By Johnathan Paoli 

The Information Regulator (IR) has ordered the Basic Education Department to refrain from publishing matric results for 2024 on media platforms, and it must obtain explicit consent to publish the 2025 results.

This directive follows an enforcement notice issued by the regulator, citing non-compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). 

IR spokesperson Nomzamo Zondi spoke to Inside Education on Thursday, saying that following a POPIA compliance assessment, they found that the department’s practice of publishing matric results violated Section 11 of the Act. 

Zondi said the department had failed to secure permission from matriculants who sat for the 2023 National Senior Certificate exams or their guardians, before publishing their personal information, thereby breaching privacy rights.

“The IR found that no legal justification existed for the DBE to continue with the publication of the results in the newspapers,” she said. 

The regulator advised the department to employ alternative, privacy-compliant methods for distributing matric results, including having students retrieve their results directly from their schools or using a secure SMS platform. 

This would enable students to access their scores confidentially.

In addition, the IR ordered that for the 2025 cohort, the department must create a system to collect prior consent from learners or their guardians if it intended to publish results publicly. 

Zondi said that should the department fail to implement these changes, it risked being barred from publishing matric results in any form for 2025. 

In 2022, the department initially decided to stop publishing matric results in the media to align with Popia requirements, aiming to protect student privacy and curb potential misuse of their personal information. 

However, this decision was challenged by civil rights group AfriForum, Maroela Media and Anlé Spies, a 2021 matriculant. They argued that limited access to school facilities and the internet could hinder students, particularly those in rural areas, from easily accessing their results. 

The North Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of the publication and instructed the department to publish matric results while omitting first names and surnames, instead using only examination numbers. 

Zondi, however, maintained that while ordering the department to publish the results, Judge Miller did not make a ruling on the merits of whether the processing of personal information by publishing matric results was a violation of Popia.

Inside Education spoke to AfriForum’s Alana Bailey, who said its legal division would study the directive.

Department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said they would officially communicate the way forward in due time.

Headed by Pansy Tlakula, the IR is an independent body established in terms of Popia. It is accountable to the National Assembly and responsible for overseeing the protection of personal information in the country. 

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Thapelo Molefe

In a bid to protect the dignity of girls, Parliament’s basic and higher education committees are calling on the government to urgently provide free and accessible menstrual sanitary towels in schools.

They said this was particularly important for learners from low-income backgrounds who often missed school due to a lack of access to menstrual sanitary products.

“The distribution of sanitary towels in schools is not managed properly, as they are often kept at the principal’s office, and girls requiring them have to go and ask for them, which affects their dignity,” said the basic education committee chairperson Joy Maimela.

This comes after a joint meeting between the two committees to discuss a petition by Team Free Sanitary Pads and the I Menstruate Movement on Wednesday. 

The petition highlighted the struggles girls faced due to lack of access to sanitary products and proper hygiene facilities, leading to absenteeism.

To address these issues, the committees are now seeking the involvement of the private sector to help make these essential products more affordable and accessible.

They have strongly recommended that retail shops and other private sector stakeholders reduce the price of sanitary products to alleviate the burden on girls from poor backgrounds.

The committees also noted that poverty remained a significant barrier to menstrual health, forcing many girls to purchase unregulated products from informal vendors, which may not meet health standards. 

They stressed the importance of addressing this issue through affordable, quality-assured products.

“We might need to do a comprehensive report on how much is spent to assist young girls. We have not taken this matter as seriously as we should, and this is what these organisations are telling us,” Maimela added.

Meanwhile, Tebogo Letsie who is the chairperson of the committee on higher education, noted the NSFAS’ increased support for women students.

“The R350 that National Student Financial Aid Scheme continues to provide for dignitary packs over and above the normal allowances is a welcomed relief,” said Letsie.

The allowances increased from R290 to R350 this year to accommodate inflation.

