Using Multiple Forms of Media At Once Correlates With Depression, Anxiety 174
pigrabbitbear writes "A new study (abstract) from Michigan State University shows that media multitasking exhibits a strong correlation with social anxiety and depression. Importantly, the direction of causality remains to be seen: Does multi-tasking make us more anxious and depressed? Or, as the study's leader, Mark W. Becker, an assistant professor of psychology, put it in an email, 'are depressed and anxious [people] turning toward media multitasking as a form of distraction?' The results of this study aren't conclusive in that regard, he says. But they're an important step. 'While that question will not be easy to answer, it is worth pursing because the practical implications of the findings depend on the causal direction,' he said."
Also called "multiple-tab syndrome" (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Also called "multiple-tab syndrome" (Score:5, Funny)
Watching old Dr Whofrom the 80's and commenting on /. From my phone. I wouldn't say I'm depressed, but that behaviour is pretty sad!
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Re: Also called "multiple-tab syndrome" (Score:4, Funny)
Trial of a time lord - Colin baker. My only defence is Peri
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Sophie Aldred was a much better excuse to watch Dr Who.
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Doctor Who was pretty terrible by the time Sophie joined the show, but she's the best.
I actually thought Sylvester McCoy was a pretty good Doctor. The real problem was that they were trying to make the Doctor More Than Just an Ordinary Time Lord(tm). He didn't need to be any more awesome than he already was. But anyway, McCoy himself was probably the -- well, hmm, let's see:
1. Tom Baker
2. David Tenant
3. Patrick Troughton
4/5. Chris Eccleston & Peter Davison (tied)
6. Jon Pertwee
7. Matt Smith
8/9. William Hartnell/Sylvester McCoy (tied)
10. Colin Baker
11. Paul McGann? Who's th
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Or perhaps it is because the smart people see how much of a depressing shithole the world is and the "ignorance is bliss" types don't?
They live in their little closed-off worlds (facebook, quite literally), while the geeks all read about, well, shit like this, on our slashdot, instead of the new galactic empire agreements between 2 civilizations or how our new Titan-base got a new colony established, or to be more (sadly) realistic, the new processors from Intel or how much more Microsoft is suffering for d
Re:Also called "multiple-tab syndrome" (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't really get what's unexpected about this. One of the well known effects of depression is a lack of interest in, well... anything. People who are depressed go out desperately searching for things that interest them, generally not finding it. Surely both having multiple tabs open, and trying to watch TV at the same time as reading shit on the internet is simply a symptom of that search for something to care about.
That is, my hypothesis is that the causation is depression causes multitasking for information... Not multitasking with media causes depression.
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desperately searching for things that interest them, generally not finding it
No, you don't get it. We need distraction.
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because it doesn't follow.. There are many reasons why someone might have multiple tabs open, flip through tv channels, or tracks on his music player.. It'st he old correlation without causation routine.
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Usually I'll only be using one tab. The first thing I do when I install seamonkey/firefox is turn tab auto-hide back on.
Tabs generally only get opened if I need to have multiple references open... or if I'm looking at something like a forum index, I'll open each thread I'm going to want to look at in a new tab.
I'll then start going through the tabs one by one, closing them as I finish with them - finally back at only one or two open, which again tend to be things like indexes.
Is this an unusual usage patter
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I often use tabs, but not for multitasking - because going back does not preserve the state correctly in complex pages, so it's better to open a link in a new tab, read it, and then close it, than to open it in the same page and then do Alt+Left.
Re:Also called "multiple-tab syndrome" (Score:4, Interesting)
Internet habits can be an expression of mental state... but let's think about this... so IS EVERYTHING ELSE. Your style of clothes, mannerisms, speech patterns, ALL of those stem from mental state. I can have 20-30 tabs open at a time while I'm writing code, does that make me depressed? no, paid? yes.
Some people put the TV on to say drown out external noise and then focus in on what they're doing on their computer, a TV is easier to focus with than the contractor's saw at your neighbor's house.
I can go on and on with examples, but let's just say these studies have no merit.
