Teens spend countless hours glued to their phones and tablets, continually posting on social media, but British researchers report that it might not be as terrible as many parents may think.

It appears that teens who are less satisfied with their lives do tend to spend more time on Snapchat, Instagram and the like, but the link between life satisfaction and time spent on social media was “trivial”, the research found.

New modelling methods

“The previous literature was based almost entirely on correlations with no means to dissociate whether social media use leads to changes in life satisfaction or changes in life satisfaction influence social media use,” explained researcher Amy Orben, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Oxford.

But by applying new modelling methods to an eight-year survey of households in the United Kingdom, the researchers were able to tease out data that gave them a better understanding of the effect of social media.

The survey looked at how much time teens spent on social media during a normal school day and compared this with their life satisfaction ratings.

The researchers did find lower life satisfaction increased the time spent on social media, while less time on social media was tied to higher life satisfaction.

This finding was stronger among girls than boys, but even so, the connection was tenuous, they noted.

More and better data needed

Co-lead author Andrew Przybylski, director of research at Oxford Internet Institute, said this finding is an important step in understanding the effects of social media.

“Given the rapid pace of technological advancement in recent years, the question of how our increasing use of technology to interact with each other affects our well-being has become increasingly important,” Przybylski said in an Oxford news release.

“With most of the current debate is based on lacklustre evidence, this study represents an important step towards mapping the effects of technology on adolescent well-being”, he said.

These findings hint at what the effect of social media might be on teens, but more and better data are needed to really understand the impact of social media, the researchers added.

“Applying transparent and innovative statistical approaches, we show that social media effects are not a one-way street, they are nuanced, reciprocal, possibly contingent on gender, and arguably trivial in size,” the researchers concluded.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Little Nathan Ungerer (3) has already undergone four operations after being incorrectly diagnosed with a hereditary disease in his left foot.

The energetic toddler, who lives with his mother in Middelburg, has never been able to wear shoes.

But this might change after his fifth – and hopefully final – surgery in coming months which is aimed at reducing the size of his left foot.

Nathan was mistakenly diagnosed at birth with hereditary Milroy disease, or lymphedema. An MRI scan later revealed the problem was due to lipoma – a harmless fatty lump between the skin and underlying muscle tissue.

“So far the operations have been successful and his left foot is now much smaller. It did grow twice as fast as the right foot – which happens in Milroy disease – but we’re relieved it’s not hereditary and won’t grow any bigger,” said Nathan’s grandmother, Selona van Wyngaard, who’s from Roodepoort, Gauteng.

YOU visited the family in August 2017 before Nathan’s new diagnosis, when the series of operations to systematically remove the fatty tumour in his foot had already started.

Selona says Nathan and his mom, Soné van Aswegan have since moved to Middelburg, Mpumalanga, and travel to Johannesburg for his treatment at a West Rand hospital.

Selona beams when she talks about her daughter and grandson. “Soné looks after him so well . . . they stay on a farm and she’s met a wonderful man who’s good to them,” she says. Her daughter fell pregnant with Nathan in her teens.

This week a proud Soné sent a photo of Nathan horse-riding for the first time to her mother and all their supporters.

“Nathan is always laughing, and keeps getting cuter,” Sone wrote.

“His foot will stay round, even after the final operation, but it doesn’t seem to bother him. I recently saw slippers that might fit him and wanted to buy them. But he’s never been bothered with shoes – I’m astounded by his enthusiasm each day.”

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A gym class for Muslim women in Leicestershire has been preparing them for the holy month.

Compared to patients who see their primary care doctor earlier in the day, cancer screening rates decline significantly as the day goes on, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School both of the University of Pennsylvania. The researchers, whose findings were published today in JAMA Network Open, believe these rates of decline may be in part due to “decision fatigue” — which results from the cumulative burden of screening discussions earlier in the day — and doctors falling behind in their busy schedules.