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Study: Increased Facebook use not associated with psychological harm

2023-08-12 11:37:02Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Study: Increased Facebook use not associated with psychological harm
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There is no evidence that the global spread of Facebook is linked to psychological harm, says a study by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII).

The research looked at how well-being in 72 countries has changed as social media platform use has increased.

It defies the common belief that social media is psychologically harmful, researchers argue.

Several countries, including the UK, are considering legislation to protect social media users from online harm.

Meta, which owns Facebook, has faced scrutiny after press reports based on leaked data suggested the company's own research showed negative impacts on some users.

This study only looked at Facebook and not Meta's other platforms, including Instagram.

Professor Andrew Przybylski, of the OII, said the study sought to answer the question: "As countries become more saturated with social media, what does the well-being of their populations look like?"

He said: “It's usually thought of as a bad thing for wellbeing. And the data that we collected, together and the data that we analyzed, did not show that to be the case."

Previous OII work, carried out by Professor Przybylski, also found little link between teenagers' use of technology and mental health problems.

But the report only looked at the overall impact of Facebook usage at the national level. Broader findings could not reveal the impact of Facebook use on groups of people with particular vulnerabilities.

For example, negative impacts on small groups of users may be ignored if they are offset by positive impacts on others, admitted Prof. Przybylski.

Also, the study did not attempt to examine the risks posed by certain types of content, such as materials promoting self-harm.

For prof. Przybylski, the main lesson from the study was that researchers needed more data from technology companies to answer questions about the effect of social media:

We have a situation where a group of people are talking about the negative impacts of social media. But we actually don't have the data, we don't have the materials we need." he said.

The United Kingdom's Online Safety Bill (OSB) is in the final stages of its parliamentary journey towards becoming law. It is designed to protect people from harm online.

But Prof. Sonia Livingstone, of the London School of Economics, warned that the relevance of the OSB study was limited.

"The authors' broad criticism—that screen time anxieties are not supported by much hard evidence—is fair. However, the study reported here is so general that it has little use for current regulatory or clinical debates,” she said.

And while OSB prioritizes protecting children - the study doesn't look at young people as a separate group and "kids in general aren't using Facebook."

But she supported the authors' call for more research, based on access to data.

The study reviewed by Prof. Przybylski and co-author Matti Vuorre, is based on a large amount of data provided by Facebook. Both researchers are independent from the company and the research was not funded by the tech giant.

Facebook provided researchers with data showing how the number of users in each country grew between 2008 and 2019, divided into two age groups, 13-34 and over 35.

The OII team compared this data with some well-being data, representing nearly one million people, recorded by the Gallup World Poll.

Overall, the researchers say, they found no evidence that increased social media use was associated with a negative impact on psychological well-being.

Prof. Peter Etchells, professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University, said the comprehensive study was fascinating.

But, he said – as the authors make clear – he said nothing about cause and effect. Still, it showed the value of tech companies opening their doors to researchers, he noted.

Meta, which owns Facebook, said it hoped the "first study of its kind," using internal data from a social media firm, would lead to productive conversations with policymakers, parents and academics.

"We can only support those who struggle with their well-being when we understand the full picture," he said. / BBC


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