Meta, TikTok, And Snap Agree To Teen Safety Ratings
The voluntary agreement comes amid pressure from lawmakers and a slew of lawsuits alleging that the social media giants have made their platforms addictive. Other news on mental health covers the benefits of exercise on mild depression, divergent criteria in Alzheimer’s diagnoses, and more.
The Washington Post:
Under Growing Pressure, The Biggest Social Networks Agree To Be Rated On Teen Safety
Three leading social media companies have agreed to undergo independent assessments of how effectively they protect the mental health of teenage users, submitting to a battery of tests announced Tuesday by a coalition of advocacy organizations. Meta — which operates Facebook and Instagram — TikTok and Snap are first three companies to sign up for the process. (Duncan, 2/10)
Bloomberg:
YouTube Lawyer Sees No Addiction From Half Hour Of Videos
The 20-year-old woman at the center of a landmark trial over social media addiction used YouTube for an average of just 29 minutes per day over the last five years, a lawyer for Google told jurors. Moreover, the woman identified in court filings as K.G.M. and in the courtroom as Kaley said in pretrial testimony last year she didn’t consider herself at the time to be an addict, and neither her mental health therapist nor her father saw her as one, attorney Luis Li said Tuesday in his opening statement. (Mekelburg, 2/10)
More mental health news —
The Guardian:
Exercise Can Be ‘Frontline Treatment’ For Mild Depression, Researchers Say
Aerobic exercise such as running, swimming or dancing can be considered a frontline treatment for mild depression and anxiety, according to research that suggests working out with others brings the most benefits. Scientists analysed published reviews on exercise and mental health and found that some of the greatest improvements were observed in young adults and new mothers – groups that are considered particularly vulnerable to mental health problems. (Sample, 2/10)
The New York Times:
Drinking Is A ‘Social Lubricant.’ That’s Not Always A Good Thing
The psychologist first became intrigued by the phenomenon decades ago, while he was setting up an experiment about the effects of drinking on anxiety and heart rate. Women had been excluded from many such studies, so Michael Sayette, a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, asked five female volunteers to come into the lab and drink, allowing him to set blood alcohol benchmarks for his experiment. (Rabin, 2/10)
The Wall Street Journal:
Why Doctors Can’t Agree On How To Diagnose Alzheimer’s
Imagine you’re in your late 60s and are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. You start planning the rest of your life: telling your spouse you may eventually become incapacitated; looking into long-term memory care; checking off as many bucket list items as you can. (Reddy, 2/9)
NPR:
This Complex Brain Network May Explain Many Of Parkinson’s Stranger Symptoms
Parkinson's disease does more than cause tremor and trouble walking. It can also affect sleep, smell, digestion and even thinking. That may be because the disease disrupts communication in a brain network that links the body and mind, a team reports in the journal Nature. (Hamilton, 2/10)
