#TBT to Basic Statistics
If you ever find yourself green with (online) envy while stalking your ex’s new girlfriend, or what’s-her-face’s new glamorous job, don’t worry even science says it’s not you- it’s Facebook. Recent research from the University of Missouri-Columbia looked at the relationship between feelings of envy and Facebook use with claims by Professor Margaret Duffy that the social networking website “causes envy” and could later “lead to depression”. While it’s plausible to assume that sifting through the seemingly sparkling lives of ‘friends’ would lead to feelings of jealousy, it should be noted that causation is much too heavily implied here and goes to show the often misleading claims of scientific publishing and forgotten concepts of basic statistics that go along with testing. As students we live and breathe by the motto “correlation does not imply causation” and yet it’s often violated by the people or sources least expected from.
For starters, the study looks at 736 college students aged 18–24 years which already raises the issue of a non-representative sample of students who may already be experiencing feelings of high stress and depression in their daily lives. They could also be using Facebook for instrumental goals like relationships and status, or perhaps seeking out confirmatory evidence for say, an ex’s new girlfriend or boyfriend. By no means is this to say adults are not stressed, but the predisposition of stress (or depression and anxiety symptoms) and motivations for scrolling Facebook could be important underlying factors to consider for this age group. The type of content we view as college students may also be different than other age groups and could facilitate feelings of envy. Professor Duffy suggests that specifically viewing content of other’s happiness (defined as vacations, new cars, relationships) causes envy. This alone makes me question what other content there is to view, because let’s face it, no one broadcasts their lame Friday night spent home alone. So how can we affirmatively say that Facebook is “causing” this effect when the basic design is flawed?
While the sample is only one flaw of the design, it exemplifies and raises concerns about the skewness (no pun intended) of scientific publication in the media. Albeit an interesting study, I think it’s important to reiterate the caution and scrutiny with which we should be reading publications and the claims made, even if they are wise words from a fellow academic.
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