The committees recommended introducing comprehensive menstrual health education from Grade 4 and educating young boys to foster understanding and support for girls during their menstrual cycles.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Lungile Ntimba

The old Johannesburg Planetarium has been relaunched as the state-of-the-art Wits Anglo American Digital Dome.

It features new cutting-edge digital projectors to enhance science education at the university in Johannesburg.

According to Wits Vice-Chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi the dome serves as a modern teaching venue and a collaborative research space for scientists and students to visualise their work in big data, astrophysics, digital arts, artificial medicine, microbiology and precision medicine.

The Johannesburg planetarium has been a beacon of astronomical education and wonder in South Africa since 1960.

“For more than six decades, this institution, as the first fully sized planetarium in Africa and the second in the southern hemisphere, has played a pivotal role in inspiring countless individuals, from young students to seasoned scientists, fostering a deep appreciation of the cosmos and its mysteries,” Vilakazi said in a statement.

He said the experience of visiting the planetarium has been a rite of passage for many South African children, potentially influencing future career choices and fostering a lifelong interest in science.

“Personally, I visited the old Planetarium in 1981 at the height of apartheid. It left a huge and indelible mark on me, and I believe that it played a key role in igniting a scientific spark that led to me becoming a nuclear physicist.

“Through the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, we hope to continue inspiring people from various disciplines including those working in climate modelling, artificial intelligence and the digital arts,” he said.

Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said the investment was vital for advancing knowledge, driving innovation and boosting economic growth in tertiary education.

He said that universities were hubs of research and development, producing skilled professionals who tackled global challenges and pushed technological and scientific boundaries.

“Infrastructure like the digital dome enable this progress, providing students with specialised skills, enhancing job prospects and earning potential while contributing to broader societal and economic transformation,” Wanblad said.

He said he was inspired to witness the power of their partnership with Wits and the efforts made to rebuild the city. 

According to the head of the dome, Moumita Aich, vistors, students and researchers would enjoy a 360 high-tech immersive experience.

Speaking at the launch on Tuesday night, Vilakazi said this historic event brought the global space race to the heart of Johannesburg.

He attributed the success of the planetarium to the late Arthur Bleksley, who was a professor in applied mathematics and astronomer at Wits from 1932 to 1968.

“… Prof. Bleksley served as the first director of the planetarium, when it opened its doors in 1960 until just before his retirement. 

“Prof. Bleksley was indeed a man ahead of his time when it came to science communication and education, focusing a lot of his attention on teaching and explaining science to the public, often raising the ire of his colleagues when appearing in popular media to explain scientific concepts in easy-to-understand terms,” Vilakazi said.    

According to the university, the refurbished facility includes a new digital projection and sound systems and auditorium seating.

The dome opens to the public in February.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johannah Malogadihlare

The Basic Education Department is currently on a drive to register early childhood development (ECD) operators, with a target of 10,000 by the end of 2025.

There are around 18,000 centres registered nationally, according to department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga.

He said that currently around half of the ECD programmes were not registered and were attended by tens of thousands of children.

“This means that more than 20,000 ECD programmes operate outside the regulatory framework and are not part of any formal oversight process, which disproportionately affects ECDs in low-income areas meaning the poorest children are most likely to miss out on oversight and funding,” he said in a statement.

“ECD is a critical period in a child’s life that lays the foundation for future learning, behaviour and health,” Mhlanga said.

South African practitioners will be assisted through the application process by a contact centre agent on the department’s new Early Childhood Administrative and Reporting System (eCares).

The department said its team was working closely with provinces to align on the new registration framework, processes and goals.

“We are also partnering with other ecosystem stakeholders and NGOs who are supporting the registration drive. We are currently live in Gauteng and Free State and will soon roll out into the rest of the provinces,” said Mhlanga.

The department has received over 3000 applications since the process opened in June. Around 800 new ECDs operators have been registered.

