Computer games and social media - are they the cause of worsening mental health in adolescents?

Computer games and social media - are they the cause of worsening mental health in adolescents?

Sample: 25 629 adolescents.

Participants underwent annual assessments from ages 12 to 15.

Shown: over a three-year period, no causal link was found between computer games, social media, and worsening mental health in adolescents. The identified associations were gender-specific - if girls played more games in one year, they spent less time on social media the next (but not boys), and if boys were in a worse mood one year, they played fewer games the next (but not girls). Additionally, no links were found between mental health and active (comments, content creation) or passive (scrolling) social media use. Based on these findings, it’s time to stop blaming games and social media solely on the basis of correlations from a single time point.

Like this post if you’re gonna go chill at the computer without worrying about your mental health.

Link to an article.