expert reaction to study on social media use in adolescence and depressive symptoms

For many children and young people, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and others have long been part of everyday life. However, just under a quarter of the ten- to 17-year-olds use social media to a problematic extent – also the number of addiction cases is increasing. The Hamburg association "Smarter Start ab 14 e.V." wants to counter this and demands a minimum legal age of 16 years for the use of social networks. More than 34,000 people have already…

expert reaction to study on social media use in adolescence and depressive symptoms

A study published in JAMA Network Open looks at social media use and depressive symptoms during early adolescents.    Prof Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, said: “Contrary to the claims of the authors, this study, in fact, finds little evidence that earlier social media time is associated with later mental health.  The effect sizes reported are, in fact, so small, as to likely be due to statistical noise, not real eff…