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longdog | 1 year ago
- The effect of social media at a societal level isn't something that can tested experimentally. And like all non-experimental research, results depend heavily on modeling methodology (for example, the meta-analysis linked by the author is literally just a regression of facebook DAU on life satisfaction polls [1]). As a result there will NEVER a universal consensus, same as with most "macro" level studies in social sciences. If you wait for researchers to reach an agreement, you will wait forever.
- The most credible research I've seen on this is this quasi-experimental paper [2]. Since the timing of Facebook's rollout was staggered across schools, it can be used as a natural experiment. Schools should've seen declines in student mental health that correspond with the date of Facebook's rollout on their campus, which is indeed what happened.
- The effect of using social media at an individual level (as opposed to a societal level) IS known and it is very clearly negative. See [3] for an example.
- Most importantly, the fact is that mental health and suicide rates have been rising significantly since exactly when social media gained popularity (mid-to-late 2000s). The effect is global so you can't blame country-specfic policies. And the rise is most significant with demographics most exposed to social media (young people, especially girls). There's not a single other explanation that makes sense. Frankly, I think people are afraid to admit that social media is the problem because so many people are tech addicts and don't want to admit that their own addiction is part of the problem.
[1] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.221451
[2] https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.20211218
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