By Nadia Ramlagan

May 14, 2021

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee’s attorney general is part of a group that wants Facebook to stop its plans to create a kids’ version of Instagram.

The group contends using social media can be detrimental to children’s health and well-being, and that kids aren’t equipped to navigate the challenges.

Tennessee AG Herbert Slatery signed the letter, along with more than 40 other state attorneys general.

Facebook has said it wouldn’t show ads on the Instagram platform for kids under 13, but Tennessee Chief Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said ads or no ads, the platform will be designed to acclimate kids to social media at a time when they’re psychologically vulnerable.

“And so, they’re creating consumers,” said Skrmetti. “And they’re creating consumers who don’t recognize they’re going to potentially be commodified by these companies going forward.”

Read the article at https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2021-05-14/health/ags-urge-zuckerberg-to-halt-plans-for-kids-instagram/a74291-1

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Background: In a large UK study we investigated the relationship between smartphone addiction and sleep quality in a young adult population.

Methods: We undertook a large UK cross-sectional observational study of 1,043 participants aged 18 to 30 between January 21st and February 30th 2019. Participants completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version, an adapted Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Score Index and reported smartphone use reduction strategies using both in-person (n = 968) and online (n = 75) questionnaires. A crude and adjusted logistic regression was fitted to assess risk factors for smartphone addiction, and the association between smartphone addiction and poor sleep.

Results: One thousand seventy one questionnaires were returned, of which 1,043 participants were included, with median age 21.1 [interquartile range (IQR) 19–22]. Seven hundred and sixty three (73.2%) were female, and 406 reported smartphone addiction (38.9%). A large proportion of participants disclosed poor sleep (61.6%), and in those with smartphone addiction, 68.7% had poor sleep quality, compared to 57.1% of those without. Smartphone addiction was associated with poor sleep (aOR = 1.41, 95%CI: 1.06–1.87, p = 0.018).

Conclusions: Using a validated instrument, 39% young adults reported smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction was associated with poor sleep, independent of duration of usage, indicating that length of time should not be used as a proxy for harmful usage.

Excerpt: The results of this study indicate that self-reported smartphone addiction is prevalent amongst young adults attending university and that it is linked with use at later times of the day in addition to total duration of use. Public health bodies should take this evidence into account when developing guidelines around smartphone use and sleep hygiene. Furthermore, clinicians, parents, and educators should be aware of the pervasiveness of smartphone addiction, and be prepared to consider the potential wide-reaching impact of smartphones on sleep.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.629407/full

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