The moral panic over social media and teen depression (Article)

[entremet]

Over the past few years, it 's been hard to avoid the conclusion that smartphones, and in particular the use of social media such as Instagram and TikTok, have caused an epidemic of mental health and body image problems among young people, and in particular teenaged girls — problems that in some cases have led to suicide. A recent piece in The New Yorker is just the latest in a long line of such reports: in it, writer Andrew Solomon interviews distraught parents and relatives of a number of young people who have killed themselves, and in every case the culprit seems to be their excessive use of smartphones and specifically their use of social media, which many of those involved seem to believe caused or exacerbated their childrens' anxiety and depression.

One of the girls who died by suicide spent all her time on Instagram and was convinced she was ugly and no one would ever love her, and it turned out that her feed was full of people talking about eating disorders and suicide. Her mother says that after reading about Frances Haugen, a whistleblower who leaked thousands of internal Facebook documents about the harms of social media, she became convinced that Instagram played a role in her daughter's death, and decided to sue Meta. The article goes on to talk about rise in the rate of deaths by suicide between age 10 and age 24 in the US since 2007, and the fact that 53 percent of Americans believe that social media is responsible. And it talks about how social media produces a dopamine effect similar to nicotine or cocaine, and explains that this is why some people get addicted to using social media.

Before I go any further, there's no question that the stories in the New Yorker piece are heart-wrenching. Solomon writes about visiting the childhood bedrooms of boys and girls in their teens or early twenties who struggled with anxiety and depression and in the end chose to kill themselves, and their parents tell him about the guilt they feel over things they could have done. Only a robot would be able to listen to those stories and not feel for those parents and those families, and I am not trying to downplay or minimize that. But after pages and pages of these stories — more than three quarters of the way through the article — comes what I think is an important point, when Solomon writes that "research has failed to demonstrate any definite causal link" between smartphone or social-media use and depression.

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Haidt often cites research by Jean Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State, to support his claims of a causal link between smartphone use and anxiety in teens. But in a study published in Nature, Przybylski tried to reproduce some of her findings and was unable to show more than a mild correlation. In fact, he told Platformer, the average correlation between screen time and well-being "was analogous to the correlation between wearing glasses and well being," and therefore might just be a rounding error or statistical anomaly. The impact of smartphone use appears to be more or less the same as the impact of eating potatoes on a regular basis.

A meta-analysis of 226 studies in 2022 involving more than a quarter of a million participants found that the association between social media and feelings of well-being was "indistinguishable from zero." Hardly the kind of smoking gun evidence implied by Jonathan Haidt's books and magazine articles.

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The moral panic over social media and teen depression

Hi everyone! Mathew Ingram here. This is The Torment Nexus (you can find out more about me and this newsletter — and why I chose to call it that — in my inaugural post.) Since this is only the fourth edition of the newsletter, I am still working out some bugs, so

torment-nexus.mathewingram.com

There's been a lot of talk about how social media is very harmful, especially Instagram/TikTok with young women. Meta had its own internal research on this. But there's been pushback to this. Specifically, peer reviewed studies show lack of casual links and replication effects.

In a recent episode of If Books Could Kill, a podcast that looks into this. They made some impressive arguments. Basically, we screen more for mental health these days. Much better than the 2000s and earlier.

I'm not a parent, but I do think smartphones limitations are wise, but for other things, education, which has more proof. I support phone bans during class time.

Personally, a senior citizen on these apps lol, I enjoy them. I curate my feeds, I stay in touch with friends. I like them. I do take breaks and also redo my algos when I get too much negative crap, but I enjoy them. I learn a lot from TikTok for example.

But I'm not a teen girl, so I have no perspective here. However, I found the social media is responsible for all mental health ills to be suspect. There are many reasons that affect mental health, including home life.

 

[Omegasquash]

Educating kids about how these platforms monetize their attention is really important. Having said that, curating feeds won't stop a bombardment of interactions from other people, which I'm sure that as a teen is really difficult to do, given the social pressure.

