From PBS News
Are smartphones and social media harming teen mental health? Here’s why experts are split
By Stephanie Sy and Mike Fritz
A number of states are moving to regulate social media use among children and teens. New York is the latest state with a new law that would allow parents to block their children from getting posts suggested by a platform’s algorithm. This comes amid a larger conversation about social media and smartphones. Stephanie Sy reports...
Stephanie Sy:
danah boyd is the author of “It’s Complicated. The Social Lives of Networked Teens.” She also works for Microsoft Research.
What role do you think social media plays in anxiety and depression among teens?
danah boyd:
I think that the Internet mirrors and magnifies the good, bad and ugly. I think it absolutely amplifies things. And so I think that we have to acknowledge that, yes, young people are genuinely struggling, but trying to make the tools for which they’re simultaneously exposed to the world and the tools for which they’re reaching out to people unavailable isn’t going to make the mental health crisis go away...
danah boyd received her Ph.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Information and is the founder of the Data & Society Research Institute. She is also a researcher at Microsoft and a visiting professor at New York University.