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correlation without causation.. So I guess researchers with multiple books open were also depressed too? How about people who skip around tracks on their music players? How about people who flip between tv channels to watch multiple shows at once? seriously?
This and the article represent horrible reasoning.
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while I agree that modern psychology is abused to label and dismiss people/behaviors society doesn't like, I don't think counseling based on 'reading' chicken entrails or praying to sky daddies is any better.
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Hey - lay off the chicken entrails! You shouldn't knock it til you've tried it! While Mama Voodoo is reading those entrails, we can get her daughter to whip up some chicken and dumplings. I see a win-win thing with those entrails.
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I have oodles of social anxiety. It started long before teh Internets.
Not sure when it started. As early as first grade ca. 1972, I recall a tendency towards incendiary embarrassment coupled with a feeling I was surrounded by idiots.
Re:Also called "multiple-tab syndrome" (Score:4, Interesting)
I found out about this several years ago when new management took over at the old aerospace company I used to work for. A serious clash of personality types resulted as my former supervisors ( old-school engineers ) were replaced by men of the suit and tie... MBA's.
I did not last long. We had completely different value systems. I was the artist type and wanted it done just right; they were business oriented and were optimizing for maximum quarterly profit.
I was laid off. Just as good. I am pretty sure I would have gone crazy if I had been kept around, as I was too stubborn to just walk away.
I was convinced I was crazy, so I went to the local community college and talked to the dean of psychology, and told him I wanted to be evaluated - and I flat did not trust anyone in the medical profession who had a fiduciary incentive in the outcome.
I told him my story, and he recognized what happened. He set up a array of tests ( Myers-Briggs, Keirsey, and a couple others ) that presented hundreds of situations and queried how I would handle it. All on the computer.
It took me several days to go through the long version ( the shorter versions are available on the internet - the ones I got took several hours each to complete ).
It turns out psychologists have been able to classify personality types into different categories, just as hair color, eye color, skin color have categories. I am strongly INTP and have asperger traits. Its not a malfunction as much as it is a descriptor. It explained why I have absolutely no interest in sports, or why I would consider a thermodynamics book far more interesting than a bestseller novel.
I think a lot of us here on Slashdot have similar attributes, as this site - by its nature and content - caters to our type. I would bet few of us give much of a damm about the Super Bowl, but would find a new way of lighting a building worth a read.
We think "they" are nuts, crazy, completely oblivious to reality. "They" think the same about us.
Take Malthus... he talked hundreds of years ago about mankind reproducing so much he overshoots the capacity of this planet to support us - resulting in a massive die-off. I fear this too. Or something called "Peak Oil". I've seen the production curves and thoroughly understand the logistic equation the depletion curves are based on, and it scares the hell out of me. Yet "normal people" seem to take this in stride.
Who is to say who is crazy?
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Who is to say who is crazy?
Me. Everyone is crazy. The interesting question is in what way/s you or anyone else is crazy.
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Thank you for the anecdote, almost a one to one with me, fortunately one thing I studied extensively was conspiracy theory and how they came about (the psych of conspiracy theory) so I generally understand that idiots run the world and couldn't conspire their way out of a wet paper bag. That has saved me a lot of agony and fear.
But it is frustrating that almost no one else seems to understand it.
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Thank God, or nature, or whatever!
Depression causes multitasking (Score:5, Insightful)
I strongly believe that the cause-effect relationship is that depressed/anxious people are using more social media. Why? It's an attempt to find something or someone worthwhile to alleviate the feelings of boredom and/or loneliness.
Happy confident people will find some task or project or following and happily stick to it for a while. Depressed, lonely, scatterbrained people will turn to things like social media to try to find whatever it is that they don't know they're looking for.
This is my belief..... of course, I might not know what I'm talking about.
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From personal experience, if I'm feeling depressed then I spend more time on Facebook and less on everything else. If I'm feeling pretty good, I'll have Netflix and about two dozen websites of articles, games, etc open and forget all about social media sites.
Re:Depression causes multitasking (Score:4, Funny)
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My mother hasn't friended me on facebook. Just that one weird aunt everyone has.
Re:Depression causes multitasking (Score:4, Funny)
You must be really be depressed if your own mother won't friend you.
