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Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study
- stopbulying 11mo agoIs owning a smartphone more or less dangerous than owning a cat? "Cat Ownership Linked to Increased Risk of Schizophrenia, Research Suggests" https://www.sciencealert.com/owning-a-cat-could-double-your-risk-of-schizophrenia-research-suggests https://www.sciencealert.com/owning-a-cat-could-double-your-... > "After adjusting for covariates, we found that individuals exposed to cats had approximately twice the odds of developing schizophrenia,"
- Fnoord 11mo agoMy first question would be: or is it that cat owners are schizophrenic are more likely to get a cat? I'm not answering that question, but I do want to quote your article. From the bottom: > Results were inconsistent across studies, but those of higher quality suggested that associations in unadjusted models might have been due to factors that could have influenced the results. > One study found no significant association between owning a cat before age 13 and later developing schizophrenia, but it did identify a significant link when narrowing down cat ownership to a specific period (ages 9 to 12). This inconsistency suggests that the critical window for cat exposure is not well defined. > A study in the US, which involved 354 psychology students, didn't find a connection between owning a cat and schizotypy scores. However, those who had received a cat bite had higher scores when compared to those who had not. > Another study, which included people with and without mental disorders, discovered a connection between cat bites and higher scores on tests measuring particular psychological experiences. But they suggested other pathogens, such as Pasteurella multocida, may be responsible instead. > Before we can make any firm interpretations, the researchers reiterate that we need better and broader research.
- crooked-v 11mo agoAnd of course there's endless correlation-causation isseus there as well. Under most circumstances you have to be both aggressive and careless to get bitten by a cat in the first place.
- integralid 11mo ago>A study in the US, which involved 354 psychology students Sometimes I think that psychology students mental health must have extremely large influence on the field of psychology.
- Fnoord 11mo agoThat one also reads 'schizotypy'. This is much more broad than schizophrenia and includes schizoid personality disorder; something I don't have a diagnosis for but I do tick the boxes for (IMO) as a so-called introvert with diagnosed autism. And yes, we do have cats, and I have a natural dislike for dogs.
- doctorpangloss 11mo agoObviously, because people like cats, they are good, and because people don’t like phones, they are bad.
- graeme 11mo agoSchizophrenia is a subset of "doing worse mentally". For a proper comparison you need to check overall mental health, not just schizophrenia, which is a rare condition.
- luxuryballs 11mo agowell since internet usage increases the purrrcent chance of cat ownership I’d say it’s at least a hair more dangerous and not without whisk(ers)
- ch4s3 11mo agoThat article is junk. The leading cause of Toxoplasma gondii infection in humans is under cooked meat. Cat ownership is not actually linked to higher prevalence of T. gondii infection[1]. [1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3497129/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3497129/
- integralid 11mo agoAnd the second most common cause is - if I remember correctly - working a garden/field without gloves.
- ch4s3 11mo agoI think contact with contaminated soil is the vector here.
- DaveZale 11mo agothe culprit is toxoplasma. A third or so of US citizens have it in their brains.
- bean469 11mo agoThere's a popular saying about correlation and causation
- skylurk 11mo agoSoon: Adults who have smartphones have worse mental heath outcomes: Study Whatever the safe level of smartphone usage is, most of us are above it.
- macintux 11mo agoFortunately, I use my smartphone about 20 minutes a day for work authentication, and for its camera while traveling. And audiobooks. Unfortunately, my iPad Pro gets way, way, way more use. Much too addictive as a media consumption device.
- tyleo 11mo agoThat’s interesting because I’ve been able to keep my iPads and computers entirely productivity devices but my phone wastes considerable amounts of my time.
- bluefirebrand 11mo agoI doubt there is any meaningful difference in effect of smartphone usage versus tablet usage, though
- teaearlgraycold 11mo agoYeah I can’t see any good reason to get an iPad if you’re not an artist. Just a way to get more video streaming in your life.
- ekropotin 11mo agoI’d guess it’s very different from how most of the people consume content. The problem with smartphone is that it’s always on you wherever you go, and the temptation to use it for filling every second of boredom is just too strong. iPads/laptops on another hand are just too bulky for carrying them around - in a minute of boredom you have to take deliberate action to go and grab it from whatever place it’s right now. From my experience, this additional barrier between you and content is a huge deterring factor. As an anecdote, I use Brick app to lock my phone out of social media, and even tho the physical unlocking device in another corner of the same room where I’m, this works surprisingly well, because most of the time I’m just too lazy to take this action of going through unlocking procedure.
