On a subject like children’s social media use, in which everyone has an opinion, policy makers need to wield scalpels, not hammers. And in efforts to shape evidence-based policies on such a hotly-debated issue, a recent study could be of substantial value. A paper published in Nature shows lower high-school scores of children who use social media in middle school. The study, which looked at the performance of 5,227 students from northern Italy aged 7-16 years, revealed compelling evidence that having personal social media accounts in the 6th, 7th or 8th grades adversely affected learning outcomes later. As India debates a social media bar for children, the government must consider more scientific evidence so that it does not end up using blunt policy instruments like Australia, Malaysia and France.
