Participants were measurably happier and less anxious.

But, disappointingly, not by a huge margin:

Perhaps this is due to the fact a significant number of users switched to less harmful online platforms and didn’t stop using their phones.

Or perhaps there is actually something more sinister. My real concern with this study is the involvement of Meta.

We actually have evidence that Meta halted internal research about social media:

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/meta-buried-causal-evidence-social-media-harm-us-court-filings-allege-2025-11-23/

Would you study tobacco and have tobacco companies involved?

Would you study obesity and have Coca-Cola involved?

I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could Meta actually bully/bribe Stanford in order to change the figures?

    • Mac@mander.xyzEnglish
      11·
      5 days ago

      Oh, i see you’re a Lemmy user and therefore you must be a tankie. Go back to ml/grad
      /s

      If your sources of news relies on platform then i have bad news for you…

      • sudoer777@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        5 days ago

        FB/Instagram is a for-profit ad-driven platform that relies on fearmongering to keep you addicted to the platform. Keeping yourself addicted to a platform like that and destroying your mental health with it doesn’t help anyone but the corporation that runs the platform.