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:
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?
Anyone who thinks you can avoid hearing about “the horrors” by leaving social media hasn’t tried leaving social media. This stuff is unavoidable. The only little control you have over it is the sheer volume of it that you wish to get firehosed by on a daily basis.
I don’t hear about any of it when I’m offline, but sure.