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Let's just be clear. Depression and feeling depressed are not the same thing. They actually have little in common. Depression is a condition of extended psychomotor retardation that typically lasts 6 months if treated and 12 months if untreated. Many people with depression don't always feel sadness. In particular, men are more likely to be irritable than sad.
I know that it is popular to compare depression with feeling down, grieving, disappointment, etc. This only does people with actual depression a disser
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Really, "depressed" and "depression" aren't both just forms of the word "depress"? They just happen to look alike? Wow.
GP said "feeling depressed," which is tantamount to saying "feeling cancer-ridden."
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Of course my evidence doesn't mean anything since I have only my wife to "study". She has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
It seems that she really has a problem with facebook, but she doesn't use multiple devices at the same time. I would second your belief.
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Novelty induces dopamine release.
Depression increases urge for dopamine.
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The first is a myth. Humans suck at multitasking, period.
The second might be true. Insecure egos are often the ones making the loudest complaints of others being responsible for their 'plights'. Feminism has morphed into one giant example of this. Truly secure, empowered people don't need bailing out by the state or anyone else.
The third is probably true, but it is also true that men need women around. The problem is that this culture has thrown that symbiosis out of balance, making both genders miserab
I suspect there's some level of feedback (Score:5, Insightful)
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No actually its because of the IAAL types that something that might be considered "Professional Advice" must be preceded with I Am Not A %Professional% to flag that this might be WRONG
and besides with the IAAL types they will always say IAAL But Im Not YOUR Lawyer and may not even cover Your Case In Your Location.
This research isn't the only one. (Score:1)
When therapists are treating depression and other psychological problems, they recommend keeping video games, Internet and TV time down to a minimum. Some even put a time limit of 2 hours. Getting out and exercising and being face to face with people and doing meaningful work will help one with their depression and weight control.
All I want to know is .... (Score:2)
... what does this mean for "Multi-Media"... man's that's depressing.
Makes sense to me (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny things, brains.
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Damn. Now you're making me sad.
(Says the AC who does pretty much the same thing for pretty much the same reason, I'm guessing.)
Re:Makes sense to me (Score:5, Insightful)
This doesn't work for everybody (some people do seem to just have bad chemistry), and really isn't easy, but it did for me.
Perhaps the hardest bit is actually getting help in the first place, it took me months and the damage to my life was pretty extensive. Then one day I had a breakdown and sat weeping on my kitchen floor, because I couldn't cope with choosing between frozen pies for dinner and thought "Shit, I can't fix this by myself.". A mere three weeks later I'd actually gone to one of the several doctor's appointments I made.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Don't spam your brain - do something about the sadness and pain.
Re:Makes sense to me (Score:5, Interesting)
Hey, AC - go get help, get medicated
Medication doesn't actually work for most people. A 2008 meta-analysis [plosmedicine.org] of all clinical trials involving SSRIs, including trials the author had to file FOIA requests to get, shows that SSRIs provide no clinically significant benefit to those with a Hamilton Rating [wikipedia.org] below 23. That's "very severe" depression. Side effects of course occur no matter how depressed you are.
That was 4 years ago, no one has since refuted these findings. I've actually sought treatment for depression in the past couple years. I was given a score of 15 and was offered SSRIs. I asked the psychiatrist how she could ethically offer an addictive drug with many side effects when the best science available showed them to be no more effective than harmless glucose. She had no answer, except to say that in her experience they were effective. As if there was no reason to do blinded, placebo controlled studies.
The only conclusion I can reach from this is that psychiatric treatment for depression in all but the most severe cases is a con. If you can still feed yourself, get your ass to work, and sleep at night there's nothing psychiatry can do for you. You might as well rub a crystal on your forehead.
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I do think there's a lot of debate to be had about the efficaciou
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"I would take issue with your last statement though - I don't think your assertion is logically sound."
As a former lab rat of nearly 20 years (Ritalin, Adderal, Desipramine) I'm going to say you don't have the in-depth experience or education to be able to make your statement with any authority.
It most certainly is a con. None of those things worked for me, and in fact made things worse.
