First, if the skeptics were right and the null hypothesis were true (i.e., social media does not cause harm to teen mental health), then the published studies would just reflect random noise 2 and Type I errors (believing something that is false). In that case, we'd see experimental studies producing a wide range of findings, including many that showed benefits to mental health from using social media (or that showed harm to those who go off of social media for a few weeks). Yet there are hardly any such experimental findings. Most experiments find evidence of negative effects; some find no evidence of such effects, and very few show benefits. Also, if the null hypothesis were true, then we'd find some studies where the effects were larger for boys and some that found larger effects for girls. Yet that's not what we find. When a sex difference is reported, it almost always shows more harm to girls and women. There is a clear and consistent signal running through the experimental studies (as well as the correlational studies), a signal that is not consistent with the null hypothesis.
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