Mhlanga said this had impacted 27,114 children and 3116 staff members. “To put this in context, since the ECD function shift from the DSD (social development) to the DBE, Gauteng has had a total of 2380 registered centres, and through the campaign we have added 30% more registered ECDs to this number,” Mhlanga said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Johnathan Paoli

The SA Democratic Teachers’ Union in KwaZulu-Natal has called on the education department to do more in addressing the challenges the sector is facing in the province, highlighting financial shortfalls and the government’s failure to meet its obligations to schools.

Sadtu provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluzao said that following discussions between the union and education department, alongside protests at district offices; that the Sadtu’s aim was not only to advocate for teacher’s rights, but also to secure the resources necessary for student’s educational needs.

“In essence, the department of education in the province is failing to deliver on its core mandate. The department does not learn from its past experiences,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

A central concern raised by Caluza was the significant underfunding of no-fee schools, which made up the majority in the province.

She said these quintile 1 to 3 schools are fully reliant on government allocations for essential resources, including textbooks, stationery as well as operational costs.

However, Caluza criticised the department for failing to meet its obligations, with principals reportedly using personal funds to keep schools running, a practice she described as unsustainable.

She highlighted that the province’s funding for learners in these schools lagged far behind national norms, with current allocations being R955 per student, as opposed to the national figure of R1602.

Similar disparities affected quintile 4 and 5 schools, further exacerbating the province’s educational inequities.

Caluzao warned that without urgent financial intervention, the department’s failure to provide sufficient funds would lead to the dysfunction of these institutions.

Despite a protest march in October last year to demand increased support for schools, the same grievances persisted.

She noted that instead of addressing the shortfalls, the department implemented a plan to deliver school funds in eight instalments rather than two; and even then, failed to adhere to this instalment schedule, leaving schools in a precarious position.

The secretary said the department’s financial neglect impacted Grade R education, reporting that basic allocations for classes have not been paid since January.

Caluza underscored the contradiction between the department’s stated commitment to early childhood development and its failure to fund Grade R, which was foundation to children’s learning progress.

She said that despite having significant responsibilities in children’s early learning stages, most Grade R practitioners were underpaid, lacked benefits, and received no pension, medical aid or housing allowance.

With 98.3% of these practitioners being women, she argued that the department’s failure to address the inequities reflects systemic gender discrimination.

She said that since the union had started protesting last week, the department has reportedly paid R107 million to schools, and confirmed that schools have begun receiving these funds.

The department had also paid the ECD/Grade R grant to primary schools, marking the first such payment in over a year.

Caluza reported progress in converting qualifying temporary educators to permanent positions, with only 67 of 548 educators still awaiting conversion.

She said the department has committed to adjusting Grade R stipends by 28 November, with human resources employees already working on processing these payments.

She confirmed the department’s announcement of plans to request assistance from the National Treasury in order to ensure teachers receive their pay progression by 5 December.

Meanwhile, Parliament’s education portfolio committee has reiterated that that the Treasury must guard against budget cuts affecting the Basic Education Department’s programmes.

Chairperson Makhi Feni said this was especially important for public township schools.

“This department is challenged with absorbing the Early Childhood Development children as the function had just been transferred to DBE. Apart from that, we are yet to resolve matters of sanitation, safety and curriculum provision needs. The sector requires funding,” he said on Tuesday.

“The committee believes retrenching or not employing new teachers suffocates the sector. The security of schools from extortionists and the safety of children and principals are also issues that should be resolved. All of these require adequate funding.”

INSIDE EDUCATION  

By Johnathan Paoli

President Cyril Ramaphosa has mandated the Special Investigating Unit to probe allegations of procurement irregularities and maladministration involving contracts at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT).

Signed under Proclamation 217 of 2024, this authorisation empowers the SIU to scrutinise the VUT’s procurement and contracting processes, with a focus on two significant contracts awarded in 2018. They were for the refurbishment of student residences and campus security services.

The investigation is expected to assess whether these contracts were awarded in a manner consistent with the principles of fairness, transparency, competitiveness and cost-effectiveness, as mandated by the Public Finance Management Act and National Treasury guidelines.