 

[entremet]

Educating kids about how these platforms monetize their attention is really important. Having said that, curating feeds won't stop a bombardment of interactions from other people, which I'm sure that as a teen is really difficult to do, given the social pressure.

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Yeah, I'm not a teen girl lol. Hence, why I don't really have a take here. It's just interesting to see how the studies aren't as foolprroof as we thought.

That said, I could imagine being without social media, a teen, could be isolating. You miss the group chats, shares, etc. It's a tricky problem.

Doesn't help that we look at teens as pests in the public square. Outside of organized activities, they don't have much Third Spaces.

 

[breakdancing duck]

The argument made in the first quote is that algorithms isolate struggling teenagers in content that reinforces their negative thoughts.

The argument in the second quote indicates that the correlation of time on social media and mental health isn't there.

The second quote doesn't refute the first quote in any way.

 

[teruterubozu]

The narrative that bothers the hell out of me is when old people say "today's kids are always on their phones and won't amount to anything." Meanwhile the younger generation continues to produce the most skilled and disciplined athletes, musicians, artists, scholars, scientists, etc. Today's youth know how to navigate all this stuff compared to us old farts.

 

[entremet]

The narrative that bothers the hell out of me is when old people say "today's kids are always on their phones and won't amount to anything." Meanwhile the younger generation continues to produce the most skilled and disciplined athletes, musicians, artists, scholars, scientists, etc. Today's youth know how to navigate all this stuff compared to us old farts.

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I think there are real challenges that we should not ignore, but there's also a lot of common generational bullying that has been going on forever.

 

[Dyle]

However, I found the social media is responsible for all mental health ills to be suspect. There are many reasons that affect mental health, including home life.

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No one says this, everyone believes it's one of many factors that contribute to the problem. The negative impacts of social media is just one factor that can be more easily changed for everyone's benefit than most. It's a lot easier to fix a new problem than it is to fix problems that have existed for decades

 

[datik]

For me the dangers of anti-social media are less that they immediate give you anxiety when you open IG, but rather the suspicion that over time with their illusion and the convenience that you are "connected", that actual social connection in real life are decreasing and even the spaces where those connections happen are being eroded.

In other word: if people are on anti-social media for 20 hours per week, does that mean they spent less time with people in person? Are they seeking it out less?

And real life person-to-person connections are critical for our mental well-being and our community's.

 

[Tagovailoa]

As a teacher, I'd say at least about 90% of fights stem from something someone said or did on social media. People post things or make fake accounts to badmouth someone or make someone look bad. It leads to conflict almost always. There is bullying and harassment that goes on on there. Social media definitely plays a role in making the social aspect of teenagers much more difficult. In many respects, the way it can invade your home without your consent because it is on your phone makes some teenagers feel as if there is no escape and no safe place for them. That in itself is a massive problem.

 

[teruterubozu]

I think there are real challenges that we should not ignore, but there's also a lot of common generational bullying that has been going on forever.

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True but the irony today is the old farts are complaining about all these things on their phones/social media.

 

[ragolliangatan]

True but the irony today is the old farts are complaining about all these things on their phones/social media.

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and it's not as if traditional media like TV hasn't poisoned the minds of the older generations with shit like Fox News

 

[entremet]

No one says this, everyone believes it's one of many factors that contribute to the problem. The negative impacts of social media is just one factor that can be more easily changed for everyone's benefit than most. It's a lot easier to fix a new problem than it is to fix problems that have existed for decades

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I'm aware, but there's the Silver Bullet narrative that is common in science reporting. There's a lack of systemic analysis. What's an easier article? Blaming Instagram, or capitalistic overwork crowding out human connection and mental health access?

That said, I don't think these apps should be free for alls for children and teens.

 

[subpar spatula]

The way I see it as a parent is a lot of non-parents and older people languish younger people. As sad as it is, the moment I see someone bring up or post and I know they're X-ish years old, my opinion on what they say is already distorted. You also have the intersectionality because society and kids that is massively overlooked especially by even generations 1 above the current. You will see millennials mock gen z as if computer science is going to die with their generation as some sad coping mechanism for their own mortality which a lot of gen z will do in the future. A child using an iPad or phone during dinner isn't going to produce whatever you believe it will.