- torginus 11mo agoI don't know many children who are 13 today and don't have a smartphone - in fact it was quite a common thing even a decade ago - how do you even control for this
- defrost 11mo agoThere's also a decade plus of various "Net Children Go Mobile" annual surveys across major tecnological countries that plot the diffusion of phone use and ownership by age and country. Leading to a large ANOVA table of years, countries, ages, mental health statitics, etc. Yes, Denmark measures these things is ways different to the UK and both differ from the US. All the same, each being reasonably internally consisent across time means trends can be picked after normalising. The case for whether encroaching phone use does correlate with increased early onset mental issue diagnoses becomes a consideration of thresholds and variances. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283320908_Net_Children_Go_Mobile_risks_and_opportunities_Second_edition_Milano_Educatt https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283320908_Net_Child...
- supportengineer 11mo agoTo me, "The Internet" and "The Internet without short-form videos" are two different things. There was a very short span of time when the mobile bandwidth was good enough for browsing, messaging, and corporate email, but not really good enough (or prohibitively expensive) for streaming. Feels like that was the sweet spot.
- ta12653421 11mo ago....yeah but then, they found out how to build & deliver mobile ADS & co, so bandwidth need exploded, bringing us to the "mobile web" we have today. E.g. including YT Ads popping up after 15 min in a meditation class :-D
- inerte 11mo agoMy 13 year old has a phone. Most of the apps are blocked. Messages is open, and we tweak based on expectations how much he has access per day, and when. Right now it's 8:30pm to 9pm (so after sports and homework). He can call and text me and my wife anytime of the day. Thankfully the school bans phone usage, so it's not a lot. A handful of his friends have no phone. Most have, and all apps are accessible (not sure how parents configure age restricted content/apps). It's a lot of work to limit and tweak and even his 1 minute a day on Safari (because I couldn't find a way to cut to 0) allowed him to create a TikTok and Instagram account (on web). I am a technologist... and gee my 13 year is a genius when trying to find ways to circumvent the restrictions. Every other week I have to change some minor thing in Settings. But my point is that it's a LOT of work... I can see why some people either completely ban or allow. But to me it's worth. Messages is open because I believe he needs to talk with his friends, but fuck Tiktok and Instagram and Youtube.
- groundzeros2015 11mo agoImpossible to separate from level of parental care.
- casey2 11mo agoYou shouldn't stick your head in the sand just because it makes you feel better. Since media companies are causing damage then they should be held liable. Where is the class action?
- kfarr 11mo agoThe math checks out for this campaign at least: https://www.waituntil8th.org/ https://www.waituntil8th.org/
- CaliforniaKarl 11mo agoIn the US, we restrict driving to around age 16, alcohol consumption to 18, voting to 18, and tobacco consumption to 21. Then there are industry-applied age ratings, like the MPA’s PG-13, R, and NC-17 ratings. Barbiturates and amphetamines we’re once available without a prescription. There’s official/unofficial wiggle room, but there are limits. For example, if you live on a farm, you may be driving on the farm before you have a license to drive on public roads. I could see mobile-phone ownership becoming similarly-restricted.
- senfiaj 11mo agoKids can / often use other family members' smartphones / tablets (I assume it's the majority of cases). How can the law prevent this if parents do nothing about this?
- lemming 11mo agoThe same way that the law prevents kids drinking their parents’ alcohol - it doesn’t. But having it be illegal sends a signal, even though it’s possible to circumvent it, and also allows prosecution if warranted.
- roenxi 11mo agoThat'd put it in the same basket as alcohol and tobacco. Although the pro/con of owning a mobile are a lot less clear than those two and banning phones in that way is probably a mistake.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 11mo agoIt sucks because they could be pocket-sized bicycles for the mind rather than addicting ad-driven bullshit surveillance slot machines that maximize attention. Humanity had a choice and chose poorly.
- fsckboy 11mo ago>In the US, we restrict ... alcohol consumption to 18 isn't it 21 all over the US? it was changed to cut drunk driving in the late 70s at the federal level, tied to highway funds, so the states needed to cave
- DoctorOW 11mo agoDang, et al., go.com needs the subdomain visible, all go.com means is that it's a Disney owned brand.
