Text 1: Public health researcher Park argues that screen time is significantly harming adolescent mental health. Rates of teen depression and anxiety, she notes, rose sharply after smartphones became ubiquitous around 2012; the timing strongly suggests a causal connection.
Text 2: Public health researcher Singh accepts the rise in measured teen mental-health problems but argues that the screen-time explanation is too simple. Reporting practices changed in the same period; awareness campaigns increased self-reporting; broader forces — economic insecurity, climate anxiety, school pressure — plausibly contributed. Smartphones may be one factor, Singh argues, but assigning them primary causal weight overruns the evidence.
Based on the texts, how would Singh (Text 2) most likely respond to Park's argument?
- A
He would say screens have no effect on adolescents.
- B
He would deny that any change in teen mental health has occurred.
- Ccheck_circle
He would accept the correlation while disputing the strong causal inference.
- D
He would agree that smartphones are the primary cause of teen mental-health changes.
Explanation
Singh accepts the correlation but disputes the strong causal claim. C captures this. A reverses; B and D contradict him.