Israel: 15-year-olds with problems from social media rose from 5% to 16%, and maths did not fall; in Norway there are fewer, and maths fell 33 points
Of 16 countries where such teenagers rose by over 2 points, maths fell significantly in 11; of the other 15, in 11. The Netherlands has the fewest (5%), and maths fell 27 points.
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The WHO asks teenagers whether social media trouble them: they cannot think of anything else, argue with family over it, give up other activities for it. From 2018 to 2022 such 15-year-olds became more common in most countries, and PISA maths fell in most. But country by country the two do not line up.
Each bar: the change in PISA maths at 15 from 2018 to 2022; beside the name, how many points the share of 15-year-olds with problematic social media use changed. Countries where it rose and maths did not fall, the Netherlands, and countries where it fell and maths did.
- Israel: social media problems 2018 → 2022, %; PISA maths 2018→2022 %; points
4.7 → 16; −5.1 (within error)
- Romania: social media problems 2018 → 2022, %; PISA maths 2018→2022 %; points
14.1 → 23.4; −2.2 (within error)
- Kazakhstan: social media problems 2018 → 2022, %; PISA maths 2018→2022 %; points
4.5 → 12.8; +2.3 (within error)
- Netherlands: social media problems 2018 → 2022, %; PISA maths 2018→2022 %; points
4.1 → 4.9; −26.6
- Norway: social media problems 2018 → 2022, %; PISA maths 2018→2022 %; points
9.5 → 7.2; −32.5
- Finland: social media problems 2018 → 2022, %; PISA maths 2018→2022 %; points
12 → 10; −23.2
- France: social media problems 2018 → 2022, %; PISA maths 2018→2022 %; points
8.1 → 6.8; −21.5
WHO, HBSC 2017/18 and 2021/22: share of 15-year-olds answering yes to 6 of 9 scale items. OECD, PISA 2022 trend table: change 2018→2022 and its significance. 31 countries with both surveys. Rank correlation of the changes: 0.22, no association, if anything the opposite sign.
This compares countries, not pupils: within a country weaker pupils may use social media more. Both surveys are of 15-year-olds but with different samples, and HBSC publishes no errors, so changes under 2 points are not counted. The 2021/22 survey ran during the pandemic.
A question for this picture
Whom does schoolwork weigh on more, girls or boys?