Confounders

Ask what hidden third thing could be driving both sides at once, faking a link between them. Unlike a mediator, which sits on the causal path, this factor sits off to the side and manufactures the correlation you noticed.

Ask what hidden third thing could be driving both sides at once, faking a link between them. Unlike a mediator, which sits on the causal path, this factor sits off to the side and manufactures the correlation you noticed.

Example

In the teenager case, name social stress at school as a candidate: it could push her toward six hours of scrolling and darken her mood independently. If so, the phone and the moods only look connected, and taking the phone away changes nothing.