Is social media addictive for teens? US courts wade into scientific debate

"Opening arguments began this week in a landmark case, among the first in a tsunami of lawsuits over possible harm to children and adolescents caused by social media, video games and artificial intelligence. In the current case, a young woman alleges that she became addicted to social-media platforms as a child, causing the anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia that she lives with today."

"The jury will grapple with two main questions, says Eric Goldman, who studies Internet law at the Santa Clara University School of Law in California: is there such a thing as social-media addiction, and are social-media services legally responsible for harms suffered as a result? "To answer those, the parties are going to have a battle of the experts," Goldman says. "You're going to see a lot of back and forth on science.""

"One reason for the hesitation is that social-media addiction has not yet been added to the standard psychiatric diagnostic manuals used by the field. Clinical definitions of addiction often include excessive and compulsive use, symptoms of withdrawal when use is discontinued and continued use despite harm and other negative consequences to everyday life. Data on social-media use are mounting, but the field has yet to reach a consensus as to whether the threshold for addiction has been met,"

A jury in California must weigh whether social media can be classified as an addiction and whether platforms can be held legally responsible for harms to young users. A plaintiff alleges childhood social-media addiction caused lasting anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia. Experts for both sides will contest scientific evidence about addictive features and causation. Psychiatry manuals do not currently include social-media addiction, and clinical addiction criteria emphasize compulsive use, withdrawal symptoms, and continued use despite harm. Empirical data on social-media use are growing, but researchers have not reached consensus about whether those criteria or a diagnostic threshold have been met.

Read at Nature