Talk:Problematic social media use

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Problematic social media use was a good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
December 21, 2018	Articles for deletion	Speedily kept
December 21, 2018	Good article nominee	Not listed
January 10, 2020	Good article nominee	Not listed

Current status: Former good article nominee

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Six Mechanisms

I have added a section in about 6 key mechanisms that have been linked to the problematic / addictive nature of social media platforms. Structuring the mechanisms seemed like the most viable option in providing order to the multitude of information that is currently there. Soon I will go through and build on the sections to add greater detail to them. I will also go through and see what can be merged from the starting chunk as this has some content which could overlap and be shifted into one of the mechanism categories. Anuthys (talk) 22:52, 27 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Media Studies

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 6 September 2022 and 13 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Chloekesssler (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Chloekesssler (talk) 22:16, 4 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Research Process and Methodology - FA23 - Sect 202 - Thu

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 6 September 2023 and 14 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Wobuaichifan (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Wobuaichifan (talk) 05:19, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Media and Culture Theory - MDC 254

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 29 August 2023 and 15 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Yankees34 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Mosbug1 (talk) 02:23, 13 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: English 102 Section 6

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 9 January 2024 and 3 May 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jahmyahill47, Maddog2248, Alijah2248 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Alijah2248 (talk) 20:10, 11 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Neutrality dispute

@Chaotic Enby and Sink Cat: Why is this article's neutrality being disputed? Jarble (talk) 15:54, 2 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The whole article presents "problematic social media use" as if it was an established fact that this was a pathology, using wp:weasel words such as Experts from many different fields have conducted research, and is overall pretty biased towards the "this is a pathology" side of the debate. Chaotıċ Enby (talk · contribs) 16:04, 2 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Chaotic Enby: Are there any experts who disagree with this side of the debate? This article could include their opinions, if necessary. Jarble (talk) 17:40, 2 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've seen a lot of people arguing against the idea; I have not read studies, though. I've noticed a lot of it says "problematic social media use can cause (e.g. anxiety)", which seems like misleading phrasing: it's very close to "social media use causes X", but if problematic social media use happens more as a result of other problems then this phrasing is misleading, and a bit of a tautology (problematic social media use causes problems). I've heard it described as a bit of a moral panic a lot. Mrfoogles (talk) 06:12, 29 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with chaotic enby. RJJ4y7 (talk) 11:30, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@RJJ4y7, Mrfoogles, and Chaotic Enby: According to this article, social media usage can result in behavioral addiction. Are there experts who argue against this? Jarble (talk) 07:41, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This article is already about social media addiction, that is what problematic use implies? It is not about what problematic use causes, but that it has a very large overlap with how addiction is defined; the same goes for compulsive gambling. Articles like this https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100070 already imply a link, though it is a relatively recent phenomenom. Not saying that it is the same as cocaine use, but neither is gambling, though both can be very addictive and cause a variety of problems. 77.249.226.148 (talk) 10:15, 6 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Introduction to Digital Media

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 1 April 2024 and 14 June 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Salmamama101 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Salmamama101 (talk) 17:47, 27 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Digital Media Literacy

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 8 November 2024 and 16 December 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Wikiuser465, Georgek7236, Masondigi24, Nicktoro (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Reneehobbs (talk) 18:58, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Student assignment

This article has repeatedly been made a student assignment, and unfortunately has suffered as a consequence. While I'm very much in favour of student editing programs, can we please stop doing this over and over to the same article? — The Anome (talk) 12:28, 6 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, I've tried to do some copy-editing but this whole article is a bit of a mess. It's incredibly biased and many of the sources are not reliable. However, if its a page that's continually going to be used as an assignment, it might be best to leave it as is and let students edit it. Since it's a registered learning resource by Wiki Education, it's a bit futile to make further "non-academic" edits to it. Thoughts? Ithilllonge (talk) 17:36, 17 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Given that 64,000 people accessed this page in english over the past 12-months, I think we should not give up on it. Can we work together to cut the essays, use medmos to keep only a few subheadings and start with a fresh evidence-based start? I tried to improve the lead the other day. Ithilllonge and The Anome: I just took a first go at massive cuts. If someone has time to look at my massive cuts/reorganizaiton attempts (I don't think I have ever edited Wikipedia so boldly before...) it would be greatly appreciated. More work is needed- I think the mechanism section can be cut in half! I look forward to continuing to improve this with the community. Hopefully future classes can learn from this article down the road.JenOttawa (talk) 18:43, 17 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Happy to look at your edits :) If most of us want to keep editing it then I’m happy to join the effort. Thanks for flagging the mechanism section also, I’ll have a look at other sections and see if there’s anything that can be done about the types of sources. Ithilllonge (talk) 03:49, 18 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Great, Ithilllonge thanks so much! I think that the bottom half of the article still needs the most work, and all my edits reviewed (if possible) in case I have made mistakes. I have now tried to remove as much primary research as I could from the first half. JenOttawa (talk) 16:43, 18 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ithilllonge I made a few more edits to try and remove a few primary research papers (and replace with high quality secondary sources where possible). Please jump in or revert if you see I have made any mistakes! My cuts to the references are to try and minimize non-WP:MEDRS sources and have the article summarize evidence that is shared in high quality secondary sources vs individual research papers. Adding Drmies to this string as well. JenOttawa (talk) 14:58, 2 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Seminar in Mass Communication Problems - Media Literacy

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 21 January 2025 and 12 May 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Username182713287 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Username182713287 (talk) 18:48, 2 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]