{"id":366813,"date":"2025-02-19T07:59:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T06:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366813"},"modified":"2025-02-19T07:59:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T06:59:20","slug":"the-science-bloomberg-news-climate-change-is-leading-to-more-social-media-use-as-the-increase-in-extreme-weather-events-forces-people-indoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366813","title":{"rendered":"The Science (\u00ae)! Bloomberg News: \u2018Climate change is leading to more social media use, as the increase in extreme weather events forces people indoors\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Climate Depot<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg news<\/a>: Climate change might make us spend more time on social media. In a new study in Psychological Science, researchers found that extreme weather \u2014 hot and cold \u2014 led to a significant uptick in how much people posted on Facebook and Twitter. Heavy precipitation did the same.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick Obradovich, a computational behavioral scientist at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one of the authors of the paper. He concedes that it\u2019s a pretty intuitive finding: When it\u2019s unpleasant outside, people stay inside, and when they\u2019re inside they\u2019re more likely to be scrolling and, perhaps, posting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put this together and a vicious cycle emerges: one in which worse weather drives us to spend more time inside on social media, growing more and more enraged and politically polarized. Our representative government responds to this by also growing more and more polarized and dysfunctional and, therefore, unable to deal with big problems like climate change.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a symbiosis between two of the more pernicious things our species created. Social media wins, so does climate change. Humanity loses.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Marc Morano<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

Climate change is leading to more social media use, as the increase in extreme weather events forces people indoors https:\/\/t.co\/gLivpaKmNV<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Bloomberg (@business) February 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/newsletters\/2025-02-17\/posting-through-it-climate-change-is-fueling-social-media-use<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg: Posting Through It: Climate Change Is Fueling Social Media Use<\/strong>
February 17, 2025, By Drake Bennett<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doom scrolling<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list of climate change\u2019s effects is long and Biblical: rising, acidifying oceans; fiercer forest fires and thunderstorms and hurricanes; spreading mosquitos and mosquito-borne diseases. But there\u2019s a new potential plague, at least for our species. Climate change might make us spend more time on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new study in Psychological Science<\/a>, researchers found that extreme weather \u2014 hot and cold \u2014 led to a significant uptick in how much people posted on Facebook and Twitter. Heavy precipitation did the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

(Worse Weather Amplifies Social Media Activity \u2013 Psychological Science- Published February 4, 2025<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nick Obradovich, a computational behavioral scientist at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one of the authors of the paper. He concedes that it\u2019s a pretty intuitive finding: When it\u2019s unpleasant outside, people stay inside, and when they\u2019re inside they\u2019re more likely to be scrolling and, perhaps, posting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