The SIU will also evaluate whether VUT officials complied with legislative procedures, including procurement regulations and standards set by the Treasury, as well as recommend corrective actions or seek legal recourse to recover public funds that may have been misused.

Reports indicate that payments made for the refurbishment work may have exceeded the original project scope, with potential evidence of inflated costs or overpayment.

The campus security contract was outsourced. Allegations of inflated fees, inadequate service delivery and possible favouritism have emerged.

In 2020, security company Kya Guards contested the awarding of this contract to PhiriPhiri Security Services, claiming that VUT had unfairly favoured PhiriPhiri over other bidders.

Kya Guards took the matter to the Johannesburg High Court, challenging VUT’s decision and in December 2020, Judge Thina Siwendu issued an order prohibiting VUT from proceeding with the contract until the case’s full merits were assessed.

Kya Guards argued that it was the preferred bidder and that PhiriPhiri’s selection contravened the university’s supply chain policies.

According to Kya’s CEO, Lance Maphosa, a whistleblower informed them of potential improprieties in the evaluation process, which allegedly favoured PhiriPhiri.

In response, VUT denied any wrongdoing, with legal representative Daniel Fouché defending the university’s position, stating that all procurement procedures had been followed correctly.

PhiriPhiri’s lawyer, Dirk Kotze, also denied any irregularities in the tender’s award, asserting that the process complied with legal standards.

If the SIU uncovers instances of fraud, corruption or other improper conduct, it has the authority to institute civil proceedings in either the High Court or a Special Tribunal; as well as seek restitution for any financial losses.

This probe comes as the university struggles with broader governance and financial challenges.

Following years of financial instability and declining income, VUT was placed under administration in 2019, with a succession of vice-chancellors attempting to stabilise the institution.

The most recent VC, Stephen Ndlovu, appointed in February 2024, has initiated efforts to address financial mismanagement, delayed infrastructure projects and governance issues.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Simon Nare

The government has called on business to join it in strengthening the education system to align with the country’s economic needs by building public-private partnerships.

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube held her first meeting with the business sector in Johannesburg on Monday. She told around 100 businesspeople that partnerships were vital because the private sector had a deep understanding of the skills needed to drive economic growth.

“…the private sector has a vital role to play, both as an investor in education and as a partner in curriculum development, training and skills-building programmes. The private sector has a deep understanding of the skills needed to drive productivity, competitiveness, and economic growth,” the minister said.

“This partnership between the education sector and industry can create a seamless pipeline from learning to employment, where young people not only receive quality education, but also develop skills that make them employable, productive and ready to lead.”

Gwarube said businesses have the potential to have an enormous impact on both the South African and African education landscapes, especially because more private sector entities are involved in education initiatives. These include investing in infrastructure, providing technological assistance, supporting teacher training and partnering with institutions to design relevant, future-oriented curriculums.

The minister said these initiatives were crucial, especially in resource-constrained settings, where government funding alone did not meet the education needs of the growing population.

Gwarube pointed out that improving education outcomes was one of the priorities of the Government of National Unity, but that the government recognised that it could not succeed alone.

“We need your input, your insights and your innovation to help shape our education system in a way that prepares learners for real-world challenges and opportunities,” she said.

With this in mind, the minister undertook to facilitate, support and collaborate with the private sector to co-create programmes that build the skills needed for a competitive and productive economy.

“A step-change investment in education means more than just financial support – it means active participation,” Gwarube told businesspeople.

“Quality education is the foundation upon which we can build a prosperous future. It is the tool that will empower our young people to innovate, to lead and to contribute meaningfully to their communities and economies.”

At the meeting, businesses committed to working with the government and the minister undertook to ensure the partnerships flourished.

“I pledge that we, as the Department of Basic Education, will be open, we will be responsive, and committed to working with each of you to advance our shared goals.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Lungile Ntimba 

The North West education department has joined forces with the North West University (NWU) to support mental health among learners, teachers and parents during the National Senior Certificate examination period.

