Participants were measurably happier and less anxious.
But, disappointingly, not by a huge margin:
Perhaps this is due to the fact a significant number of users switched to less harmful online platforms and didn’t stop using their phones.
Or perhaps there is actually something more sinister. My real concern with this study is the involvement of Meta.
We actually have evidence that Meta halted internal research about social media:
Would you study tobacco and have tobacco companies involved?
Would you study obesity and have Coca-Cola involved?
I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could Meta actually bully/bribe Stanford in order to change the figures?
Yeah I got back on FB after a 10-year absence for my nonprofit, and then Insta. Went as far as downloading the apps to my phone. Within 1 week my mood and productivity had completely collapsed. I was just sitting there slumped into my chair, like I was hooked up to an IV drug or something. I used to do the same with Reddit to an extent, and being banned there was actually good for me. Now I am - well that nonprofit, I started with all the time I wasn’t wasting on Reddit. Fuck all that dopamine-addicted noise. I’m quitting weed this Christmas break, I want all my neurotransmitters back.