There are serious concerns about the impact of social media on the mental health of teenagers. Meta allows a group of researchers to examine some of Instagram’s data to determine whether social media is causing psychological harm to young users.
The Center for Open Science (COS) is launching a new joint pilot program with Meta to produce independent research into how social media affects adolescent mental health.
The program will conduct “independent academic” research using up to six months of Instagram data to determine “potential positive or negative associations of Instagram use” among teens and young adults. According to the program’s website, the study will also examine positive and negative differences in large populations around the world and the reasons for “statistical associations between Instagram and social or emotional health.”
The information researchers can access may include an Instagram user’s followers and the accounts they follow, account settings, and time spent on the photo-sharing service. Researchers will not have access to users’ demographic information or the content of their posts and comments. According to reports, the data will come from accounts located in 24 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom .
Other scientific studies conducted by researchers and found parallel relationships between social media use and a person’s mental health status. Last year, this transition gained more awareness Facebook’s former director of engineering for Protect and Care testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that he emailed the company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the dangers its products could pose to young people.
Béjar testified that seven days before the hearing, 13 percent of Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 15 had received unwanted sexual suggestions. She also testified that her 16-year-old daughter showed signs of a momentary deterioration in her mental health when she wrote a comment under one of the user’s posts that she should “go back to the kitchen”.
A month before the meeting against Meta for allegedly misleading the public about the potentially addictive nature of its platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, among teenagers.
“My experience is that after they sent that email and then saw what happened, they knew there were things they could have done about it, they chose not to do it, and we can’t trust them with our kids,” Bejar said during the hearing. “It’s time for Congress to act. I believe the evidence is overwhelming.”