Department spokesperson Mphata Molokwane said on Monday that many learners became overwhelmed during finals, feeling scared and uncertain about preparation, therefore, parents needed to be well-informed and involved.

Khido Ramadie, who is a psychologist and senior lecturer at NWU, visited various schools in the province prior to the exams to advise pupils and educators on exam stress.

“My advice to parents is to create a calm learning environment for their children at home. Help set a routine study table, encourage breaks and foster open communication…,” said Remade.

She said to monitor progress without pressure, parents should provide reassurance to their children, be emotionally supportive and remind them that they were not alone. 

Remande highlighted that parents should also be mindful about deep breathing or the meditation, in promoting healthy coping mechanisms.

“Ensure that learners embark on physical activities so that they can be fresh when they are writing examination”, she added.

Education MEC Viola Motsumi emphasised that this collaboration was due to the promotion of the government’s public-private partnership strategy.

“Education is a societal matter. Alone we will not be able to achieve good performance without the involvement of other stakeholders,” she said.

“We need each other in order for learners to excel. Our learners during this period are extremely overwhelmed and their minds need to be focused.”

“The department has set a target of a 90% pass rate for 2024, aiming to position the province as a top performer. To support this goal, the department has implemented various initiatives, including incubation camps,” she said.

INSIDE EDUCATION 

By Edwin Naidu

Unassuming but a powerful intellectual, Professor Chabani Manganyi, the country’s first black psychologist, made an invaluable contribution to the profession and the higher education sector.

He was the first education director-general in the democratic dispensation. Manganyi died on 31 October 2024. He was 84. His role during the struggle as a forensic psychologist in apartheid’s courtrooms has been well documented.

To date, there has been no murmur of whether he will get a presidential send-off. President Cyril Ramaphosa has not yet formally acknowledged his passing.

Given Manganyi’s stature and contribution to democracy, one would have expected he would get a state funeral. But if this is the start of a process to cut down on such expense given that times are tough, one hopes it becomes the norm.

But certainly, many in academia will argue that Manganyi warrants some form of recognition for his contribution to post-apartheid South Africa.

In conversation with a former vice-chancellor, he was of the view that Manganyi appointed under the leadership of the country’s first education minister, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, never “kissed political ass”, but made profound and brilliant contributions to psychology and academia.

Ramaphosa and the presidency may currently have their hands full addressing the ongoing children of food poisoning of children. Or simply they don’t care about Manganyi as much as they did about other varsity heads.

South Africa, however, is not oblivious to Manganyi’s importance to the nation.

Soon after his death, the University of Witwatersrand said it was saddened by the passing of the prolific author, scholar, biographer and higher education leader.

Manganyi joined Wits in 1981 as a senior research fellow and visiting professor at the then African Studies Institute. He spent a decade at Wits where he continued with research and teaching, opening up new areas of scholarly enquiry.

His work at Wits culminated in the publication of the book Political Violence and the Struggle South Africa adding to earlier publications offering insight into the black experience, including Exiles and homecomings: A biography of Es’kia Mphahlele. He remained a friend of Wits University post his tenure and served on the board of Wits University Press (WUP) at the invitation of then-chair, Prof. Belinda Bozzoli, due to his intellectual integrity and passion for the preservation of South Africa’s rich cultural and scholarly heritage.

“He displayed these qualities – and more – in abundance during his long tenure from 2005 to 2018. With his gentle manner and deep insight as a psychologist and academic, he offered guidance to the press as it sought to renew its identity and place in the local scholarly publishing ecosystem,” WUP said in a statement.

His exceptional writing skills meant that he wrote a number of books, five of which were published by WUP over the years; they have taken on the status of classics in their fields.

Manganyi was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature by Wits in April 2008.

Born on 13 March 1940 in Louis Trichardt, Manganyi earned a BA, BA Honours, Masters and Doctorate from Unisa. From 1973 to 1975, he held a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at the Yale University of Medicine.