I know that wasn't exactly the thing in the OP, but I think as people aging in the ages of older people, we should be cognizant of our own bias and mortality and how we project that on younger people. A lot of you will carry that to your graves, sadly.

 

[Hasseigaku]

Be cautious of any explanation of complex social phenomena that blames a single thing for it.

 

[machtia]

I still think the most telling proof of the problem
with social media is how much tech leaders limit their own children's access to it.

 

[Yerffej]

Use the words moral panic and I'm gonna side eye anything you have to say.

 

[TheXbox]

I remember reading about suicide as a kind of social contagion. The more you hear about it, the more you think about it; the more you think about it, the more normalized it becomes. The problem with social media is that it can amplify corrosive ideas based on your preferences or subliminal impulses. But "can" doesn't mean "will". It doesn't surprise me that researchers haven't uncovered a casual relationship between smartphones/social media and mental health. That premise is too vague and social media is too universalized.

 

[Randomly Generated]

The narrative that bothers the hell out of me is when old people say "today's kids are always on their phones and won't amount to anything." Meanwhile the younger generation continues to produce the most skilled and disciplined athletes, musicians, artists, scholars, scientists, etc. Today's youth know how to navigate all this stuff compared to us old farts.

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Are those skilled and disciplined athletes, artists and scientists constantly on social media? Or are they the equivalent of the high-performance kids in the 90s whose parents only let them watch a little TV after finishing work? I don't think you can cherry pick top performers and say everything is okay, especially if you read stories from teachers (we have some grim ones on Era) about some of the stuff they're seeing.

 

[subpar spatula]

I still think the most telling proof of the problem
with social media is how much tech leaders limit their own children's access to it.

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I don't think these mean much since a lot of tech leaders are libertarian regardless of how they vote. You don't become that wealthy and powerful without having a personality of control.

 

[Raggie]

It's not a clear cut problem. There are also teenagers who feel outsiders and have found support on social media. The LGBTIQA+ community has benefited very much from social media, and teenagers from the easy access to this community.

 

[OmegaDragon]

The argument made in the first quote is that algorithms isolate struggling teenagers in content that reinforces their negative thoughts.

The argument in the second quote indicates that the correlation of time on social media and mental health isn't there.

The second quote doesn't refute the first quote in any way.

Click to shrink...

I think the idea is that a blanket statement 'social media is bad (for teens)' is just not true (as far as we know). Social media use has positive and negative effects. I don't think the article is advocating for not fixing the negative effects.

 

[B-Dubs]

I still think the most telling proof of the problem
with social media is how much tech leaders limit their own children's access to it.

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Use the words moral panic and I'm gonna side eye anything you have to say.

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Both of these, but it's also telling that these guys are literally ignoring Meta's own research on the issue. We're also ignoring first hand accounts of what teachers are seeing in their kids and attempting to wave an uptick in mental health issues away with "we're just screening for it more." If all of the data is telling you one thing, why do we want to assume it's not that thing?

The algorithms are literally set up to drive conflict between people because that's what keeps them posting and on the platform. Why is it so insane to think that people engaging in this sort of behavior day in and day out won't be affected by it or take that learned behavior with them when they leave the platform?

I also want to point out that when NYS tried to limit algorithmic feeds to people over 18, literally the only thing they wanted to do other than stop kids from getting alerts at 2am, there was a HUGE amount of nonsense pushback that made no sense. There were arguments about how kids wouldn't have access to the same sort of information when search was mandated to be intact and the only change was no algorithmic feeds.

It kinda just feels like a lot of people don't want to admit they have a problem or that there is a problem.

I don't think these mean much since a lot of tech leaders are libertarian regardless of how they vote. You don't become that wealthy and powerful without having a personality of control.

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A lot of these guys, knowingly, send their kids to schools where there is literally no technology being used.

It's not a clear cut problem. There are also teenagers who feel outsiders and have found support on social media. The LGBTIQA+ community has benefited very much from social media, and teenagers from the easy access to this community.

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This is 100% true, but it was also true before the social media algorithms took over our feeds.