- SapporoChris 11mo agoI think that is warning enough.
- throwout4110 11mo agoHorrifically terrible data and methodology for even suggesting causal claims. Global Mind Data is literally self report online survey data. You may as well have used political surveys from Fox News and MSNBC
- bethekidyouwant 11mo agoKeeping your kids away from screens requires a significant parental effort
- thebigspacefuck 11mo agoHow’s this compare to computer/internet usage? I’ve been chronically online most years since age 7 but didn’t get a smartphone until 22 or so.
- BrenBarn 11mo agoMy anecdotal observations suggest it's pretty different. One thing is you can (and do, if you're a kid) carry it everywhere with you and stare at it all the time. I think the phone UI where each app takes over the whole screen also increases the impact of the worst sorts of apps (like TikTok).
- gblargg 11mo agoInteresting observation about everything effectively running in full-screen on a smartphone, taking it out of the larger context of whatever else you were doing before that.
- jackvalentine 11mo agoVery! I’ll be thinking about that for a while.
- kogasa240p 11mo agoPersonally I'd think its different, smartphone apps usually have tons of dark patterns and are designed to always be with you versus a desktop or even a laptop.
- andai 11mo agoSo, I can tell you my reaction when I was 13 and first saw a smartphone. (It must have been late 2007 or 2008.) You know. Everything's round and cute and colorful. Like candy. "Oh. This is for retarded people." Unfortunately I was wrong. It's actually much worse than that. It's for normal people. But it makes you retarded. Slowly. You don't even notice it happening. It eats away... day by day. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36256-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36256-4
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- thebigspacefuck 11mo agoI wonder how many 5-6 year olds are getting smartphones because parents are divorced and one parent wants to be able to check in on the other, could be something like that is the issue
- dcchambers 11mo agoReading Jonathan Haidt's 'The Anxious Generation' broke me. I have two kids, still far too young for smartphones, but his book and all of the surrounding research has made me DRASTICALLY alter the way I use my own smartphone and will shape the way I treat phones with them. If you have kids, take the "wait until 8th" pledge: https://www.waituntil8th.org/ https://www.waituntil8th.org/ No smart phones until after 8th grade.
- bigstrat2003 11mo agoReal talk, if I had kids they wouldn't get a smartphone until they turned 18. Kids have no business having smartphones.
- zombiwoof 11mo ago[dead]
- udev4096 11mo agoIt really depends. Not all kids are extremely dumb and get hooked by very obvious attempts from evil social networks. I still have hope for future aaron swartzs and linus torvaldss
- elwesties 11mo agoHonestly seems like a proxy for bad parents have sad kids. Makes logical sense to me.
- yooloo 11mo agoor ever
- chanux 11mo agoWhat purpose does the id parameter doing this URL? The site does not work without it.
- AlfeG 11mo agoBecause it's id? I mean slug is not important - id - is. https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Family/eating-carrots-make-children-blind/story?id=123961082 https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Family/eating-carrots-make-childr...
- captainkrtek 11mo agoI've struggled throughout my life with anxiety, ADHD, and bouts of depression. I've done years of therapy, and use some medication to help with my ADHD. I will say though, singlehandedly, the best (and hardest) thing I've had to do is fight my own phone/internet/computer usage. I grew up with computers and still work professionally with them day to day, but have made a serious effort in the last year to cut down my usage in an extreme manner: - Using a 'brick' device to control which apps work on my phone, requiring I physically tap my phone to the brick to lock/unlock the restricted mode. This is always on. - Blocking tons of sites via multiple means (iOS screen time, eero network profiles) - Turning my iPhone into a very very basic phone: in "bricked" mode, which I will find myself using for continuous days at a time, I can only use: gmail, photos, notes, weather, maps, spotify, telephone, imessage. No news, no internet browsing, no social media. - I've deleted all social media accounts (except LinkedIn, but this too is blocked on my phone). From all of this, the initial realization was, "wow, I'm bored..", which is hard at first to sit with as a feeling, when normally my first instinct to that feeling was "let's open some app/youtube/etc." Then you slowly find positive things creeping in to occupy that boredom time: reading, calling friends/family, getting chores done, etc. And for anything "restricted" that I can't do on my phone, I largely can do on my computer (though I still block sites like reddit, youtube). But this is much healthier as I'm much less likely to pick up my laptop for hours on end, vs. opening my phone at every moment I'm bored.