I've personally found that when I look at the studies used to show the negative effects of Facebook, the data used is pretty poor. Often Facebook isn't part of the study - sometimes it's 'social media' and it's effect on teens, sometimes it's more broadly 'screentime'
Also I've never seen any comparisons to teen's mental health pre-Facebook. I saw a statement once that 'as many as 2/3 of teen girls feel bad about their appearance'. If that's accurate it is a vast improvement as far as I can tell. Back when I was a teen I'd have called it at least 4/5ths. I could well believe it was 9/10ths. I've been delighted to see the change in clothing ads to cover all sizes, colors, and other imperfections. I thought I was forever blighted by my freckles, now I see freckled models everywhere.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 14.3 ms ] threadAlso I've never seen any comparisons to teen's mental health pre-Facebook. I saw a statement once that 'as many as 2/3 of teen girls feel bad about their appearance'. If that's accurate it is a vast improvement as far as I can tell. Back when I was a teen I'd have called it at least 4/5ths. I could well believe it was 9/10ths. I've been delighted to see the change in clothing ads to cover all sizes, colors, and other imperfections. I thought I was forever blighted by my freckles, now I see freckled models everywhere.