<
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/01/21/two-major-studies-125000-kids-the-social-media-panic-doesnt-hold-up/>
"For years now, we’ve been repeatedly pointing out that the “social media is
destroying kids” narrative, popularized by Jonathan Haidt and others, has been
built on a foundation of shaky, often contradictory research. We’ve noted that
the actual data is far more nuanced than the moral panic suggests, and that
policy responses built on that panic might end up causing more harm than they
prevent.
Well, here come two massive new studies—one from Australia, one from the
UK—that land like a sledgehammer on Haidt’s narrative—and, perhaps more
importantly, on Australia’s much-celebrated social media ban for kids under 16.
The Australian study, published in
JAMA Pediatrics, followed over 100,000
Australian adolescents across three years and found something that should give
every policymaker pause: the relationship between social media use and
well-being isn’t linear. It’s U-shaped. Perhaps most surprisingly,
kids who
use social media moderately have the best outcomes. Kids who use it
excessively have worse outcomes. But here’s the kicker:
kids who don’t use it
at all also have worse outcomes.
This isn’t to say that all kids should use social media. Unlike some others,
we’re not saying any of this shows that social media
causes good or bad
health outcomes. We’re pointing out that the claims of inherent harm seem not
just overblown, but wrong."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