Enjoy your blown and overloaded endocannabinoid system.
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I'm not a psychologist, and I would assume my undergraduate courses on abnormal psychology whatnot are out of date (I'd hope so, otherwise progress has been very slow). My criticism of your 'psychiatric treatment for depression is a con bunk' remark relates only to what seems rather an overgeneralisation in saying that since a particular psychiatric treatment didn't work in your case, a
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You didn't offend, but your comment does show (yes, USA) that you aren't educated enough about the issue over here. While the general gist (over-proscribed) is correct, it's actually much much worse. The pharmaceutical companies basically pay shrinks to use these new medications and push them as hard as they can, consequences be damned.
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No, I had the condition. The problem was they were throwing me on these drugs starting at age 5 or 6. That totally threw my body way out of whack. a nasty hit of antidepressants plus amphetamines. My endocannabinoid system is blown to the point where even the best weed doesn't get me high, it just puts me at a stable level and barely manages constant pain I have from having implanted skeletal parts.
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Stimulants have plenty to do with the endocannabinoid system. But you wouldn't know since it seems you failed basic biology.
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I was at the time doing my degree in psychology, the consensus (at least here in the UK), was very clear - SSRIs can be very effective
That may be the consensus, but the science says otherwise.
I would take issue with your last statement though - I don't think your assertion is logically sound.
Please point out the fallacy. What honest explanation is there for the incongruity between the science and psychiatric practice?
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Medication isn't identical with psychiatric treatment, I think would sum up my objection here. Although I suppose there's no particular argument here, I'm not suggesting (nor was it suggested in my lectures), that people who aren't severely depressed should be taking SSRIs, or anything else for that matter. With hindsight I can see that my initial remark to AC #1 was rather flippant in that respect, which was silly of me.
Besides, the consensus as
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it just assaults you with science!
The best kind of assault.
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I can say with a 110% confidence that SSRIs work wonders for me [...]
They're certainly not working wonders for your mathematics aptitude. ;o)
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Was there some anxiety brewing within that surpassed your threshold and required you to post a "correction"?
I hadn't formulated my own hypothesis prior to reading your post—I shall credit you, Anonymous Coward, with providing me with one, should the motivation behind comment #42222951 [slashdot.org] ever come under further scrutiny.
Thank you, buddy. :o)
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The more and more research you do into anti-depressants the more and more harmful they appear to be. I've been depressed for over 16 years (~10 to 26) and have attempted suicide a couple times (left the result up to chance and got lucky). Last year I finally when in for a free session and got diagnosed with double-depression, among other things. I hate taking meds/drugs. I spent all summer researching depression in an attempt to convince myself to start anti-depressants this fall. Instead it convinced
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Medication doesn't actually work for most people. A 2008 meta-analysis [plosmedicine.org] of all clinical trials involving SSRIs, including trials the author had to file FOIA requests to get, shows that SSRIs provide no clinically significant benefit to those with a Hamilton Rating [wikipedia.org] below 23.
A good place to start would be to find a doctor who prescribes the right medication for the right symptoms. SSRI's are quite effective when it comes to fighting anxiety. For depression, try something like Wellbutrin, which is a dopamine/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor.
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"use the time you are medicated to do CBT"
Being medicated is probably the best time for cock and ball torture anyways.
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I work in porn so it's immediately the first thing I read it as.
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I resorted to the same thing just to avoid the "feeling" of depression, eventually included self-harm in order to feel anything. Any stimulus. The numbing effect of depression was unbearable, and unsurprising, the numbing effect of anti-depressants made it worse.
However, I'm happy to report everything is back to normal in my life. I have the occasional relapse, but I have an excellent support (friends and family). I also try to make an effort to make real life social interactions instead of electronic. It's
Re:Makes sense to me (Score:5, Insightful)
I was extremely leery of anti-depressants, but I suspect without them I would in fact be dead. They made me feel a whole other kind of awful (shakes, nausea, no libido, etc. ad nauseam), but did get me to a point where I could actively work on healing myself, and changing my life to protect me in future. I was able to cope without them after not so long - they should in almost all cases be used like a splint for the brain, and discarded when some semblance of normal neurochemistry is restored.
