Why screen time studies can’t measure the effect of smartphones on our well being
What is the correlation between screen time and adolescent well-being? It’s an important question for which we have limited and often contradictory answers. A story in Wired this week all but let our phones off the hook for any negative consequences — but I wonder if the study fully understands the way we live now.
Much of the research to date on the potential effects of screen time on well-being relies on self-reported data from massive surveys, Wired reports. The sheer amount of data available means that creative scientists can make nearly any argument about correlations, leading to widespread confusion about the truth.
In the latest issue of Nature Human Behavior, researchers Andrew Przybylski and Amy Orben apply a novel statistical...