Which Is Worse, Potatoes or Smartphones?

"The Potato Eaters," by Vincent van Gogh

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Here’s a sentence I never expected to see:

The study also found that “the association of well-being with regularly eating potatoes was nearly as negative as the association with technology use.”

Hmmm. So this means we have to control for potato eating among teens if we want to measure how smartphones affect them. I suppose we can do that.

This is all part of an article about whether smartphone use makes teens more depressed. The answer is that we don’t know. But surely we can add some anecdotal evidence to address this question. Just think back. How miserable did you feel in high school when you were being teased or bullied or just shut out from the cool kids group? Got it? Good. Now think about how you feel when the same thing happens to you today on Twitter. Which seems worse?

I have a bad memory, so I’m going to say “about the same.” How about you? Let’s do some research, people!

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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