Rand Fishkin

Fascinating. Disturbing. And quite compelling, as arguments about social science go.

Via Prof. Jon Haidt: Social Media is a Major Cause of the Mental Illness Epidemic in Teen Girls.

https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/social-media-mental-illness-epidemic

Social Media is a Major Cause of the Mental Illness Epidemic in Teen Girls. Here’s The Evidence.

NYU Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes a definitive case that social media is a major cause of mental illness in teen girls. Journalists should stop saying that the evidence is just correlational.

After Babel
Feb 22, 2023 at 9:43pmWeb
Show threadIan LurieFeb 22, 2023
@randfish +1 from my experience as a dad.
Show threadRand FishkinFeb 22, 2023

@ianlurie brutal. Heart-wrenching to read this, and think of how many folks suffer as a result.

I can't really think of the historical precedent... Maybe video games? But the impacts seem much smaller (and some are positive, though my guess is that's also somewhat true for social media use, we just haven't figured them out yet).

Show threadIan LurieFeb 22, 2023

@randfish Gathering places of any kind: Recess is one historical precedent. Back when it was all "Oh, boys will be boys" and "Oh, that's how girls sort things out" and cliques, etc. etc.

TV was another: A one-way exchange that may reinforce problems with self-image, stereotypes, etc.

Social media took that and expanded it 10x.

Hopefully we can make some of the (very small) steps for social that we have for other gathering places.

Show threadMiriam EllisFeb 23, 2023
@randfish @ianlurie I think a big difference was that when video games emerged, we did so many other things - roller skated, played instruments, board games, cooked, danced, and played outside for hours with our siblings and friends. And for the luckiest, had one parent at home to love and talk with us all the time. I feel so upset for the young folks in my family today. They deserve the best of everything.
Show threadAaron KatzFeb 23, 2023
@randfish It’s increasingly difficult not to think of those working in or promoting social media services/platforms as this generations equivalent of working for big tobacco in the 70s. Unhealthy on so many levels and the few positives are far outweighed by the negatives.