I don’t know how many studies we need showing that social media, and particularly short videos on social media, are bad for mental health; not just for children and adolescents but for adults as well. Here is another study doing a meta-review and analysis of all those other studies, directly connecting viewing of short-form videos to avariety of issues. Around 70 pieces of research comprising almost 100,000 participants were analyzed. Watching these videos makes you stupider, have less attention and focus and less inhibited in behavior. Your general mental health will be worse, you will be more stressed and more anxious. (APA Study)
These platforms are widely used by Russia, China and other countries to sow discord in the US and damage our society and they are working well for those countries. The platforms should be banned or their use severely limited. Why aren’t they? The usual reason, the people who own them make immense political contributions and do intense lobbying. It is pathetic that we can’t limit such an obvious agent of great public health damage.