He developed expertise in political violence and would often be called upon to give expert evidence in political trials. The university’s archive attest to his enormous impact with the 2008 citation stating: “Manganyi’s oeuvre has made a substantial contribution to South African psychology, a contribution which has still to be fully acknowledged.”

An astute administrator, he contributed to higher education in South Africa by establishing a psychology department at University of Transkei (1976), served as the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of the North (1990), director-general of education under Minister Sibusiso Bhengu during Nelson Mandela’s presidency, vice-principal (2003-2006) of the University of Pretoria, and as the chairperson of the Council on Higher Education (CHE).

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande, said: “I knew Prof. Manganyi in a number of different respects. Firstly, we both trained in psychology and thus shared many intellectual positions on the importance of mental liberation as a site of struggle, especially for all black people in the face of apartheid-colonialism.

“Secondly, we were both activists in the struggle against apartheid and shared a common vision for a radically transformed post-apartheid South Africa, including challenging dominant intellectual discourses.

“And this brought us together in the period immediately after the establishment of democratic rule, working together in the reconstruction and development of South Africa’s post-apartheid education system.”

Nzimande described Manganyi as one of the most eloquent and deeply thoughtful intellectuals spawned by the black consciousness movement, and his writings “are still as relevant as ever”.

During the 70s and 80s, Manganyi published a series of monographs, which included ‘Being-Black-In-The-World’ and biographies of E’skia Mphahlele, Gerard Sekoto and Dumile Feni. in 2016, Manganyi published a memoir and autobiography titled ‘Apartheid and the Making of a Black Psychologist’.

Through this work, he examines the impact of apartheid underdevelopment, and how it hindered the success prospects of Black people.

“On a number of levels, the passing of Prof Manganyi constitutes a monumental loss for our country and its people, as he represents a rare breed of intellectuals, who concerned themselves with both the oppressive nature of society and the struggle to rid society of oppression” remarked the Minister.

In December 2023, Prof. Manganyi was nominated for an Honorary Doctoral degree in Industrial Psychology by Nelson Mandela University. Qapela Ngcobo, a lecturer in the School of Industrial Psychology and Human Resources, said Prof. Manganyi was born during a time when the Black narrative was riddled with despondency.

Ngcobo, whoconducted a psychobiography on Prof. Manganyi for her master studies, said thathis achievements single-handedly changed the course of the profession and validated the dreams of many who would come after him.

“Although Prof. Manganyi had made such substantial contributions across the discipline of psychology, for years his name remained unknown amongst many colleagues. This could be attributed to the climate of the country at the time; however, the honour being bestowed upon him by the Nelson Mandela University validates his life-long contributions in the emancipation of many who now carry the title of psychologist with such bravado and conviction,” she said.

“During a time that was unfavourable for a Black person to dream to be better than the predetermined legislature, Prof. Manganyi dreamed the impossible and went above and beyond to make it a reality.”

With such a rich legacy, Manganyi certainly deserves to be better remembered.

Naidu is Editor of Inside Education.

INSIDE EDUCATION

By Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz and Matthew B. Jané

As governments worldwide move to restrict teenagers’ access to smartphones and social media, a fierce scientific debate has erupted over whether these digital technologies actually harm young people’s mental health.

The controversy, sparked by an influential recent book blaming phones for rising youth anxiety, has exposed deep uncertainties in the research evidence – even as policymakers from Arkansas to Australia forge ahead with sweeping bans and restrictions.

A timeline of the controversy

In March, New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt published a popular science book called The Anxious Generation. This blames a rise in youth mental illness over the past 15 years or so on the advent of smartphones and social media.

One early review of Haidt’s book by Duke University psychological scientist Candice Odgers, published in Nature, voiced a common criticism among expert readers: while social media is sometimes associated with bad outcomes, we don’t know if it causes those bad outcomes.

In April, Haidt responded that some recent experimental studies, where researchers get people to reduce their social media use, show a benefit.

