糖心vlog视频

Social media is not just about cute animal memes and pictures from stunning vacation destinations. There鈥檚 a darker side to these platforms that, from a mental health perspective, can make them nothing short of a minefield. 

Young people and children, whose brains are still developing, can be especially vulnerable to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and body image issues 鈥� issues that may be worsened or even caused by social media. 

Who bears the responsibility for mitigating these risks? From a legal standpoint, the answer remains unclear. 

In January 2023, the Seattle Public Schools became the first school district in the nation to file a lawsuit against several social media companies to hold them accountable for the 鈥渉arm caused to students鈥� social, emotional and mental health.鈥� Since then, more than 50 school districts have joined the suit, and other schools and districts around the country have filed suits of their own. 

For a team of researchers at the 糖心vlog视频, these cases sparked a new line of research, which they summarize in their recently published article, 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Mental health v. social media

Dr. Nora Kenworthy, a professor in UW Bothell鈥檚 School of Nursing & Health Studies, has long been interested in how technology intersects with health 鈥� both where it can be used for good, and where it may be causing harm. As a public-school parent, she said the social media lawsuits were significant on both personal and scholarly reasons. 

She enlisted one of her students, Jacqueline Richards, a graduate student majoring in Community Health & Social Justice, to be her co-researcher. She then helped Richards prepare the research for publication. 

For Richards, this project was her first time serving as the primary author in a research publication. 鈥淚 was very excited by this project. Professor Kenworthy was so generous in helping me through this process and providing helpful feedback. 

鈥淚 love research and doing work in this arena of mental health and technology use is really important to me,鈥� Richards added, noting that she had previously been a peer counselor in high school and double majored in Psychology and in Public Health as an undergraduate at the University of California Berkley. 

To provide mental health expertise, Kenworthy also invited Dr. Kosuke 鈥淜o鈥� Niitsu, SNHS assistant professor and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, to join the team. 

鈥淚 work at the Counseling Center here at UW Bothell, and many of my clients are college students who are young adults so I find this research into social media particularly important,鈥� Niitsu said. 鈥淭his project has inspired me a lot as well.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The burden of proof

The research team鈥檚 objective was to gain a better understanding of what research was being used in the pre-trial filings and whether it provided causality 鈥� as well as what additional research might help make a case for mental health impacts. 

鈥淭he first question was really, how can we as researchers do better to generate research that might be useful in these processes?鈥� Kenworthy said. 鈥淲e know that the way you identify and define a problem often leads to specific policy outcomes. This seemed like an important social moment, and we were interested in how that was being framed.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The harmful effects of social media are widespread 鈥� from low self-esteem stemming from the 鈥淜eeping Up With the Kardashians鈥� phenomenon of comparing oneself to others, to the dangers of having one鈥檚 interests pushed to unhealthy extremes by algorithms. As these platforms are also often overrun with misinformation, Niitsu said, they can even chip away at a person鈥檚 ability to trust people or information at all. 

While many of the negative mental health impacts of social media are well known, proving population-level causality remains the biggest challenge in holding these platforms accountable, Kenworthy said. 鈥淚t’s sort of like studying other health harming industries 鈥� except way harder. 

鈥淎s an industry that has impacts on health, one comparison might be the tobacco industry, but if everyone smoked,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f everyone in the world was smoking, how do we measure who is being harmed by it and how much? If all of us are living at least some segment of our lives online, then how do we measure things like exposure? Is it the amount of time you spend online? The platforms you use? The type of content and how you interact with it?鈥� 

A community-based approach

In their paper, the team concluded that the legally cited research on social media health harms lacks strong causal evidence. They also noted that the lawsuits often overlooked existing research on disproportionate impacts to marginalized groups. 

Further research in this area could not only help determine causality, Kenworthy said, but also help provide answers about how best to mitigate the impacts. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be really hard to establish population-level causality, but as a more qualitative researcher what I鈥檓 most interested in is the community-based, youth-driven research that identifies what people鈥檚 concerns are and helps them understand how to live in better relationship with technology,鈥� Kenworthy said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I think it鈥檚 worth putting our effort.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Added Richards, 鈥淪o much of the conversation has been about regulating youth and what youth are doing wrong on the internet. It feels like we鈥檙e punishing youth,鈥� she said. 鈥淎dults also have mental health problems when it comes to interacting with social media, so it seems like the issue is not just about youth development but a wider-spread problem that needs to be focused back on how the platforms are creating algorithms that are addictive or harmful and spreading content that isn鈥檛 healthy.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

From a clinical standpoint, doing more objective research on the specific mental health impacts could also better support these cases, Niitsu said. 鈥淔or example, if we say social media tends to impact attention span, that鈥檚 something researchers can actually measure.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Living with technology 

Despite the harm social media can cause, it鈥檚 necessary to remember that social media has positive impacts and that these platforms still provides value for many users, Niitsu said. 

鈥淪ocial media can help us connect with each other and provide community where there otherwise wouldn鈥檛 be.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Kenworthy also noted that users can try to limit negative impacts of social media on their mental health. 鈥淎s someone who both researches this and tries to be thoughtful about how I am online, I am increasingly aware of how impossible the choices are for where we engage 鈥� and how pulling back or exiting from social media platforms that don鈥檛 feel good to us can often be difficult,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y plea would be for everyone to be kind to themselves. 

鈥淢ost of all, I hope that we will continue to find ways to support each other 鈥業RL,鈥� not just mediated by platforms.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Already, Kenworthy and Richards have begun work on their next research project, which examines how people with chronic illnesses and disabilities use digital technologies as a form of care. Richards said she then hopes to work in a research institute after she graduates in June.