Soziale Medien machen unglücklich

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Bemerkungen

Forschende haben die wissenschaftlichen Veröffentlichungen seit 2012 untersucht. Ihr Fazit: Es gibt keine Belege für einen negativen Einfluss auf psychische Gesundheit.

Von Klappentext im Text Schaden Tiktok und Instagram wirklich? (2024)

Wenn wir uns die PISA-Daten ansehen, sehen wir, dass junge Menschen auf der ganzen Welt seit 2012 weniger gebildet, ängstlicher, depressiver, süchtiger und einsamer in der Schule geworden sind.

Von Jonathan Haidt im Text «Wir haben Kinder fragiler gemacht» (2024)

Die Nutzung sozialer Netzwerke wie Facebook macht junge Menschen nicht sozialer, sondern depressiver, ängstlicher, unzufriedener und einsamer, wie neuere Studien zeigen (Kross et al. 2013, Rosen et al. 2013).

Von Manfred Spitzer im Text Risiken und Nebenwirkungen digitaler Informationstechnik (2016)

Meines Erachtens kann man Haidts These in der Einfachheit nicht stehen lassen. Sie suggeriert, dass soziale Medien monokausal zu Depression führen können. Die menschliche Psyche ist komplex, und viele Faktoren beeinflussen unser Wohlbefinden.

Von Christian Montag im Text «Besonders die Mädchen leiden» (2024)

While it is true that some research suggests that young people who report higher social media use show slightly lower levels of wellbeing, most of these findings are unreliable and their conclusions might amount to little more than statistical noise.

Von Andrew K. Przybylski, Amy Orben im Text We’re told that too much screen time hurts our kids. Where’s the evidence? (2019)

Es ist unstrittig, dass es gravierende Probleme durch die Plattformen gibt. Dennoch sind viele Thesen zu den Gefahren von Social Media mit Vorsicht zu behandeln. Sie sind oft zu wenig evidenzbasiert, unter anderem weil die Plattformen kaum mit unabhängigen Forschern kooperieren und ihre Daten für sich behalten. Und wo es fundiertere Forschung gibt, sind die Befunde meist nicht so klar.

Von Christian Montag im Text «Besonders die Mädchen leiden» (2024)

Viele Studien zeigen, dass das Vorgaukeln perfekter Welten auf unseren digitalen Profilen zu negativen Emotionen bei den Rezipienten der Nachrichten und Bilder führt. Uns wird von anderen Nutzern sozialer Netzwerke immer wieder suggeriert, wie toll deren Leben sind. Zeitgleich empfinden die Betrachter der Bilder/Videos ihr eigenes Leben dann im Vergleich oftmals als wenig spannend und manchmal sogar öde.

Von Christian Montag im Buch Homo Digitalis (2017) im Text Vom Homo Sapiens zum Homo Digitalis auf Seite 7

It’s probably best to retire the idea that the amount of time teens spend on social media is a meaningful metric influencing their wellbeing. There are many good reasons to be sceptical of the role of Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok in our society but it would be a mistake to assume science supports fears that every minute online compromises mental health. In fact, this idea risks trivialising and stigmatising those who struggle with mental health on a daily basis.

Von Andrew K. Przybylski, Amy Orben im Text We’re told that too much screen time hurts our kids. Where’s the evidence? (2019)

The third myth is centered on the question, “Which comes first?” There are 4 possible sequential orders of the association between social media use and well-being over time: changes in social media use decrease/increase future well-being exclusively; changes in well-being increase/decrease future social media use exclusively; both changes affect each other; change in one is not predictive of change in the other. The myth is that social media use increases ill-being (or decreases well-being) in the future.

Von Jeffrey A Hall im Text Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being (2024)

Overall, research suggests that screen time, including social media use, plays little to no role in the well-being of most users. Its effects are not conclusively harmful or toxic in terms of decreasing well-being, increasing ill-being, or causing stress. Rather, the effects of social media on users are negligible but heterogeneous (ie, the experience varies between individuals) [25]. These 2 claims are not inconsistent; it can both be the case that social media do not influence the well-being of most users, but might help or hurt some users in some circumstances.

Von Jeffrey A Hall im Text Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being (2024)

Maybe social media use causes stress. When stress is measured through biological methods (eg, cortisol in a saliva sample), studies have found that social media use decreases stress [20,21] or has no association with stress [22]. Substantial reductions in screen time, including time on social media, have no effect on biologically measured stress [23]. One study [24] compared the argument that social media cause stress with the argument that social media are sought out after being stressed. It concluded that stress seems to precede social media use rather than being caused by it [24].

