adults I’m around benefit greatly from social media as an enhancement, not threat, to offline, physical-world life. There are tradeoffs, as with anything in society. In general, online worlds are much safer, with serious problems easier to avoid. Online life lacks the face-to-face contact of the physical world, both for better and for worse. Both worlds are necessary.
One-third of teens told the Pew survey social media is good; 9% harmful; 6 in 10, neither good nor bad: it’s a tool most use to their advantage. You can use a hammer to build something good, or you can hit yourself in the head with it. I’m continually struck by how many of the terrible problems teens and adults report on After Babel and similar anti-social-media sites can be resolved by the <delete> and <block sender> buttons – something you can’t do so easily in the physical world. For the fraction of social-media victims who won’t or (for some reason) can’t do that, I suggest individual remedies, not mass bans.
That is true, of course. But the dark side of social media, phones, and Big Tech are also true for ALL ages, not only children and teens.
If we really want to solve the Big Tech problem, for example, here's how to throw the proverbial One Ring into the fire for good, and best of all, without violating anyone's rights or causing an undue moral panic. To wit:
https://21debunked.blogspot.com/2024/01/how-to-solve-big-tech-problem-without.html
Amen. Very well-said as usual, Mike!