Study: Social Media Don’t Displace In-Person Hangouts for Teens

Published

1 year ago

April 10, 2024

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A new study strikes a blow to the idea that teenage social media use is obliterating in-person time with friends. According to the new research, published in Computers in Human Behavior, teens who spend a lot of time on social media will also log the most in-person socialization time. Futhermore, the researchers “found no support for the assumption that social media use predicts declines in social skills.”

On some level, this isn’t surprising. Social teens are social teens, no matter the medium.

But it’s fashionable today to blame smartphones for depression and anxiety in teens, and a prominent theory of how this works is that social media crowd out unmediated activities, such as hanging out in person. The new study suggests this theory may miss the mark.

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Δ More Social Media, More Offline Socializing

The research was conducted by an international team of academics that included professors at Brown University, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Amsterdam School of Communication Research, and St. Olavs University Hospital. For the study, they collected biennial data about social media use, social skills, and time spent with friends for hundreds of Norwegian children. This information was measured when the kids were ages 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18.

“More time spent with offline friends was concurrently associated with greater social media use at ages 10, 12, and 14 years,” report the researchers.

In addition, increased use of social media “positively predicted time spent with friends offline” in the future: “participants who liked, commented, and posted more over time displayed an increase in the number of days they spent with friends offline.”

The effects were small but significant, and applied across sexes and age groups.

So contrary to conventional wisdom, teens who start spending more time on social media aren’t largely doing it to the exclusion of in-person socializing.

Nor does spending more time on social media seem to make social skills worse. “Increased use of social media was unrelated to future levels of social skills across ages 1018 years,” states the study.

“Our findings…provide preliminary evidence that concern over declining social skills as a result of social media use may be unwarranted,” the researchers conclude. “Social media use may even support offline interaction with friends, and thus indirectly promote adolescents’ wellbeing and functioning.” No One-Size-Fits-All Script

Increased social media use did predict a decline in social skills among people who already scored high on social anxiety, though the effect was small and only applied to those between ages 12 and 16.

The findings “align with prior research supporting a poor-get-poorer (i.e., rich-get-richer) hypothesis,” the researchers explain.

This is interesting because it points to a wider conundrum when it comes to studies of social media use and teen mental health.

Some previous research has shown higher levels of social media use or screen time are correlated with higher levels of mental health problems. A lot of people like to interpret these studies as evidence that social media causes mental problems in teens. But causation could go the other way: Teens suffering from mental health issues, bullying at school, etc. could start using social media more heavily to cope with offline stress.

Maybe online communities actually help troubled teens deal better with their offline stressors. Or maybe there’s a circular reinforcement effect going on, with offline troubles leading to more time online and that, in turn, leading to more isolation and negative emotions or behaviors. We just don’t know. It’s likely different for different teens, depending on their particular circumstances.

This new study serves as an important reminder of this variance. There’s no one-size-fits-all script for social media use among teenswhich means we should also avoid one-size-fits-all solutions.

For teens who are social and well-adjusted already, social media use may become a fun extension of their in-person social life or spur new friendships that then translate to offline spaces. But for some teens who are already suffering from anxiety or other issues, social media use could prove problematic, exacerbating offline issues.

This is why catchall ruleslike laws banning minors from social media useare both unnecessary and unwise. Such policies could prove helpful to some teens, of no consequence to others, and harmful to still others. That’s why the people best positioned to understand the way a particular teenager relates to social media, and to set more boundaries should problems arise, are that teen’s parents or other adults close to them, not distant lawmakers looking for blanket solutions. More Sex & Tech News

The battle over warrantless federal surveillance is hot again.

So this has to be a bit, right? Comedian Brinan Weeks has filed a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer of the Fleshlight sex toy. Weeks is accusing the company of negligent misrepresentation and unfair and deceptive practices after failing to see improvement in his “sexual performance or stamina” after using it.

A federal court ruled against X in a lawsuit it brought against the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Today’s Image

I recently came across my senior photoand since today’s newsletter is all about teens, I’ll share it with you. Why they had me pose like I’m about to flash somebody in an alley, I don’t know. What I do know is that coat came from the Delia’s catalogue, I still own it, and it’s held up astonishingly well.
(ENB)

UK

VE Day: Veterans to join King for tea party as Keir Starmer praises ‘selfless dedication’

Published

2 hours ago

May 5, 2025

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VE Day: Veterans to join King for tea party as Keir Starmer praises 'selfless dedication'

Veterans are set to join the King for a VE Day tea party today as the prime minister has paid tribute to the “selfless dedication” of the war generation.

Among them will be a 99-year-old who took part in the D-Day landings and a 100-year-old woman who worked in the Special Operations Executive, known as Churchill’s Secret Army.

Director general of the Royal British Legion, Mark Atkinson, said the charity was “proud” to be taking a place “at the heart of these national celebrations and commemorations” on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

He said it would be “one of our last opportunities as a nation to pay tribute to those veterans still with us today”.

Evacuees from World War Two and veterans who were still in active conflict after VE Day are among the other guests set to attend the tea party, which will take place in the presence of the King and other members of the Royal Family.

At 12pm, the Royal Family will observe a military procession, followed by a flypast.

It will be the first major VE Day anniversary without any of the royals who stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the day victory in Europe was declared, after the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

‘Not just for Britain’

The celebrations come as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer praised veterans for their “selfless dedication” and thanked them for a “debt that can never fully be repaid” in an open letter ahead of VE Day.

He said the stories which will be heard this week from those who fought in the Second World War would be a reminder that the victory “was not just for Britain” but was also “a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil”.

Sir Keir said the WW2 veterans “represent the best of who we are” and that without their service “the freedom, peace and joy that these celebrations embody, would not be possible”.

