María Paz Prendes Espinosa
I believe the press release summarises the main findings of the study well, but they must be interpreted within the context of this study and should not be generalised or taken as definitive. On this subject, there are many studies, and they do not all agree; therefore, as the authors themselves acknowledge, the results must be analysed with caution.
It is a quantitative study with a very large sample (more than 5,000 students from Lombardy, Italy), which is its main strength. However, a retrospective questionnaire was used. This means that information about the past was gathered from the respondents – in this case, adolescents – with all the biases that this may entail, as the results are influenced by memory. It is striking that the questionnaire was developed specifically for this study (ad hoc), and no explanation is given as to how it was validated, nor are any data provided on this (validity and reliability statistics) – aspects that are fundamental to any rigorous social science research. Therefore, whilst the robustness of the data is supported by the size of the sample (which the authors claim is representative), the study design itself may introduce factors that introduce bias into the results and undermine their validity. Furthermore, it is curious that only three subjects were studied (it is unclear why these three and not others) and that the study shows social media use influences only two of them (Italian and mathematics), but not the third (English).
Social media has attracted interest ever since it entered our lives and has been the subject of numerous studies, but it has suddenly become the focus of the political debate on teenagers and their use of digital technologies. This study, whilst undoubtedly interesting, overlooks many aspects that cannot be ignored when analysing the consequences of social media, as the exclusive causal link between social media use and its impact on academic performance is difficult to accept. Does the family context not play a role? What about the social context? Do peer groups not have an influence? What about the adolescents’ personality traits? Does socio-economic status not play a part? And there are many other factors that could be added. In such a complex issue, which must not be oversimplified, there is also research demonstrating the usefulness of social media in promoting communication, social relationships, or even as tools for academic tasks integrated into students’ learning environments.
The main limitation may stem from the questionnaire, which collects data on the respondents’ self-perceptions of their past. Can a teenager accurately recall exactly how much time they spent on their mobile and for what purposes when they were at primary school? Will they tell us this in a precise and reliable manner? In this type of research, it is useful to combine data collection with other qualitative techniques within a mixed-methods research design, so that the information can be triangulated. Relying exclusively on a questionnaire to collect data is very limited, particularly when a teenager is required to recall and describe what they did when they were a child.
The main implication is that social media form part of our reality from an early age, and this study confirms this. Given this situation, banning the use of technology will not solve the problems associated with it. On the contrary, we must promote an education tailored to the real-world context in which we live; we must train and educate people to know how to manage the use of technology. In a digitalised society and in the age of artificial intelligence, we must not only be concerned about social media, but about technology in general. And this concern must lead us to strengthen our education system so that it can meet this need for training in digital literacy, recognising that digital literacy goes far beyond technical knowledge, as it involves the responsible, safe, critical and ethical use of technology and, by extension, of social media. If we want to protect our teenagers from the potential risks of technology, we must prepare them to live in a society shaped by technology.