 

[AlgusUnderdunk]

I really wish they'd realize young men are just as harmed by the whole unrealistic physiques and standards as young women are.

 

[subpar spatula]

A lot of these guys, knowingly, send their kids to schools where there is literally no technology being used.

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That seems a lot less likely to make them want to behave or believe the way they do and more of control. As dark as it is, there are parents who will "beat" obedience into their kids, and I would not be shocked if the wealthy and billionaires of the world don't have a similar outlook to where authoritative and controlling elite schools are the way it is. Paris Hilton went to one of these schools. Not saying they all do, but I don't believe a super billionaire is willing to send their kids to a school who will on average make them anti-billionaire or hold values opposite of theirs.

 

[Majin Boo]

Social media is a social experiment being run on a large part of humanity without any form of oversight.
Whether it's the time spent on these platforms (and social media companies questionable ways to maximize that time), the exposure to (hidden) marketing, the kind of content allowed to exist on these platforms, the limited scope of content suggested by algorithms, social pressure, cyber bullying, value systems/self images/world views being warped by overexposure on social media etc.

Many of these issues are symptoms of underlying social and societal issues, but social media is a crazy and out of control amplifier. (that doesn't mean that there are no benefits to social media, and there are clearly some social media that are just way better and less harmful than others)

 

[Dyle]

I'm aware, but there's the Silver Bullet narrative that is common in science reporting. There's a lack of systemic analysis. What's an easier article? Blaming Instagram, or capitalistic overwork crowding out human connection and mental health access?

That said, I don't think these apps should be free for alls for children and teens.

Click to shrink...

No one treats it as a silver bullet though. No one claims that all teenagers are going to be happy if their social media feeds are less toxic. If you wait to have complete data before making changes you will impose significant harm on people on the meantime. That certainly didn't work with climate change...

 

[B-Dubs]

That seems a lot less likely to make them want to behave or believe the way they do and more of control. As dark as it is, there are parents who will "beat" obedience into their kids, and I would not be shocked if the wealthy and billionaires of the world don't have a similar outlook to where authoritative and controlling elite schools are the way it is. Paris Hilton went to one of these schools. Not saying they all do, but I don't believe a super billionaire is willing to send their kids to a school who will on average make them anti-billionaire or hold values opposite of theirs.

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Do you really not know anything about these schools? Like at all?

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html

 

[teruterubozu]

Are those skilled and disciplined athletes, artists and scientists constantly on social media? Or are they the equivalent of the high-performance kids in the 90s whose parents only let them watch a little TV after finishing work? I don't think you can cherry pick top performers and say everything is okay, especially if you read stories from teachers (we have some grim ones on Era) about some of the stuff they're seeing.

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I didn't say everything is ok. I didn't mean for it to be interpreted as a blanket statement.

 

[ScoutDave]

I really wish they'd realize young men are just as harmed by the whole unrealistic physiques and standards as young women are.

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Starting to see quite the influx of young men wanting 'superhero' physiques and falling into fitness influencer traps of buying into programs and not realizing theyre all on PEDs.

 

[Tobor]

Social media is disrupting and destroying the fabric of our society. Teen girls and everyone else are impacted.

 

[breakdancing duck]

I think the idea is that a blanket statement 'social media is bad (for teens)' is just not true (as far as we know). Social media use has positive and negative effects. I don't think the article is advocating for not fixing the negative effects.

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Just because something has positive and negative effects doesn't mean it's a wash.

Smoking cigarettes have the positive effects of keeping weights down and helping people feel calmer/more focused but that is offset by the negative effects of being highly addictive and causing lung cancer.

 

[HarryHengst]

My wife is a teacher and since last year phones are completely banned at her school. The difference in focus during classes, behavior during breaks, in how kids treat each other, it has all improved so much that i really do not give a shit about whether or not studies can find a causal effect or not.

 

[subpar spatula]

Do you really not know anything about these schools? Like at all?