In May, Stetson University psychologist Christopher Ferguson published a “meta-analysis” of dozens of social media experiments and found, overall, reducing social media use had no impact on mental health.

Next, in August, Haidt and his colleague Zach Rausch published a blog post arguing Ferguson’s methods were flawed. They said doing the meta-analysis in a different way shows social media really does affect mental health.

Not long afterwards, one of us (Matthew B. Jané) published his own blog post, pointing out issues in Ferguson’s original meta-analysis but showing Haidt and Rausch’s re-analysis was also faulty. This post also argued properly re-analysing Ferguson’s meta-analysis still does not provide any convincing evidence social media affects mental health.

In response to Jané, Haidt and Rausch revised their own post. In September and October they came back with two further posts, pointing out more serious errors in Ferguson’s work.

Jané agreed with the errors Haidt and Rausch found and has set out to re-construct Ferguson’s database (and analyses) from scratch.

The discussion and further work is still ongoing. Yet another team has recently published an analysis (as a preprint, which has not been independently verified by other experts) disagreeing with Ferguson, using similarly unreliable methods as Haidt and Rausch’s first blog post.

The evidence is varied – but not very strong

Why so much debate? Part of the reason is experiments where researchers get people to reduce their social media use produce varied results. Some show a benefit, some show harm, and some show no effect.

But the bigger issue, in our opinion, is simply the evidence from these experimental studies is not very good.

One of the experiments included in Ferguson’s meta-analysis had some German Facebook users reduce their use of the social media platform for two weeks, and others continue using it normally. The participants then had to self-report their mental health and life satisfaction.

People who were asked to use Facebook less did report spending less time on the platform. However, there was no detectable impact on depression, smoking behaviour, or life satisfaction at any time point between the two groups. There was a difference in self-reported physical activity, but it was very small.

Another famous study recruited 143 undergraduate students and then randomly assigned them to either limit their Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram use to ten minutes per day for a month, or to make no changes. The researchers then asked participants to report their anxiety, depression, self-esteem, autonomy, loneliness, fear of missing out and social support.

At the end of the month, there was no difference between the two groups on most measures of mental health and wellbeing. Those who reduced social media use showed a small decrease in self-reported loneliness, and there was also a small improvement in depression scores among people who reported high levels of depression to begin with.

Existing social media experiments can’t answer big questions

Studies like these address narrow, specific questions. They are simply unable to answer the big question of whether long-term reduction in social media use benefits mental health.

For one thing, they look at specific platforms rather than overall social media use. For another, most experiments don’t really define “social media”. Facebook is obviously social media, but what about messaging services such as WhatsApp, or even Nintendo’s online gaming platform?

In addition, few if any of these studies involve interventions or outcomes that can be measured objectively. They consist of asking people – often undergraduate students – to reduce their social media use, and then asking them how they feel. This creates a range of obvious biases, not least because people may report feeling differently based on whether they were asked to make changes in their life or not.

In a medical study assessing a drug’s effect on mental health it is common to administer a placebo – a substitute that should not have any biological effect on the participant. Placebos are a powerful way to mitigate bias because they ensure the participant does not know if they actually received the drug or not.

For social media reduction studies, placebos are virtually impossible. You cannot trick a participant into thinking they are reducing social media when they are not.

Individual changes and a social problem

What’s more, these studies all work at the level of changes to the behaviour of an individual. But social media is fundamentally social. If one college class uses Instagram less, it may have no impact on their mental health even if Instagram is bad, because everyone around them is still using the platform as much as ever.

Finally, none of the studies looked at teenagers. At present, there is simply no reliable evidence that getting teenagers to use social media less has an impact on their mental health.

Which brings us back to the fundamental question. Does reducing social media improve teen mental health? With the current evidence, we don’t think there’s any way to know.

Meyerowitz-Katz is Epidemiologist, Senior Research Fellow, University of Wollongong and Jané is PhD Student in Quantitative Psychology, University of Connecticut.

This was originally published in The Conversation.