Popular discourse on the effect of social media use on well-being has grown sensational & irrational. It’s reminiscent of similar panics where

it was once taken for granted that serial dramas on the radio, comic books, going to the cinema, and arcade games were all once considered to be undeniably harmful, particularly for the youth.

Since these discussions can get awfully cringe, I’ve decided to inject some goddamn science into this discussion by referring to and summarizing a recent scientific review of common myths. The full article fills in the details with links to scientific research.

1. • Myth: There is undeniable evidence that time spent on social media has a toxic effect on its users.
   • Warranted claim: Time spent on social media does not have a strong effect on the well-being of its users.
2. • Myth: Social media addiction is pervasive and harmful.
   • Warranted claim: Experts disagree on whether social media addiction exists, what the diagnostic criteria are, and how it should be measured.
3. • Myth: Spending more time on social media will inevitably make users depressed, anxious, sad, and lonely.
   • Warranted claim: Over time, declines in well-being are associated with increased social media use.
4. • Myth: Social media are the main cause of the problems teens are facing.
   • Warranted claim: Preexisting vulnerabilities (eg, poverty, mental health, lack of family support) are associated with both adolescent social media use and adolescent ill-being.
5. • Myth: Compared with other harms, the harm of social media use is far greater.
   • Warranted claim: Once the primary predictors of well- and ill-being are accounted for, social media use is a negligible factor in explaining variance in well- and ill-being.
6. • Myth: The adoption of social media, especially on mobile devices, perfectly coincides with the beginning of the contemporary adolescent mental health and loneliness crises.
   • Warranted claim: Longitudinal studies do not support the conclusion that the adoption of mobile or social media preceded or caused declines in adolescent mental health or the adolescent loneliness epidemic.
7. • Myth: Social media are the reason people don’t spend time together.
   • Warranted claim: Social media use does not cause people to stop people from talking to each other face-to-face, rather they are used to help people keep in touch when face-to-face interactions decrease.
8. • Myth: Teens using their smartphones around each other is a sign of a disconnected and discontented generation.
   • Warranted claim: The effects of co-present mobile use are highly situational and influenced by social norms.
9. • Myth: The solution is to quit or ban social media.
   • Warranted claim: The benefits of social media abstinence vary by person and by patterns of use.
10. • Myth: We do not need another study on social media.
    • Warranted claim: The research on the harms or benefits of social media must continue as platforms, features, habits, contexts, and users constantly change.

If they ban social media they should also make it illegal to block access to a website without an account.

They should still be able to browse Facebook and Instagram even without an account, since they are no longer legally able to have an account, and communities and government still insist on posting important information through social media websites that younger people should be able to have access to.

Not reading the article, its a good thing.

Its basically illegal to be young. I don’t think this is going to change anything. Kids are on the internet because they cant legally express being anything but a minor until they’re a third through their life. They’re constantly monitored, censored, and scrutinized. I think large tech corps are exploiting a real need kids have to participate. Sometimes ::tin foil hat:: I believe this is by design. Thanks for coming to my tedx talk.

Yeah. Its worse for them, they know that, we all do. It isn’t about what’s good for them it’s about how fucking terrified liberals are of their inability to control the internet as young people make memes about how rad public transit and killing corporate executives is.

How will they ever know if they cannot spy on them via “social media”[1]?

[1: presumably the term’s used as the corporate media uses it, meaning only the corporate spyware “social media”, not the fediverse.]

I’m not a teenager but getting off Instagram and twitter has been amazing for my wellbeing

The teen social media ban is just a distraction, carefully crafted by gambling industry lobbyists to ensure no one was talking about restricting gambling advertising.

It won’t. Hurting teenagers is in the entire point, especially certain vulnerable groups like LGBT teens.

I started using social media when I was around 12 and I can say with confidence it brought me significantly more harm than good.

For those opposed: should we let them have cigarettes as well?