Serious Inquiries Only

February 18, 2022February 19, 2022

SIO323: Did COVID Precautions Increase Adolescent Suicide Risk?

That’s the claim made by many right wing anti COVID restriction people. What’s more, it seems to be based on a CDC report. So is there anything to it? Find out!

Links: Yard et al (2021) CDC report, Popular press coverage of report 1, 2, 2020 CDC report (claiming that adolescent ED visits for mental health increased by 31% in 2020 compared to 2019), CDC Reports on decline in total ED visits for March/April 2020, Through March 2021, Timing of State and Territorial COVID-19 Response, CDC Mortality data 2014-2019, 2020-2022 (provisional), WISQARS nonfatal injury reports, WISQARS fatal injury reports, Lindsey’s Graphs

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February 10, 2022February 10, 2022

SIO322: Again with the Garbage Free Speech Arguments

Yeah it’s some commentary about the Joe Rogan controversy. I couldn’t help it. People are being too wrong on the internet.

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February 4, 2022February 5, 2022

SIO321: Does Giving Money to Mothers Boost Baby Brain Activity?

You might have seen the coverage recently of a study that claims to show that giving poor mothers cash payments changed their babies’ brain activity in ways associated with stronger cognitive development. So what is the study, and does it hold up to SIO science thingy scrutiny courtesy of Dr. Lindsey Osterman? Find out!

Links: NYT write-up, Troller-Renfree and colleagues (2022) The Impact of a Poverty Reduction Intervention on Infant Brain Activity, Other publications from Baby’s First Years

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February 2, 2022February 3, 2022

SIO320: Patreon QnA 8!

We had a number of questions from the November QnA that never happened to get to, as well as some new ones for January. Here’s to getting back to regular on these!

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January 26, 2022January 27, 2022

SIO319: The Rise (and Fall?) of r/antiwork

What the saga around the subreddit r/antiwork says about our society and capitalism’s death grip on us.

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January 20, 2022January 21, 2022

SIO318: Study Says the People Have ‘Near-Zero’ Influence on Policy. Does it Hold Up?

It’s time to give another viral thingy the Dr. Lindsey Osterman treatment! A viral tweet summarizing the findings of a political science study alleges that the people have “near-zero” impact on public policy. What is this study, what did it find, and was it good science? Find out!

Links: Gilens & Page (2014) – Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens, Vox article on Gilens and Page and rebuttals, Bashir (2015) – Response to Gilens and Page, Enns (2015) – Response to Gilens and Page, Middle class income calculator (by region)

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November 11, 2021November 11, 2021

SIO317: Is Instagram Bad for Mental Health? What the Science Says Might Surprise You

The Facebook Whistleblower’s testimony and interviews have made some alarming claims about social media and the harms it may cause. But do all of those claims hold up to scrutiny? Maybe not! Let’s see what psychologist Dr. Lindsey Osterman has to say!

Lindsay’s billion links: Internal Report 1, Teen Mental Health Deep Dive, Internal Report 2, Hard Life Moments: Mental Health Deep Dive, Whistleblower Full Senate Hearing Transcript, Body image dissatisfaction in preadolescent children, Disordered eating and the transition to college: A prospective study, Prevalence of body dissatisfaction among a United States adult sample, Prevalence, Onset, and Course of Suicidal Behavior Among Adolescents and Young Adults in Germany, Lim et al (2019) Suicidality and Self Harm in Children and Adolescents, Swannell et al (2014) Prevalence of NSSI in nonclinical samples, Woods & Scott (2019) #Sleepteens, Keles et al (2002) Social Media and Depression, Anxiety, and Distress, Ferguson et al (2013) Peer, TV, and Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, ED Symptoms and Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girl, Orben et al (2019) Social Media’s Enduring Effect on Adolescent Life Satisfaction

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October 31, 2021October 31, 2021

SIO316: Spooktacular October Patreon QnA!

Is it ghosts? Dave Chappelle’s boring unoriginal transphobia, rat jacket fetishes, Democratic party bashing, and more! Here’s that Grandpa Joe blackface post.

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October 28, 2021October 28, 2021

SIO315: Lisa Littman’s Latest Trans Study is Garbage

It’s part 2 of our Littman breakdown, find out what her latest junk study says. This time it’s about detransitioning and it suffers from many of the same problems as her first study we covered in part 1. Also, friend of the show Aaron Rabinowitz, host of Embrace the Void, dug up some of the questions Littman asked. Which ones were and were not included says a ton about what the answers must have been.
Links: MacKinnon (2021), Littman (2021), Turban (2021)

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October 26, 2021October 26, 2021

SIO314: Lisa Littman’s Bogus Trans Studies, Part 1

Recently, a study by Lisa Littman has been making the rounds among the anti-woke. You may remember Littman mentioned in the amazing 2 part series debunking The End of Gender. She is the inventor of the transphobic bull shit concept “rapid onset gender dysphoria” which is science words for “kids these days.” In this two part series, Dr. Lindsey Osterman breaks down both of her bogus studies and why they are terrible science thingies.

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