Episode 5: How do we ask better research questions about tech and mental health?

It’s one of the biggest questions in digital parenting: Do digital technologies cause mental health problems in children and teenagers? The answer is complicated, and the desire to find a simple, cause-and-effect answer (“screens cause anxiety” or “social media makes kids depressed”) doesn’t line up with what the evidence actually shows.In this episode, Pete and Andy dig into some of the reasons why studies in this area are often messy, why we need a set of minimum expected standards for tech companies in terms of sharing data with researchers, and how good research can get derailed by the toxic state of the wider debate.Show notesThe Family Online Safety InstituteLuisa Fassi’s paper on social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditionsChristopher Kelly and Tali Sharot’s paper on how web-browsing patterns reflect and shape mood and mental healthAiman El Asam and Adrienne Katz’s paper on vulnerable young people and their experience of online risksSonia Livingstone and Jasmina Byrne’s chapter on parenting in the digital age, and the challenges of parental responsibility This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit screensensepodcast.substack.com