More streaming video is bad - by Matthew Yglesias

A new study came out in JAMA last week tracking preteen social-media use. The paper found that cohorts that increase their social-media use from ages nine through 13 not only have lower literacy levels, but also show weaker cognitive function across a range of tests. I’m gonna be honest. When I first read coverage of this study, I thought to myself, “sounds about right,” and didn’t scrutinize the results at all. If you actually dig in, though, I think the research methods are pretty bad. The study is observational with no causal research design, and it’s completely possible that we’re just seeing a correlate of some underlying genetic or socioeconomic factor. If I were deeply skeptical of the idea that social-media use has downstream negative consequences, I would not be at all persuaded by the mere presence of the association that this study finds. That said, I am actually not at all skeptical of this, and I’m happy to add the paper to the growing pile of indicators that the prolifera

A new study came out in JAMA last week tracking preteen social-media use. The paper found that cohorts that increase their social-media use from ages nine through 13 not only have lower literacy levels, but also show weaker cognitive function across a range of tests. I’m gonna be honest. When I first read coverage of this study, I thought to myself, “sounds about right,” and didn’t scrutinize the results at all. If you actually dig in, though, I think the research methods are pretty bad. The study is observational with no causal research design, and it’s completely possible that we’re just…

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