<
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/21/the-kids-are-mostly-alright-new-pew-study-deflates-the-social-media-panic/>
"A couple weeks back, Jonathan Haidt published another entry in his ongoing
campaign to convince the world that social media is inherently ruining kids’
lives. This one was a victory lap titled “Seven Lines of Evidence Against
Social Media,” treating recent developments — including the social media
addiction verdicts against Meta that most people are misunderstanding — as
vindication of his thesis.
Part of the evidence he marshaled was Pew polling showing that parents are
worried about their kids’ social media use. Which, fine. Parents worrying about
what their kids are up to is as old as the human species, and usually about as
productive as yelling at the wind. It’s kind of what parents do. It’s why every
generation has its own series of “the kids these days!” moral panics.
But then something inconvenient happened for Haidt’s thesis: Pew went and did a
brand new study exploring teens’ experiences on TikTok, Instagram, and
Snapchat. This one asked the kids themselves.
The results are awkward for the panic narrative.
For years now, I’ve been pointing out that the social-media-is-destroying-kids
narrative — which Haidt has done more than anyone else to popularize — has
never had the empirical backing its proponents claim. Multiple major studies
have failed to replicate the harm claims. When researchers have looked
carefully, they’ve often found the causal arrow pointing the other direction:
kids who are already struggling with mental health issues and not getting
adequate support tend to spend more time on social media, rather than social
media
causing the mental health issues.
Indeed, the research repeatedly suggests that for the very small number of kids
who are facing mental health problems and overrelying on social media in
response, the answer is a targeted intervention to help those individuals — not
a broad “ban kids from social media” program.
The new Pew data does more than nudge that picture along; it gives it a massive
shove."
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
