Almost everything we know about social media and health could be wrong

People looking at their phones — There’s a fundamental flaw in many studies on social media use

By Tom Chivers

Most studies into the effects of social media use and screen time are badly flawed. This is because researchers use surveys to find out people’s technology use, but how much we think we spend glued to our devices and how much we actually use them are almost completely unrelated.

Researchers have used self-reported surveys to justify claims like increasing smartphone use is causing teenage suicide and a drop in sexual activity. But now a study from David Ellis at Lancaster University and …