Jonathan Haidt wrote an important article on the effects of social media on democracy.

Although there are several things to like, I believe he got three major things wrong. 🧵

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi… 1⃣ Social media just aren't inherently bad.

Haidt labels social media as "terrible". However, as every Communication scholar knows, social media offer a plethora of uses and gratifications. There are plenty reason we spend so much time online.

"The impact of digital technology use on adolescent well-being"

New lit. review together with @NiklasJohannes, just published in "Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience".

👇 Thread with main conclusions 👇(1/8) 1. The general effects of digital technology use on well-being are likely in the negative spectrum, but very small—potentially too small to matter. (2/8)

Okay, #ica20, let's do this. Here are my thoughts on #openscience and #opencomm for the more qualitative approaches in our field!

(Beware, long thread.)
(Also, please be kind.) >Background: I was VERY curious how our agenda for #opencomm would be received in our field (if you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the link: academic.oup.com/joc/advance-ar…).

Does social media use affect the life satisfaction of young people?

In what follows, please find the results of the most recent and probably largest longitudinal study on the topic -- which has just appeared in the Journal PNAS. 1/11 Together with @OrbenAmy & @ShuhBillSkee we have analyzed data from Understanding Society, the largest panel study worldwide. 8 Waves of data were collected, each separated by 1 year. The results are based on the answers of altogether 5,491 British Youth. @usociety 2/11

Beeinflusst Social Media-Nutzung die Lebenszufriedenheit? Stimmt die These, u.a. vertreten von Spitzer, dass Jugendliche durch Social Media unglücklicher werden?

Hier die Ergebnisse der umfangreichsten längsschnittlichen Studie zum Thema - soeben erschienen im Journal PNAS! 1/11 Zusammen mit @OrbenAmy & @ShuhBillSkee analysierten wir Daten von Understanding Society, der weltweit umfangreichsten Längsschnittstudie. 8 Wellen wurden bisher erhoben, mit jeweils 1 Jahr Abstand. Insgesamt gingen Antworten von 5.492 britischen Jugendlichen ein. @usociety 2/11