Are people complaining because you’re more irritable lately? Do you seem to get into arguments more often now? You may be using social media too much.

George Citroner, writing in The Epoch Times, tells us people who spend most of their day on social media show significantly higher levels of irritability than nonusers, scoring more than three points higher on a standard irritability test, according to a major new study of more than 42,000 adults.

A new study published in JAMA Network Open on Jan. 8 examined the relationship between social media use and irritability, moving beyond previous research that focused primarily on depression and anxiety. Conducted between November 2023 and January 2024, the study surveyed more than 42,500 U.S. adults from 50 states and the District of Columbia. The research found that about 80 percent of respondents engaged with at least one social media platform daily. Using the Brief Irritability Test, researchers found that people who used social media multiple times daily scored 1.43 points higher than nonusers.

Those who reported using social media “most of the day” showed an even more dramatic increase, scoring 3.37 points higher than nonusers. This pattern suggests a dose-response relationship: The more frequently people used social media, the higher their irritability scores climbed, according to the authors.

Social media often frequently shows a heavily filtered and highly curated version of reality. Constantly seeing others portray happy lives, vacations, relationships, and ideal bodies can lead to feelings of inadequacy, envy, and frustration with one’s own life. This constant comparison can fuel feelings of resentment and irritability.

Additionally, screen entertainment through social media can be overly stimulating, which may increase baseline stress, leading to feelings of anxiety and irritation. Also, the blue light emitted from electronic devices can interfere with sleep patterns. Lack of sleep can significantly affect mood and increase irritability.

If you’re a frequent user of TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram, you may be particularly vulnerable. The effect was particularly pronounced on specific platforms. For instance, TikTok users who engaged with the platform most of the day showed a 1.69-point increase in irritability scores, while frequent Facebook users showed a 1.4-point increase.

The researchers also examined whether political engagement on social media might explain the increased irritability. While more frequent political discussions on social media platforms were linked to greater irritability, the findings still suggest that social media usage, in general, remained a significant factor in rising irritability scores, even after controlling for political engagement.

Irritability deserves focused attention as a distinct mental health concern, separate from its known associations with depression and anxiety, the study authors noted. However, they acknowledged several important limitations in their research, including an inability to assess causation and a reliance on self-reported data, which may be subject to recall bias on the part of participants. “The association between social media and mood is likely to be complex and potentially bidirectional,” the study authors wrote.

These study results are not surprising, given what we already know. Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist at New York University’ Stern School of Business has referred to the present generation gap of Generation Z as a “national crisis.” He is referring to the impact of social media and smart phones on our youth. For more on this subject, read my post Social Media Dangerous to Our Youth.

As a doctor, I know that if my patients were doing poorer each year, someone would be suiting me for malpractice. A doctor is supposed to make his patients healthier and a teacher is supposed to make his students better educated. When that isn’t happening, something needs to change.

But that isn’t happening in the world of education. The problem seems to be Democrats who are supporting the teachers unions and defending the status quo. No less an authority than former Democratic New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling them out on this in The Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg tells us many voters are still unhappy with Democratic support for excessive school closings during the pandemic. Too many elected officials, pandering to teachers unions, kept schools closed well past the point when it was clear that in-person classes could safely resume. Children paid a terrible price, and they are still paying it.

This week brought more bad news. On the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress, a test that functions as a national report card, student scores hit new lows. One-third of eighth-grade students in the U.S. are reading at a “below basic” level. Fourth-graders fared even worse: 40% were below basic. The divide between high-performing and low-performing students, which is correlated with family income, has widened.

Bloomberg says, “This is a disaster for our country and our ability to compete internationally. First and foremost, it is a disaster for our children, especially in low-income areas. Many of them are being condemned to lives of minimum-wage jobs, government dependency and, tragically, prison.”

Bloomberg is putting his money where his mouth is through his Bloomberg Philanthropies organization. It seems to be paying off as there was a bright spot in the NAEP scores. In the four localities and states where Bloomberg Philanthropies has been most active—supporting charter schools, high standards and system accountability—students bucked the national trend: Their test scores went up. They’ve shown what works in raising student achievement levels, and have the data to back it up. But instead of pursuing these proven strategies, Democrats have been fighting them.