Re:Makes sense to me (Score:5, Informative)
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I noticed improvement after the very first dose [of 5-Hydroxytryptophan].
Be careful with that stuff, the crash if you miss a dose can be brutal.
I ran out 2 days ago and haven't made it to the store. And yes I have noticed.
Am I correct in speculating that the withdrawal presents as a rapid, dysphoric return of depression symptoms—perhaps worse in intensity than their initial/untreated state?
The reason I'm curious is that that is exactly what I experience following cessation of the prescribed tricyclic imipramine (Tofranil) [wikipedia.org], which is—by far—the most efficacious of the numerous anti-depressants (belonging to three classes) that I've tried. The only other AD that I didn't shit-can posthaste was bupropion (Wellb [wikipedia.org]
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withdrawal presents as a rapid, dysphoric return of depression symptoms—perhaps worse in intensity than their initial/untreated state?
Initially yes. I wasn't expecting it but I caught myself being very emotional and realized that must be what it was. It leveled off rather quickly. The Wiki in my OP explains how 5-HTP is able to absorb into the brain and become 5-HT or Serotonin. [wikipedia.org] Interestingly 5-HT cannot be absorbed into the brain. Since Serotonin is linked to mood it makes sense an increased level would have a positive effect.
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withdrawal presents as a rapid, dysphoric return of depression symptoms—perhaps worse in intensity than their initial/untreated state?
Initially yes. I wasn't expecting it but I caught myself being very emotional and realized that must be what it was. It leveled off rather quickly. The Wiki in my OP explains how 5-HTP is able to absorb into the brain and become 5-HT or Serotonin. [wikipedia.org] Interestingly 5-HT cannot be absorbed into the brain. Since Serotonin is linked to mood it makes sense an increased level would have a positive effect.
Interestingly 5-HT cannot be absorbed into the brain. Since Serotonin is linked to mood it makes sense an increased level would have a positive effect.
I was surprised to see that 5-HTP is categorized as a sleep-aid anda nootropic, what with the former class being generally dominated by stimulants.
I'm actually replying because I neglected to mention my main reason for speculating that the crash was fast and severe: Unlike SSRIs with their multiple-week delay before they (are supposed to) become effective, and bupropion (which has a somewhat quicker, but rather subtle effect), imipramine is profoundly effective beginning on day one. Sometimes when I get to
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My favorite was listening to Monty Python tapes at dubbing speed.
Twice as many jokes per minute, and extra silly voices.
First Post! (Score:1)
Oh, darn. I was doing other things and I didn't post in time.
Missing out on a FP is making me depressed.
What? No Invalid Causation? (Score:5, Funny)
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wat? it is a prime example of that.. there are plenty of reasons someone might have multiple tabs open in a browser, skip through multiple tracks on his music player, or flip through channels on the tv tracking multiple shows.. It doesn't mean they are depressed.
The causality choices aren't mutually exclusive (Score:4, Interesting)
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In some people, it leads to a positive feedback loop.
It doesn't sound very positive to me. *Rimshot*
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There used to be such a thing. Ask your grandparents about the "magic of compounding interest" sometime. If you bought a home, or property, or some stocks in postwar America, you made a lot of money over time, pretty much automatically.
This is pretty much the case now. As long as one isn't speculating, real estate and the stock market are still quite lucrative over the long-term.
Re:The causality choices aren't mutually exclusive (Score:4, Insightful)
'What are you doing here?' he said to the drunkard whom he found sitting silently in front of a collection of bottles, some empty and some full.
'I am drinking,' answered the drunkard lugubriously.
'Why are you drinking?' the little prince asked.
'In order to forget,' replied the drunkard.
'To forget what?' enquired the little prince, who was already feeling sorry for him.
'To forget that I am ashamed,' the drunkard confesed, hanging his head.
'Ashamed of what?' asked the little prince who wanted to help him.
'Ashamed of drinking!' concluded the drunkard, withdrawing into total silence.
And the little prince went away, puzzled.
'Grown-ups really are very, very odd,' he said to himself as he continued his journey.
