Researchers at Georgetown University are conducting a study to examine the effects of social media exposure on the mental health of adolescents.
Fast Facts
Parent of a Child Ages 10-14
Considering Giving Your Child a Smartphone
Compensation Provided
Conducted Remotely
Study Background
Causal Effects of Exposure to Social Media on Adolescent Mental Health
In this experimental study, we will randomly assign your adolescent child to have access to social media or not to have access to social media apps on their first smartphone for 3 months. This will allow us to examine the costs and benefits of mobile social media on adolescent mental health, explore which types of social media use are beneficial or detrimental, and examine whether there are any risk factors.
The total duration of the study is six months with assessments at baseline, and at 3 and 6 months after baseline. Each of the three assessments is anticipated to take about 20 minutes for you and your child. In addition to the main assessments, your child will be asked to answer a few questions each day, which will take no more than 30 seconds to complete and phone usage data will be collected passively. Altogether, we expect that your child will need to dedicate an estimated 2–3 hours to survey completion distributed across 6 months.
Help advance research on social media for children like yours. Join our study today!
Study Background
Causal Effects of Exposure to Social Media on Adolescent Mental Health
In this experimental study, we will randomly assign your adolescent child to have access to social media or not to have access to social media apps on their first smartphone for 3 months. This will allow us to examine the costs and benefits of mobile social media on adolescent mental health, explore which types of social media use are beneficial or detrimental, and examine whether there are any risk factors.
The total duration of the study is six months with assessments at baseline, and at 3 and 6 months after baseline. Each of the three assessments is anticipated to take about 20 minutes for you and your child. In addition to the main assessments, your child will be asked to answer a few questions each day, which will take no more than 30 seconds to complete and phone usage data will be collected passively. Altogether, we expect that your child will need to dedicate an estimated 2–3 hours to survey completion distributed across 6 months.
Help advance research on social media for children like yours. Join our study today!
Additional Information
There is a lot of speculation about how mobile phones and social media impact adolescent mental health, but little evidence is based on controlled experimental studies. This study will help us better understand the costs and benefits of exposure to social media on adolescent mental health.
You and your child may qualify for this study if you meet the following criteria.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Parent of a child 10-14 years old
- Considering purchasing a smartphone for your child (or have decided but haven’t given it yet)
- Your child and at least one parent must participate
First, there will be an onboarding meeting (30 minutes, remote or in-person) where we will review the study with you, determine your eligibility, and get your informed consent. Next is an onboarding survey (15 minutes, remote) about demographic information.
After that, we will have a Parental Controls meeting (15 minutes, remote or in-person). We will randomly assign your child to one of two groups. For the first three months of having their smartphone, they will either have access to social media apps or they will not have access to social media apps. At the Parental Controls meeting, we will help you put restrictions on your child’s phone depending on which group they are in.
Once you are fully onboarded, the total duration of the study is six months, with assessments at baseline, and at 3 and 6 months after baseline. Each of the three assessments is anticipated to take about 20 minutes for you and your child. In addition to the main assessments, your child will be asked to answer a few questions each day, which will take no more than 30 seconds to complete, and phone usage data will be collected passively. Altogether, we expect that your child will need to dedicate an estimated 2–3 hours to survey completion, distributed across 6 months.
Compensation may be provided to participating families for their time and effort.
There is no cost for you and your child to participate in our research study.
