I strongly suspect that, like the Southampton Six, what we're looking at here is a faster unmasking of underlying neurodevelopmental issues, and not causation.
> FINDINGS: In this cohort study of 11 286 youth participants, within-person elevations in self-reported Problematic Social Media Use behaviors were associated with higher parent-reported ADHD symptoms the following year during mid-adolescence. These within-person associations differed by sex and were significant among males but not females
I strongly suspect that, like the Southampton Six, what we're looking at here is a faster unmasking of underlying neurodevelopmental issues, and not causation.
Should link to the paper: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...
> FINDINGS: In this cohort study of 11 286 youth participants, within-person elevations in self-reported Problematic Social Media Use behaviors were associated with higher parent-reported ADHD symptoms the following year during mid-adolescence. These within-person associations differed by sex and were significant among males but not females
Its plausible. This would be impulsive behavior.
Since ADHD pre existed social media it seems likely that this is not a cause.
It might make things worse.
Spending time looking for prevention/treatment rather than correlations might be more useful.