In New York, the teachers union has fought to maintain a cap on the number of charter schools, which have dramatically raised achievement levels, even as student waiting lists grow longer. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature have refused to repeal a law prohibiting longstanding charters from receiving the same kind of rental assistance that newer charters do. The state also gives charters far less funding than traditional schools, discriminating against their students.

Bloomberg doesn’t shy from calling out his own party. He says, “For a party that speaks a great deal about equity, the Democrats ought to put their money where their mouth is. And the problem isn’t only that Democratic leaders are fighting reforms that would help students. It’s that they’re trying to pretend the education crisis doesn’t exist, in part by papering over it.”

In New York, state education officials are planning to abolish the requirement that students pass basic proficiency exams to earn a high-school diploma. Students will still take English, math and science exams, since they are required by federal law, but failing them won’t matter. High-school diplomas will become participation trophies. In Massachusetts, voters passed a November referendum eliminating a requirement that students pass tests covering math, science and English to receive a high-school diploma.

This is education malpractice and the voters must hold their public officials accountable. The problem boils down to this: Are you more concerned about supporting teachers unions or educating children? The answer may determine the future of our country.

Medicaid spending is out of control. There are about 10 million more people on Medicaid than before the Covid pandemic. Annual federal and state spending on the program has grown by 60% to $963 billion – more than the U.S. now spends on national defense! How did this happen so rapidly? A little history lesson is needed here to understand what is happening.

For over a hundred years the Progressives in Congress have been pushing for a nationalized healthcare system, which means the government is in total control of healthcare. This is generally referred to as socialized medicine. It is currently in practice in other countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.

Republicans have resisted this in the United States for many years, correctly understanding that socialized medicine in all countries that have tried it leads to limited access to healthcare and denial of expensive treatments.

In 2010, under President Obama, the Democrats were successful in passing new healthcare legislation called The Affordable Care Act, (better known now as ObamaCare) without a single Republican vote. This legislation was a giant step toward total government control of healthcare, while not fully achieving their goal. It greatly expanded the eligibility for Medicaid by raising financial limits and incentivizing state governments to accept the change. Many blue states accepted this change, while most red states did not. This led to increased Medicaid enrollment.

During the Covid pandemic, a national emergency was declared by the Trump administration, which raised financial eligibility ceilings even further temporarily. This was never intended as a permanent change. Enter the Biden administration, which extended the declaration of a national emergency well beyond the Covid pandemic.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board calls this “The Great Biden Welfare Blowout.” They explain: “. . . Mr. Biden and the Democrats used the pandemic as an excuse to turn Medicaid into another entitlement for the middle class. Congress finally ended the pandemic expansions in spring 2023. Yet there are still about 10 million more people on Medicaid than before Covid. Annual federal and state spending on the program has grown by 60% to $963 billion—more than the U.S. now spends on national defense.”

One reason is the Biden Administration let Democratic states ease eligibility verifications and use federal Medicaid funds to pay for other social spending like homeless housing, food and mini-refrigerators. Biden officials also let states use accounting tricks to wring more Medicaid money out of Washington.

Consider California, where 37% of residents are covered by Medicaid. The state has extended Medicaid to undocumented immigrants and waived asset limits for beneficiaries. Mr. Newsom’s budget forecasts some $190 billion in Medicaid and other health spending this year, $119 billion of which will be picked up by the feds. The latter amount is greater than Florida’s annual budget.

Biden officials have also boosted food-stamp allotments and waived work requirements for able-bodied adults. A recent Wall Street Journal article reported the case of an unemployed worker who worried that accepting a job with a “smallish paycheck” would end his eligibility for food stamps and Medicaid. How many more are like him?

The WSJ editors say: “Republicans have floated stiffer work requirements for welfare programs and fixing the accounting gimmicks that states use to scam more federal Medicaid dollars. Good ideas. By our calculation, simply returning to pre-pandemic Medicaid spending levels, adjusted for inflation, could generate more than $1.4 trillion in savings over a decade. Progressives claim that Republicans want to take food and healthcare away from the poor and sick. But the reality is that Mr. Biden’s welfare expansions have mostly benefited those who can support themselves but for any number of reasons choose not to.”