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- RE: Smartphones, social media use and youth mental health
Research and policy regarding the effects of our digital world on mental health should consider the fact that radiation from electromagnetic fields can affect the brain. The $25 million study by the US National Toxicology Program, used 2G and 3G wireless exposures, and reported changes in DNA in the frontal lobe and hippocampus - regions of the brain important for learning, memory, and behaviour. These effects occurred in the experimental rodents, but not the controls. There is a large body of published research evidence on many non-thermal biological effects of Rf/EMF radiation, however few, if any studies have been carried out using fifth generation 5G wireless.
Pall ML. Microwave electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produce widespread neuropsychiatric effects including depression. Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy 2016;75:47-51.
Competing Interests: None declared. - RE: Response to Messrs. Laur
We thank Messrs. Darren and Brandon Laur for highlighting a number of studies published since the past year that did not find a significant correlation between social media and smartphone use and mental health difficulties. This is a very rapidly growing field, with hundreds of studies – both negative and positive – published in the last year alone. Thus, any manuscript going through the peer review process will necessarily miss the most recent studies.
Nevertheless, while our paper focuses on the potential challenges from smartphone and social media use, we do describe findings that show no negative impact on mental health, and those showing positive effects. Heterogeneous findings across and within studies are likely the result of multiple factors, in particular those related to context and inter-individual differences. This is a complex area that will continue to evolve, especially as society continues to adapt to the important changes in interpersonal communication in recent years, and there will likely be generational cohort effects.
As to the potential role of social media to increase access to mental health care, this as an important and separate topic that is beyond the scope of our analysis. Nonetheless, as we state in our paper, “for adolescents today, who have not known a world without social media, digital interactions are the norm, and the potential benefits of online access to productive mental health information — including media literacy,...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared. - RE: Peer Reviewed Studies Not Mentioned In Your Lit Review
We are wondering why in your academic literature review paper, you did not cite the research in these very recent peer reviewed studies that show a statistically insignificant correlation between tech and mental health:
Coyne, S. M., Rogers, A. A., Zurcher, J. D., Stockdale, L., & Booth, M. (2020). Does time spent using social media impact mental health?: An eight year longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior, 104, 106160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106160
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Heffer, T., Good, M., Daly, O., MacDonell, E., & Willoughby, T. (2019). The Longitudinal Association Between Social-Media Use and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents and Young Adults: An Empirical Reply to Twenge et al. (2018). Clinical Psychological Science, 7(3), 462–470. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702618812727
Jensen, M., George, M. J., Russell, M. R., & Odgers, C. L. (2019). Young Adolescents’ Digital Technology Use and Mental Health Symptoms: Little Evidence of Longitudinal or Daily Linkages. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(6), 1416–1433. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702619859336
Jensen, M., & Odgers, C. (2020). Annual Research Review: Adolescent mental health in the digital age: facts, fears, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry....Competing Interests: None declared.