Correlation or causation.
I feel like shit and don’t have friends so I spend more time alone on my phone?
Or I spend more time alone on my phone so I feel like shit and have no friends?
I spend time watching shit on my phone that makes me feel bad?
“Well, you can’t just take the effect and make it the cause.”
- The white stripes, Effect and Cause
Ah so it’s the screen, not the content, understood.
Always found the concept of “screen time” stupid.
After a weekend of hours and hours playing some co-op game with friends I don’t feel bad. That’s what 5h of doomscrolling does to you.
What about old people? I’m over 70 and I have around 14 hours a day of screen time. As do many others. Are we anxious and depressed, too? Data shows?
By “screen time” the article seems to assume the only thing they’re doing on their screens is social media. I had to check as if it was really just screens for more than 4hrs, that’s an interesting stat I hadn’t heard, but could make some sense. However, that’s not it. So doing things like content creation (drawing, writing, photography) reading or learning, aren’t counted in this study.
That’s a big point that also usually isn’t really distinguished in all these studies, especially the ones about children and screen time.
I feel there are differences between just watching cartoons and playing some involving game.
Also, just walking by a TV that’s on is also screen time, or not? Is the TV running in the background at home screen time when you only look at it 5 minutes here and there?
I’d be happy if those studies would clearly state, 4 hours social media per day is bad. Or 4 hours watching TV with at least 30 minutes long sessions is bad. Stuff like that.
Exactly
Also, the key word in these type of studies is “linked”, which means that’s only a correlation, with no proof of causality.
The way it’s written, it makes you think that the screen time causes anxiety and depression, but there are other studies that suggest the causality goes in the other direction, kids that suffer from depression tend to spend more time in social media.
And that seems to be the general consensus on the term screen time. Most of the time they only assume social media on a mobile phone specifically, leaving out TVs, game consoles or even desktop PCs or Laptops. And by they I mean journalists, content creators themselves and of course scientists who release studies. It’s very ironic because all of those groups accumulated screen time to release their findings.
I’d be curious to know the relation between that and simply watching the news. Maybe it’s not social media, or screen time, but simply being aware of the state of everything that is linked to anxiety and depression.
In everyone, I would assume.
I’m curious who’s actually getting 4 or less hours per day?
My phone for today says 3 hours and i haven’t watched any TV. So me I guess. Yesterday said 3.5 but I watched part of a baseball game so it probably totaled 4.5. I think most days I’d be under four hours of total screen time. I’d be under everyday for sure if we excepted reading. Moonreader+ has 2 of my three hours. The rest is feed reader and jerboa.
4 more gigstons of CO2 in the atmosphere linked to more anxiety in people who might actually see 2100.
Just wait until everyone is forced to wear screens on their faces 24/7, because that’s the way tech companies want us to live. I’m not being sarcastic, either.
There’s a reason why so many people consciously choose to “disconnect” when they want a mental break. If we are no longer able to, how healthy do you think our society will be?
If we are no longer able to, how healthy do you think our society will be?
Tech CEOs: Who the fuck cares? I got my ad revenue, I couldn’t care less about society. The shareholders sure seem happy!
Are we sure there’s not a balmer’s peak scenario for the teens with 12-16 hour screen time?