Von Jeffrey A Hall im Text Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being (2024)

Two things can be independently true about social media. First, that there is no evidence that using these platforms is rewiring children’s brains or driving an epidemic of mental illness. Second, that considerable reforms to these platforms are required, given how much time young people spend on them. Many of Haidt’s solutions for parents, adolescents, educators and big technology firms are reasonable, including stricter content-moderation policies and requiring companies to take user age into account when designing platforms and algorithms. Others, such as age-based restrictions and bans on mobile devices, are unlikely to be effective in practice — or worse, could backfire given what we know about adolescent behaviour.

Von Candice L. Odgers im Text The great rewiring, unplugged (2024)

There are 2 decades of research on the association between social media and well-being. A comprehensive meta-analysis that reviewed 226 studies published between 2006 and 2018, including 275,728 participants and 1279 effect sizes, reported a weighted mean effect size of r=.01, which is no different from 0 [4]. An analysis of 3 data sets, including 355,000 adolescents, found that the association between social media use and well-being accounts for, at most, 0.4% of the variance in well-being, which the authors conclude is of “little practical value” [7]. Another large study of adolescent users concluded that the association was “too small to merit substantial scientific discussion” [8]. A longitudinal study that measured social media use through an app installed on participants’ mobile devices found no associations between any measures of Facebook use and loneliness or depression over time [9].

Von Jeffrey A Hall im Text Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being (2024)

Hundreds of researchers, myself included, have searched for the kind of large effects suggested by Haidt. Our efforts have produced a mix of no, small and mixed associations. Most data are correlative. When associations over time are found, they suggest not that social-media use predicts or causes depression, but that young people who already have mental-health problems use such platforms more often or in different ways from their healthy peers.

These are not just our data or my opinion. Several meta-analyses and systematic reviews converge on the same message. An analysis done in 72 countries shows no consistent or measurable associations between well-being and the roll-out of social media globally. Moreover, findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, the largest longterm study of adolescent brain development in the United States, has found no evidence of drastic changes associated with digital-technology use.

Von Candice L. Odgers im Text The great rewiring, unplugged (2024)

The empirical evidence supports the sequential order opposite to this myth: declines in well-being precede increased future social media use. A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies on social media and well-being found that changes in well-being (eg, eudaemonic well-being, hedonic well-being, and social well-being) are associated with changes in social media use, but not the other way around [4]. A longitudinal analysis of 84,000 UK adults aged 10-80 years from 2011 to 2018 found that drops in well-being were followed by more social media use over time across all age groups [34]. The same study, however, found that increases in social media were associated with future declines in well-being for a few adolescent age groups. Other research has found that increased depression predicts future social media use, particularly for adolescents, but not vice versa [35]. Among adolescents, social media use tended to increase after reductions in friendship quality, suggesting that interpersonal struggles precipitate future social media use [36]. Another study found that both declining life satisfaction and higher psychological distress corresponded with increased future social media use among adults [37].

Von Jeffrey A Hall im Text Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being (2024)

In Ihrem neuen Buch argumentieren Sie jedoch, dass Smartphones und soziale Medien sich negativ auf die psychische Gesundheit auswirkten, insbesondere auf die von Kindern. Warum sind Kinder besonders gefährdet?
Dafür gibt es zwei wichtige Gründe. Der eine ist, dass die Pubertät eine ausserordentlich sensible und entscheidende Zeit für Veränderungen im Gehirn ist. Die Neuronen werden neu verdrahtet; wir wechseln von der kindlichen Form des Gehirns zur erwachsenen Form. Dieser Prozess ist in hohem Masse erfahrungsabhängig. Er ist von den Inputs geprägt. In traditionellen Gesellschaften bemühten sich die Erwachsenen, den Kindern beim Übergang von der Kindheit zum Erwachsensein zu helfen. Wir unternehmen keine solchen Anstrengungen. Wir geben Kindern einfach ein Smartphone, wenn sie in die Pubertät kommen, in der Regel etwa im Alter von 10 Jahren, und überlassen es dann irgendwelchen Fremden im Internet, ihre Gehirnentwicklung zu lenken. Das ist eine wirklich schlechte Idee. Hinzu kommt, dass Kinder in der Regel nicht wissen, wie sie Benachrichtigungen auf dem Handy ausschalten können. Im Grunde erlauben sie damit Dutzenden von Unternehmen, sie zu unterbrechen und ihre Aufmerksamkeit zu erlangen. Für junge Menschen bedeutet das Smartphone also, dass es ihre Aufmerksamkeit grösstenteils oder vollständig in Anspruch nimmt und sie von jeglichem sinnvollem Ziel ablenkt.

Von Jonathan Haidt im Text «Wir haben Kinder fragiler gemacht» (2024)