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html

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What is to know? These folks can send their kids basically anywhere that doesn't work fully on meritocracy. As I am not a nytimes subscriber or deceiver in mobile, I cannot attest to what is written in the article. I just know that if you are going to write about the life, culture, and understanding of the wealthy, you have to see it through a lense far other than yours. Their work personality is almost guaranteed to bleed into their personal.

It's almost like the wealthy can send their kids to schools which produce intelligent people who may acquire wealth to their level but also believe in the same stuff.

 

[entremet]

My wife is a teacher and since last year phones are completely banned at her school. The difference in focus during classes, behavior during breaks, in how kids treat each other, it has all improved so much that i really do not give a shit about whether or not studies can find a causal effect or not.

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So this is not about mental focus or education but mental health.

I do think mental can be affected by these apps and that phones should be metered for young kids and teens.

I also think banning phones in schools is a good thing and should happen. It just seems the mental health links need more detailed, peered review data.

 

[Tobor]

I would also like to add that using the term "moral panic" to describe the debate over the impact of social media is disingenuous and intended to be dismissive.

 

[entremet]

I would also like to add that using the term "moral panic" to describe the debate over the impact of social media is disingenuous and intended to be dismissive.

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I don't think it's being dismissive. I think social media has a lot of bad, but great claims require great evidence as Carl Sagan said. Especially if you're going to blame it on big things like depression and suicide.

Moreover, it's not journalists and thought leaders pushing back, but researchers. And these studies are published in reputable journals. All they're saying is that we need more evidence:

But does he prove his case? Not really, according to a number of other social scientists. Candice Odgers, a psychology professor at UC Irvine, wrote in Nature that Haidt's suggestion that digital technologies are causing an epidemic of mental illness "is not supported by science," adding "hundreds of researchers, myself included, have searched for the kind of large effects suggested by Haidt" and found plenty of correlation but very little in the way of causation. Andrew Przybylski, a professor of human behavior and technology at the University of Oxford, told Platformer that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence [and] right now, I'd argue he doesn't have that." (Haidt has responded to his critics by arguing that some of the studies he refers to do show causation.)

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I do think a lot of social media is awful. If someone could just Thanos Snap the major social media apps out of existence, I won't be shedding tears.

 

[Tobor]

I don't think it's being dismissive. I think social media has a lot of bad, but great claims require great evidence as Carl Sagan said.

Moreover, it's not journalists and thought leaders pushing back, but researchers. All they're saying is that we need more evidence:

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"Needs more research" is fine. "Moral panic" is absolutely intended to frame the argument.

 

[RPGam3r]

I would also like to add that using the term "moral panic" to describe the debate over the impact of social media is disingenuous and intended to be dismissive.

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Agreed. It immediately paints one side as being unjustified in their worries/concerns.

 

[Tounsi_Tag]

Parents: How do you balance between limiting your children's usage of social media, and not completely banishing them off it to a point where they would fall behind their peers in terms of the social zeitgeist?

 

[Prokofiev]

Look up the internet usage for the average person. In some countries with high unemployment it's as much as 9 hours! Hours spent wastefully engaging with mind numbing, low effort, exploitative content. There is no way this is not bad for ones mental and physical health and just plain bad for society. No p-value, no correlation-coeffient or any other statistical bullshit-fuckery is going to convince me otherwise. We lose our agency, our sense of being able live a deliberate, considered life because our attention is sapped by gutter-tier garbage at every moment and so we don't work towards things that will actually improve our wellbeing.

Smart phones have so comprehensively altered how we spend our leisure time and it this time is clearly now being channeled into vacuous activities. Think of 1 meaningful interaction you have had on social media and even in the event one comes to mind, weigh it up against the *years* of your life you have traded for this and all the meaningful interactions and experiences you have missed out on.

I am convinced that frequently visiting and interacting with the current cesspit that is X is harmful, not just for teenagers but for anyone.

 

[FreedomFrisbee]

Without looking too deeply into it, one would assume that studies on such broad behaviors as 'screen time' might not be able to replicate the same results you would get from looking at literal facebook powered telemetry. I'd strongly doubt that even all the mentioned studies combined could reach the sample size that facebook is able to reach just using their own stuff.

