Posted by giuliomagnifico 8 hours ago
This headline seems to imply quite a lot for a relatively small study based on survey responses.
2. For the mass market social media platforms, it's pretty easy to get emotional support inside your bubble, at the cost of ... everything else.
I feel like the huge and obvious problems with social media hide a small and subtle, but insidious problem: How do I show that I care about you?
I feel like there is a range that might be described:
I don't care very much about you one way or another. (Small/no signal on social media, very unlikely to be boosted)
I care enough to fight for you. (Big Signal on social media, likely to be boosted)
I care enough to calmly discuss the problem. (Small signal on social media, unlikely to be boosted, likely to be trolled, unsatisfying in the face of active fighting words)
Uh, what? That's a patently ridiculous assertion to lead with (and not support).
I found the study that the article bases this on[1]. It doesn't make this claim and instead associates a higher mortality rate to sufferers of all mental disorders, 67% of which are deaths by natural causes. That these natural causes are directly associated with the mental disorder isn't even something the study says. Anxiety is just one of the many disorders analyzed.
This is similar to attributing a lower life expectancy to all people with endocrine diseases (e.g. diabetes) and later saying hyperthyroidism (another endocrine disease) is the sole cause of death in that group.
- [1]: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/...
But, generally, I've seen mortality causes listed as something like (1) cardiovascular disease (2) cancers.
Googling directly for "where does anxiety rank as a cause of death" the answer is something like "it's rarely the proximate cause of daeth, but is associated with higher all-cause mortality"
Nobody denies all the effects of social media are negative. After all, if they were, nobody would use them. So there are benefits to it.
It also isn't news, really. The Dutch 'MIND Hulplijn' [1] in their former carnation 'Stichting Korrelatie' had a pilot with an online forum where people with mental issues could connect with each other. It eventually decided to close the forum because of users talking each other down in regard to the subject of suicide (edit: and automutilation). However, the effect of a support group was also clearly there which was also a reason why they were reluctant to close it down.
What I'd like to know is how the effect would be compared to a forum or real-life support group. Because comparing social media with 'no help' or 'loneliness' obviously isn't fair.
>Gender was approximately equal, with 50.8% being female.
If anything, the data is more accurate for females, since there are 1.6pp more females.
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