Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, who said their study was the largest of its kind, said they found no evidence to support “popular ideas that certain groups are more at risk” from the technology.
However, Andrew Przybylski, professor at the institute—part of the University of Oxford—said that the data necessary to establish a causal connection was “absent” without more cooperation from tech companies. If apps do harm mental health, only the companies that build them have the user data that could prove it, he said.
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A study of more than 2 million people’s Internet use found no “smoking gun” for widespread harm to mental health from online activities such as browsing social media and gaming, despite widely claimed concerns that mobile apps can cause depression and anxiety.
Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, who said their study was the largest of its kind, said they found no evidence to support “popular ideas that certain groups are more at risk” from the technology.
Because the “stakes are so high” if online activity really did lead to mental health problems, any regulation aimed at addressing it should be based on much more “conclusive” evidence, he added.
Two years ago, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal research by Instagram on teenage girls’ use of the photo app that she said showed negative correlations in areas such as body image and self esteem, though its parent company, now called Meta, said the documents had been mischaracterized.
However, Przybylski said that while much of the existing research into the relationship between technology and mental health or wellbeing “attracts attention and clicks… the standards of evidence are quite poor.” The vast majority of studies published in this area focused on English-speaking countries, he said, while more than 90 percent of young people live outside North America and Europe.
Przybylski has for several years positioned himself as a buttress against outbreaks of moral panic over the social harms of technology, by challenging the data on which alarmist claims have been based.
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