Social media comparison trap — need advice

One thing that is still open after JenPlateau’s answer:

What did you change at the same time, and can you separate the two now?

lisa_labSD said:

For anyone reading later: the numbers in this thread are worth checking against a primary source before you act on them, including mine.

This is where I part company with the consensus forming above. This treats a plausible mechanism as a demonstrated one. Plausible is where you start looking, not where you stop.

If somebody has the primary source to hand I would rather cite it than paraphrase it.

Moderator note: leaving this open. It is being argued well and the disagreement is the useful part. Thread quality here is what the rules are for. Keep it up.

lisa_labSD said:

For anyone reading later: the numbers in this thread are worth checking against a primary source before you act on them, including mine.

This answered a question I did not know how to ask. Adding it to my notes with a link back to this thread.

From the other side of the consultation, briefly. Take it one variable at a time. Almost every unanswerable question in these threads is unanswerable because three things changed in the same fortnight, and no amount of subsequent argument can untangle them after the fact.