What Smartphones are doing to kids' mental health is NOT terrifying (no matter what a child psychiatrist says)

https://theneuroscienceofeverydaylife.substack.com/p/what-smartphones-are-doing-to-kids

My response to the Guardian's latest 'Phones are destroying the children!!' article. As ever, it's... problematic

#Phones #screens #brains #wellbeing #kids #mentalhealth #BadScience #Misinformation

What Smartphones are doing to kids' mental health is NOT terrifying (no matter what a child psychiatrist says)

The Guardian has done another shoddy article about why smartphones are definitely bad. But what's really 'terrifying' is how many apparent experts are so keen to join in with them.

The Neuroscience of Everyday Life
@Garwboy You're wrong. But enjoy the clicks, I suppose?
@condalmo cast iron watertight argument there. Have a gold star

@Garwboy Right? But you don't actually want an argument, do you? People who post these sort of rebuttal-articles very rarely do. They almost always are just looking to have their opinions validated, and they close off mentally if it's refuted. Toss a couple of brusque, sarcastic pseudo-counterarguments out, then start leveling insults, then disengage. It's counterindicated for your brand/book sales/etc. to actually want to engage and risk looking silly.

I do like a gold star, though

@condalmo my own post took me two+ hours and is 2,500 words long, and explored all the relevant unscientific claims in a major mainstream article. I appreciate and invite evidence-based counterpoints, said as much in it, and have always done so.

Your response was a one line dismissal, containing nothing but snide unfounded condescension toward a total stranger. Your gold star is earned for staggering hypocrisy. Enjoy it.

@Garwboy You want to write an article criticizing the mainstream media? Sure, go for it. But it's duplicitous to couch it as a rebuttal of her points, just because it's written as an exploration of an idea for the general public, and not a rigorously "evidence-based" (don't get me started) article in a scientific journal.