To recap facebook's saga with the study, they only released it because of congressional pressure caused by a whistleblower. Then they cancelled future kid targeted products over it. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-...rnal-research-on-instagrams-effects-on-teens/

And lets not forget that Brazil is currently the largest cohort for any social media experiments, given the recent mass banning of twitter. There's been a study floating around that 1 in 3 out of ~1200 surveyed reported improved mental health. Tho I can't find reporting about it in english, sorry.

 

[entremet]

Without looking too deeply into it, one would assume that studies on such broad behaviors as 'screen time' might not be able to replicate the same results you would get from looking at literal facebook powered telemetry. I'd strongly doubt that even all the mentioned studies combined could reach the sample size that facebook is able to reach just using their own stuff.

To recap facebook's saga with the study, they only released it because of congressional pressure caused by a whistleblower. Then they cancelled future kid targeted products over it. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-...rnal-research-on-instagrams-effects-on-teens/

And lets not forget that Brazil is currently the largest cohort for any social media experiments, given the recent mass banning of twitter. There's been a study floating around that 1 in 3 out of ~1200 surveyed reported improved mental health. Tho I can't find reporting about it in english, sorry.

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That's very interesting about Brazil and Twitter. Twitter is too awful for me these days.

I do love the work of Cal Newport here.

Quit Social Media - Cal Newport

Anti-Social Grumblings I recently gave a deliberatively provocative TEDx talk titled “quit social media” (see the video above). The theme of the event was “visions ... Read more

calnewport.com

I'm not as much as a hardliner as he is. I have taken breaks from social media too.

 

[Reflecting Sky]

Social media companies make money because they are literally farming for our attention. Every second you spend face-to-face, having real friends is a loss for Meta.

And it's a toxic battleground in reality, there's competition for the most likes, for the most attention. People compete with others, but also with themselves.

 

[Lost Lemurian]

I'm aware, but there's the Silver Bullet narrative that is common in science reporting. There's a lack of systemic analysis. What's an easier article? Blaming Instagram, or capitalistic overwork crowding out human connection and mental health access?

That said, I don't think these apps should be free for alls for children and teens.

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American teenagers today are safer, have more free time, better diets, better medical care, and have in-person access to larger communities of peers and potential friends than anyone else in recorded history.

They are pointedly not overworked by Capitalism, they are indeed being poisoned by Instagram.

 

[entremet]

American teenagers today are safer, have more free time, better diets, better medical care, and have in-person access to larger communities of peers and potential friends than anyone else in recorded history.

They are pointedly not overworked by Capitalism, they are indeed being poisoned by Instagram.

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There's way less unsupervised free play. Plus modern education has become teach to test in many places.

There's way more issues than Instagram. We're boomers here. We want to blame social media just like older generations blamed TV and video games.

That's easier than investing in real third spaces and education reform. Or expanding mental health access.

 

[EchizenKurage]

Meanwhile the younger generation continues to produce the most skilled and disciplined athletes, musicians, artists, scholars, scientists, etc.

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Do you have data to support this? (Genuinely curious, because just going off my own perspective I wouldn't necessarily agree)

 

[Autumn]

There needs to be social media bans and cell phone use should restricted.

 

[teruterubozu]

Do you have data to support this? (Genuinely curious, because just going off my own perspective I wouldn't necessarily agree)

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Hard data for art, music, etc.? Probably not. Sorry. Certainly in sports we see records broken continually.

 

[Kino]

It's not a clear cut problem. There are also teenagers who feel outsiders and have found support on social media. The LGBTIQA+ community has benefited very much from social media, and teenagers from the easy access to this community.

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Yes this is true; it's also true that young men are skewing more conservative for the first time in history, and that right wing influencers are making a killing in male dominated spaces.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

In a recent episode of If Books Could Kill, a podcast that looks into this. They made some impressive arguments. Basically, we screen more for mental health these days. Much better than the 2000s and earlier.

Click to shrink...

This episode really turned my beliefs upside down and made me rethink a lot of what I assumed was the Truth about social media and smartphones. They did a great job discussing this topic with nuance in a way I'd not heard before. Couldn't recommend this episode more to parents.