Personnel from NATO allies the US, France and Germany will be among those taking part in the procession in London.

The commemorations will begin with the words of Sir Winston Churchill‘s 1945 victory speech, spoken by actor Timothy Spall.

Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of the capital to witness the celebrations.

On the anniversary itself on Thursday, marking exactly 80 years since the Allies formally accepted Germany’s surrender, a service of commemoration will be held at Westminster Abbey, to include a national two minutes’ silence.

Pubs across England and Wales, which usually close at 11pm, will also stay open for an extra two hours to allow punters more time to celebrate.

Sports

Logano gets 1st win this season in OT at Texas

Published

2 hours ago

May 5, 2025

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Logano gets 1st win this season in OT at Texas

Associated Press

May 4, 2025, 09:23 PM ET

FORT WORTH, Texas — Reigning NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano overcame a lot to get his first victory this season.

It came a week after Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric‘s win at Talladega, where Logano had a fifth-place finish that became 39th after a postrace inspection found an issue with the spoiler on his No. 22 Ford. There was also Logano’s expletive-laden rant on the radio toward his teammate in the middle of that race that the two smoothed out during the week. Oh, and he started 27th at Texas after a bad qualifying effort on the 1½-mile track.

But Logano surged ahead on the restart in overtime Sunday to win in the 11th race this year. He led only seven of the 271 laps, four more than scheduled.

“After what happened last week, to be able to rebound and come right back, it’s a total ’22’ way of doing things. So proud of the team,” Logano said.

On the final restart after the 12th caution, Logano was on the inside of his other teammate, Ryan Blaney. But Logano pulled away on the backstretch and stayed easily in front for the final 1½ laps, while Ross Chastain then passed Blaney to finish second ahead of him.

“Just slowly, methodically,” Logano said of his progression to the front. “Just kept grinding, a couple here and a couple there and eventually get a win here.”

Logano got his 37th career victory, getting the lead for the first time on Lap 264. He went low to complete a pass of Michael McDowell.

“I mean, there’s always a story next week, right?” Logano said. “So I told my wife last week before we left, I said, ‘Watch me go win this one.’ It’s just how we do stuff.”

On a caution with 47 laps left, McDowell took only two tires and moved up 15 spots to second. He ended up leading 19 laps, but got loose a few laps after getting passed by Logano and crashed to bring out the caution that sent the race to overtime. He finished 26th.

“We were giving it everything we had there to try to keep track position,” McDowell said. “Joey got a run there, and I tried to block it. I went as far as I think you could probably go. When Blaney slid in front of me, it just took the air off of it and I just lost the back of it. I still had the fight in me, but I probably should have conceded at that point.”

Odds and Ends

William Byron, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott remained the top four in season points. … Elliott left Texas last spring with his first victory after 42 races and 18 months without one. He hasn’t won since, and now has another long winless drought — this one 38 races and nearly 13 months after finishing 16th. … A crew member for Christopher Bell crawled in through the passenger side of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and was fully in the car to reconnect an air hose to the driver’s helmet during a caution in the second stage. It took two stops during that caution, and twice climbing into the car, to resolve the issue.

Fiery end to Hamlin streak

Hamlin had finished on the lead lap in 21 consecutive races, but a fiery finish on Lap 75 ended that streak that had matched the eighth longest in NASCAR history. He was the first car out of the race.

After the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lost power, something blew up when Hamlin recycled the engine. Flames were coming from under the car and it was engulfed in smoke when it rolled to a stop on the inside of the track, and Hamlin climbed out unharmed.

Youngest pole sitter

Carson Hocevar, the 22-year-old driver who is McDowell’s teammate with Spire Motorsports, was the youngest pole sitter in Texas. He led only the first 22 laps of the race, losing it while pitting during the first caution. He finished 24th after a late accident.

Stage cautions

Both in-race stages finished under caution. Cindric won Stage 1 after Hamlin’s issues, and Kyle Larson took the second after a yellow flag came out because of debris on the track after the right rear tire on Chris Buescher‘s car came apart.

Larson got his 68th overall stage win and his sixth at Texas, with both marks being records. He has won a stage in each of the past five Cup races at Texas, starting in his 2021 win there.

US

Trump calls for reopening of Alcatraz to house ‘most ruthless and violent offenders’

Published

4 hours ago

May 5, 2025

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Trump calls for reopening of Alcatraz to house 'most ruthless and violent offenders'

US President Donald Trump has called for the reopening of notorious prison Alcatraz.

In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Mr Trump said America had been “plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders”.

He added that when the United States was “a more serious nation” it “did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals”.

“That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz, to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders,” he wrote.

Mr Trump said the reopening of the San Francisco prison would “serve as a symbol of law, order, and justice”.

The US president’s latest policy announcement comes after he fired national security adviser Mike Waltz last week in the first major change to his administration.

Alcatraz was infamously inescapable and in the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes, according to the FBI.

Nearly all of them were caught or did not survive the attempt at escaping.

The prison housed some of America’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone and George Kelly.

It has also been the subject of a number of films, including The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.

Alcatraz Island, which is surrounded by strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters, is now a major tourist site, operated by the National Park Service.

The prison’s closure in 1963 was attributed to crumbling infrastructure and high repair costs.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said it would “comply with all presidential orders”.

The Bureau of Prisons currently has 16 high-security prisons, including its maximum-security facility in Florence, Colorado, and a facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is home to the federal death chamber.

The United States’ federal law enforcement agency has been the subject of increased scrutiny in recent years after Jeffrey Epstein‘s suicide at a federal jail in New York City in 2019.