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At least we looked up from our own cellphones long enough to do something (programming.dev)

submitted 9 months ago by Buttons to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 9 months ago (3 children)

There’s loads of evidence linking excessive phone and social media use with mental health issues, and taking phones away is an easy win.

[–] Buttons 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I don't have time to review all the research that has been done on the topic, but fortunately others have done a review of the existing studies:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9200624/ concludes "Despite the fears held around wireless technologies, we believe that at this stage there is not enough evidence supporting a causal negative relationship between MP/WD use and children and adolescent’s mental health to justify particular public health interventions."

And this isn't a review, but here's one additional study:

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/11/children-mobile-phone-age.html says "Stanford Medicine researchers did not find a connection between the age children acquired their first cell phone and their sleep patterns, depression symptoms or grades."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

So I did a quick search through the scholarly literature and the consensus is overwhelmingly the opposite of your claim. So much so that I’ve decided not to link any studies (there are literally thousands). Science isn’t perfect and statistics alone guarantee many ambiguous results, some of which you seem to have found.

[–] Buttons 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It would help if you could link to at least one of the thousands. What's one you think makes a strong case? I'm not sure if you're referring to actual studies or, maybe, confusing blog posts and "expert" opinions with actual studies.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

These are fine studies (or summaries), but they don't say cellphones are good. They say that they can't say whether cellphones are bad. For now, common sense is the most effective tool we have to deal with cellphones and kids. So I'd say, enjoy but do it responsibly. Much like drugs and alcohol. (In the Netherlands we have the public health slogan for alcohol "geniet maar drink met mate", which is "enjoy but drink with moderation". I think that sentiment applies here too)

[–] [email protected] -5 points 9 months ago

There's also lots of evidence linking bandages with bleeding. Let's try taking away bleeding people's bandages and see if they get better