Okay now I'm kind of annoyed by this author's claims. They cite a meta-analysis while claiming: "... a 2024 analysis ... found that links between social media use and poor mental health among youth were small, inconsistent"
Following that link and reading the RESULTS paragraph: "The 143 studies reviewed included 1 094 890 adolescents and 886 effect sizes, 11% of which examined clinical samples. In these samples, a positive and significant meta-correlation was found between social media use and internalizing symptoms, both for time spent (n = 2893; r, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.18; P = .02; I2, 24.59) and user engagement (n = 859; r, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.15; P = .002; I2, 82.67). These associations mirrored those in community samples."
POSITIVE AND SIGNIFICANT meta-correlation.
WTF? This is just blatant lying by the author. I mean sure they could claim the effect is, in their opinion, relatively small, but the study claims the exact opposite of what the author of the article claims!
Following that link and reading the RESULTS paragraph: "The 143 studies reviewed included 1 094 890 adolescents and 886 effect sizes, 11% of which examined clinical samples. In these samples, a positive and significant meta-correlation was found between social media use and internalizing symptoms, both for time spent (n = 2893; r, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.18; P = .02; I2, 24.59) and user engagement (n = 859; r, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.15; P = .002; I2, 82.67). These associations mirrored those in community samples."
POSITIVE AND SIGNIFICANT meta-correlation.
WTF? This is just blatant lying by the author. I mean sure they could claim the effect is, in their opinion, relatively small, but the study claims the exact opposite of what the author of the article claims!