Thanks for the write up!

I’m of two minds about this topic. I think we are seeing some troubling trends with respect to youth mental health in the US over the past several years, and these issues are tied up with technology in intricate and complex ways.

At the same time, I try to remain skeptical of claims that social media is solely to blame and that simply banning smartphones will solve the issue. For instance, the authors here say “those with poorer mental health spend more time daily in front of a screen on the internet or their smartphone,” but they don’t do much to establish causality. It could be the case that those with poor mental health are more likely to seek out friends or validating things to do online, or lonely people are more online simply because they have more free time than those who have commitments with family and friends.

With every technological innovation — be it smartphones, computers, TV, radio, even books — you can find people who say it is causing making kids lonelier, stupider, lazier, etc. It’s possible social media is a different beast, but I want to see more studies on this.