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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In fact, I would hazard to guess that it is more likely both of these things are effects of an unidentified cause and not things that are causing one another.
Slashdot (Score:2)
Am I finally ready for happiness?
Hah (Score:2)
I read this as I am listening to Pantera, with Facebook, Slashdot, personal e-mail, and work e-mail in opened windows while doing Math homework. Apparently I am on the verge of suicide, based on this article.
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are you multi-tasking, or just busily not getting shit done? trail runs sound cool though
Or noise, just don't like the quiet (Score:1)
So anyone that (Score:2)
Sounds legit.
This must be fake! (Score:2)
"'While that question will not be easy to answer, it is worth pursing because the practical implications of the findings depend on the causal direction,' he said."
This must be fake! Or at least it is the first time I hear a psychologist speaking of causal directions. Is sound like a good study just because of that caveat.
There may be progress in this world!
As we all lnow: Correlation... (Score:2)
Amateur Hour (Score:4)
I'd say this is pseudoscience but...I'm trying not to feed my inner troll...
This is definitely shoddy science work. Their definition of 'media' is one of many examples...
I've researched media usage, media usefulness, geospatial correlations, etc. in an academic setting and the definition this study uses for 'media' is...depressingly narrow.
'media' is a book, billboard...anything that has symbols. Usually researchers narrow the language to 'digital media'...but that requires a more refined, less salacious theory...which doesn't get headlines.
Don't even get me started on how research studies like this use the word 'multitasking'
Look, IAAS and this research is garbage...move along...
It's the other way round (Score:2)
Trying time and again to find anything worthwhile and only finding boring, meaningless drivel instead of content, but keeping trying in the vain hope to get something sensible after some digging, that's what makes me anxious and depressed.
True fact (Score:3)
Slashdot depresses me. So does CNN, Redit... It's like a trifecta of misery. I try to keep Pandora open to cheer me up but then it decides to play me a Metallica song and I'm right back to being miserable.
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You could always watch foxnews to offset CNN's misery.. The two together cancel each other out leaving you numb and stupid..
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Ditto. Damn Internet! :P
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What you've describe is sadness, not depression.
In any event... try this. [27bslash6.com]
A few words of caution (Score:3, Insightful)
Given that I can't afford to pay the publisher's ludicrous $51 for 24 hours access to this paper, I have to glean information about the study from the abstract and summaries.
This study is, at best, a preliminary study. The researchers use a small sample size which they generalise to a large population (they sample 319 people) and they are not using a random sample (they used college undergrads, presumably self-selected). So, basically, what this tells us is that there is some correlation between certain kinds of media use behaviours with *possibly* depressed/anxious undergraduates at Michigan State. It is highly inaccurate statistically speaking to generalise these results to the general population. At best, this study might suggest that there is phenomena here that is worthy of further examination by a proper study.
I'm not criticising the researchers: preliminary studies like this are the first step to getting funding for a more robust study, and they're not claiming anything earth-shattering or being sensationalist. But /. readers need to be aware that this is preliminary research, and does not mean what the headline suggests it does. A better headline would be something like "Preliminary research suggests there may be value in studying the relationship between multiple media use and depression"
On a related note, I wish psychologists would stop using students as guinea pigs and then publishing papers on the results. We already know waaay too much about college undergraduates.
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I wish psychologists would stop using students as guinea pigs and then publishing papers on the results. We already know waaay too much about college undergraduates.
Unfortunately that's often the only way to start investigating something, since undergraduate subjects come either cheap or free (lower level psychology courses in my university had a research participation requirement, I imagine the same goes for many other universities).
third variable? (Score:2)
Flawed causal reasoning (Score:2)
The summary, and the linked article for that matter, both imply that there must be an arrow of causality between A (depression, anxiety) and B (multiple media input seeking). Does A cause B, or B cause A? However, that's a flawed view of this situation.
The old adage that "correlation is not causation" is apt here... correlation does not prove a direct causal link. What correlation does do, however, is suggest the possibility of a causal relationship, whether direct, indirect, or parallel.
The real answer cou
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Depression - Distraction (Score:2)
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