[Climate Depot Note: The coauthor of this new paper (Nick Obradovich) also coauthored this 2018 paper in PNAS: Empirical evidence of mental health risks posed by climate change<\/a> ]<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The point of the research, he says, was to see if something we thought was likely to be true was, in fact, true, and to flesh out a broader portrait of what does and doesn\u2019t shape people\u2019s online behavior. A lot of science is like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody has measured this before, to my knowledge,\u201d Obradovich says. \u201cWe have one of the largest corpuses of social media data that I\u2019m aware of, and nobody has asked this question or measured it before.\u201d (More on Obradovich<\/em> here<\/a>:<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A sizable body of evidence links climate change to extreme weather of all kinds. Not just hot weather, but very wet weather. (There\u2019s also some evidence that rising temperatures paradoxically cause brutal cold snaps, by destabilizing the winds of the polar vortex and thereby releasing Arctic air into lower latitudes.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, waiting out the weather on our social media feeds probably makes us less happy \u2013 there\u2019s evidence on that connection, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And social media consumption seems to harden political views and sectarianism for many of its users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put this together and a vicious cycle emerges: one in which worse weather drives us to spend more time inside on social media, growing more and more enraged and politically polarized. Our representative government responds to this by also growing more and more polarized and dysfunctional and, therefore, unable to deal with big problems like climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a symbiosis between two of the more pernicious things our species created. Social media wins, so does climate change. Humanity loses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg news<\/a>: Climate change might make us spend more time on social media. In a new study in Psychological Science, researchers found that extreme weather \u2014 hot and cold \u2014 led to a significant uptick in how much people posted on Facebook and Twitter. Heavy precipitation did the same.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The list of climate change\u2019s effects is long and Biblical: rising, acidifying oceans; fiercer forest fires and thunderstorms and hurricanes; spreading mosquitos and mosquito-borne diseases. But there\u2019s a new potential plague, at least for our species. Climate change might make us spend more time on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":366824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691833378,691833377,691818056,691818514,691833379,691819484],"class_list":{"0":"post-366813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-arctic-air","9":"tag-bloomberg-news","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-extreme-weather","12":"tag-psychological-science","13":"tag-social-media","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Screenshot-2025-02-17-at-08.41.19.png?fit=1206%2C1034&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1xql","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":348685,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=348685","url_meta":{"origin":366813,"position":0},"title":"No, Bloomberg, Climate is Not \u201cKilling Buildings\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"An October 21 article in Bloomberg claims that Climate Change is Killing Buildings in Slow Motion. This is demonstrably false, as buildings have been affected by weather for millennia, not just during the present. This is a classic case of conflation of weather and climate, used to push the idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bloomberg\"","block_context":{"text":"Bloomberg","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bloomberg"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/026krugmanWeb-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/026krugmanWeb-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/026krugmanWeb-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/026krugmanWeb-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/026krugmanWeb-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg?fit=1200%2C676&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":330102,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=330102","url_meta":{"origin":366813,"position":1},"title":"No, Washington Post, Houston\u2019s Mosquito Problem Isn\u2019t New or Driven by Climate Change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent article in the Washington Post (WaPo) linked recent heavy rain and an associated explosion of mosquitoes to climate change. Other media outlets such as Fox News, cited the WaPo story saying Mosquitoes swarm Texas town, officials blame climate change. Officials may be blaming climate change, but they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C831&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C831&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C831&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C831&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C831&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":346242,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=346242","url_meta":{"origin":366813,"position":2},"title":"Roger Pielke on Weather\u00a0Attribution","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Roger Pielke Jr looks at the science (or not!) behind extreme weather attribution","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0raychel-sanner-cswvKS59E90-unsplash-1-1-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C416&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0raychel-sanner-cswvKS59E90-unsplash-1-1-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C416&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0raychel-sanner-cswvKS59E90-unsplash-1-1-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C416&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0raychel-sanner-cswvKS59E90-unsplash-1-1-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C416&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0raychel-sanner-cswvKS59E90-unsplash-1-1-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C416&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":397891,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=397891","url_meta":{"origin":366813,"position":3},"title":"Wrong, New York Times, Climate Change Isn\u2019t Causing a Surge in \u00a0Mosquito-Borne Diseases","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent article in the New York Times (NYT), \u201cCases of Mosquito-Borne Chikungunya Virus Are Surging Globally: What to Know,\u201d claims climate change is causing the the spread of mosquito-borne diseases by expanding mosquitoes\u2019 ranges. This is a scientifically unsubstantiated claim. The truth, grounded in actual data and entomological science,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aedes albopictus (\u201cAsian tiger mosquito\u201d)\"","block_context":{"text":"Aedes albopictus (\u201cAsian tiger mosquito\u201d)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=aedes-albopictus-asian-tiger-mosquito"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQMPRfCQYMn9NeznqNnZ2HeWfxBwqONmner0MPlP5Leg-vZwzEPRfD_tGfsvQcg24eg8rkTCYDdDBrj4Ipok8TddQJX2YTRMmhq_YPyPuvYYu_Wk1EEmDkQ-TMleF7E5mB6pq1ZBNuKt75q1T-AsD3jlPcu9bQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQMPRfCQYMn9NeznqNnZ2HeWfxBwqONmner0MPlP5Leg-vZwzEPRfD_tGfsvQcg24eg8rkTCYDdDBrj4Ipok8TddQJX2YTRMmhq_YPyPuvYYu_Wk1EEmDkQ-TMleF7E5mB6pq1ZBNuKt75q1T-AsD3jlPcu9bQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQMPRfCQYMn9NeznqNnZ2HeWfxBwqONmner0MPlP5Leg-vZwzEPRfD_tGfsvQcg24eg8rkTCYDdDBrj4Ipok8TddQJX2YTRMmhq_YPyPuvYYu_Wk1EEmDkQ-TMleF7E5mB6pq1ZBNuKt75q1T-AsD3jlPcu9bQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQMPRfCQYMn9NeznqNnZ2HeWfxBwqONmner0MPlP5Leg-vZwzEPRfD_tGfsvQcg24eg8rkTCYDdDBrj4Ipok8TddQJX2YTRMmhq_YPyPuvYYu_Wk1EEmDkQ-TMleF7E5mB6pq1ZBNuKt75q1T-AsD3jlPcu9bQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQMPRfCQYMn9NeznqNnZ2HeWfxBwqONmner0MPlP5Leg-vZwzEPRfD_tGfsvQcg24eg8rkTCYDdDBrj4Ipok8TddQJX2YTRMmhq_YPyPuvYYu_Wk1EEmDkQ-TMleF7E5mB6pq1ZBNuKt75q1T-AsD3jlPcu9bQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":350515,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=350515","url_meta":{"origin":366813,"position":4},"title":"Wrong, Bloomberg, Real World Evidence Proves Extreme Rainfall Hasn\u2019t Become More Frequent or Deadly","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/11\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A November 4th Bloomberg article, titled \u201cExtreme Rainfall Is Becoming More Frequent and Deadly,\u201d covering the recent floods in Valencia suggests that climate change is producing greater numbers extreme rainfall events that are also more deadly now than before. This is false. Data proves that Bloomberg\u2019s claims fail the truth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bloomberg\"","block_context":{"text":"Bloomberg","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bloomberg"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0GettyImages-592034559-1-e1658260204585.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0GettyImages-592034559-1-e1658260204585.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0GettyImages-592034559-1-e1658260204585.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0GettyImages-592034559-1-e1658260204585.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0GettyImages-592034559-1-e1658260204585.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":323629,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=323629","url_meta":{"origin":366813,"position":5},"title":"Get Real, Bloomberg, Climate Change Is No Child Labor \u2018Threat Multiplier,\u2019 Climate Policies Are","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/04\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent Bloomberg article describes a new tool that scores companies based on how much they rely on child labor, which the news outlet claims is exacerbated by climate change. This is false. While weather disasters can force people into desperate circumstances, extreme weather is not getting worse.","rel":"","context":"In \"Bloomberg\"","block_context":{"text":"Bloomberg","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bloomberg"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/07422792.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/07422792.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/07422792.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/07422792.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/07422792.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366813"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366826,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366813\/revisions\/366826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/366824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}