For all you "screen time"-phobes: If a child replaced 100% of their "screen time" with non-interactive, non-social, non-puzzle-solving, non-skill-training activity, like, oh, I don't know, reading a book, would you be happier?

/1
Think about it honestly. We societally value book reading and we don't shame people for doing it. "mom I read a book last night" sounds peaceful. "mom i played a video game last night" makes you squirm. The problem is you.

/2
Gaming, interacting, sharing, socializing, solving puzzles, learning, participating in groups, these are all things that occur on screens. Ask yourself, why am I so against it?

you'll likely find 2 reasons:

/3
First reason for moral panic on video games: you know nothing about it, and make no effort to master your childs screen life in the same way you know every play they did when they were playing soccer, who their teammates were, etc.

/4
Second reason for moral panic on video games: you have bought into the "new generation is in trouble" narrative, which is a moral panic all on its own. You believe, wrongly, that if your child engages in YOUR childhood pasttimes (reading, calling on phone, hanging out, etc).../5
They will be better off. When actually, this generation of kids is the smartest, most responsible, most socially connected, most advocacy-forward, most caring, least violent group of kids that we have observed in modern histroy.

And they also like snapchat.

/6
So re-examine your own biases. There is NOTHING superior to reading a book than playing a video game or watching a video. "books are imaginative" no, no they're not. they're prescriptive. they tell you precisely what to think about.

/7
And with everything kids can do today, from creating worldwide drives to raise advocacy, connect with their friends, do online courses, learn new skills, consume entertainment, solve puzzles, play games together... the problem is NOT the screen.

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More from @tylerblack32

14 Jan
If you post something to twitter, a social media platform by which ideas are shared, and you don't want people to comment on it or provide their opinions, you can use many tools on twitter (locking account, changing who can reply).

Calling disagreement "disrespectful" is bizarre
If you wish to curate replies, you have many options. First, you can change who can reply.

"Everyone can reply" opens it up to the world
"People you follow" ensures that people you've selected are only able to reply
"People you've mentioned" means just that - specfically.

/2 Image
note that this does NOT stop retweets nor does it stop "quote tweet replies", an annoying type of reply that twitter SHOULD allow you to block if you choose.

/3
Read 12 tweets
31 Dec 20
Happy New Years Eve

I'm so grateful to all my followers (except if you follow to hate on psychiatry, boo you). This has been a trying year but I enjoy so many aspects of the #twitterverse, especially within #medtwitter, and the opportunity for me to grow and learn. /1
I wanted to thank a few people very specifically, because they changed my life. @uche_blackstock invited me into a mentor zoom chat, where I met and connected with @gboladi, who went on to become the national chair of the @bmsacanada with support from @doctorsofbc. /2
So thank you Dr. Blackstock for helping me move from "acknowledging" inequity into doing something about it. /3
Read 12 tweets
31 Dec 20
*************
Variance 🧵:
Why the media (and non-experts who "dabble" in mortality statistics) particularly suck at reporting the numbers of suicide
**************

Quite frequently, someone will send me an article like this.

#epitwitter #statstwitter
1/ Suicides are up 67% between the ages of 12-17 in Pima County.

By "mid-Nov 20", there have been 43 teen suicides, compared to 38 in total last year!

Without context, it certainly seems that the pandemic or the lockdown is to blame.
2/ Sure enough, i go to @CDC Wonder and fire up Arizona suicides for 2019 between 12-17 and I see there were 36 suicides in 2019 (not sure why there is a discrepancy between AZ DOH and CDC, but this is actually common by about 5%ish).
Read 15 tweets
24 Dec 20
THREAD: Updated Suicide Data for Canada

Statistics Canada has released 2019 (!! note !! pre-COVID, yes that's a thing) suicide data. Canada's long-standing relative "flatness" continues, with expected variation.
1/ This is one of my ways to present layered suicide data - a heat map showing the highest rates. For males, we can see that the highest rates are drifting older, but overall, the most recent years are lighter. Yay!
2/ And though female rates are overall much lower, we can see that there was a spike in younger women that has gradually dissipated.
Read 7 tweets
24 Dec 20
**NEW DATA Note: 2019 PRE COVID.**

CDC 2019 mortality data is out.

White: -2.2%
Black: +2.7%
Asian/PI: +1.5%
AI/AN: +0.5%
Hispanic: -1.4%
Total: -2.0%

(no group showed changes that fall out of the 95% confidence interval for comparing rates)

/1 Image
By sex, both displayed decreasing rates: (3% in ♀️, 2% in ♂️). The ratio is 3.7♂️ per 1♀️ (20-year-range 3.5-4.4)

♂️-to-♀️ suicide ratio is highly influenced by societal & cultural factors; each country's gender ratio is different (Canada 2.9-3.5, Hong Kong 1.8-2.4)

/2 Image
Both sexes showed decreases in virtually every age group, save the 25-39 male group which showed a tiny increase. The biggest drops were seen in child/teen males, and females <40.

/3 Image
Read 7 tweets
10 Dec 20
with some caveats (this study was conducted during very low community spread, significant protections were in place), this shows us that when the numbers support it, and with good policies, in person schooling is possible!
The knowledge of the UK situation is very important to put this study into context. Only a few years at each age group were invited to in person class, so schools were significantly less populated than normal (1/8th to 1/4 of the population).

/2
This restart happened when community spread was very low.

/3
Read 6 tweets

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