A trial that will put a daily limit on the social media use of thousands of Bradford teenagers is set to begin this year. It will be the largest study yet to investigate whether use of these online platforms affects adolescent mental health.
Anyone who agrees to participate in the study probably already wants to be restricted, as they may feel social media negatively affects them, and want more help restricting it than their willpower alone. Then they will probably feel positive about the outcome.
Forcibly restricting unwilling kids will produce different outcomes that this study doesn’t seem to investigate (it would be unethical to force participation on kids who don’t want to participate in a study).
They will then try to generalise the positive outcome onto all kids, even though they didn’t study the unwilling ones.
They need to study the effects of different content delivery algorithims not just a blanket ‘social media’ IMO.
I’m a bit skeptical too without seeing the study design since it seems like a big ask for the 12-15 group they’re targeting. I think I bought my first phone around 14 or 15 because my parents definitely weren’t about to pay for one. I don’t think I would have volunteered to add parental controls even for a reasonable sum.
Anyone who agrees to participate in the study probably already wants to be restricted, as they may feel social media negatively affects them, and want more help restricting it than their willpower alone. Then they will probably feel positive about the outcome.
Forcibly restricting unwilling kids will produce different outcomes that this study doesn’t seem to investigate (it would be unethical to force participation on kids who don’t want to participate in a study).
They will then try to generalise the positive outcome onto all kids, even though they didn’t study the unwilling ones.
They need to study the effects of different content delivery algorithims not just a blanket ‘social media’ IMO.
I’m a bit skeptical too without seeing the study design since it seems like a big ask for the 12-15 group they’re targeting. I think I bought my first phone around 14 or 15 because my parents definitely weren’t about to pay for one. I don’t think I would have volunteered to add parental controls even for a reasonable sum.