How does social media shape adolescent mental health?

Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health: A Georgetown Study

Buying a first phone for your child is a big milestone, and a big question for any parent. How much should they use it? Which apps are fine? How does social media fit into a healthy childhood?

These are the questions Dr. Kostadin Kushlev and the Happy Tech Lab at Georgetown University are working to answer, and we would love for your family to be part of it.

With funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, we are running a first-of-its-kind social media study that follows kids aged 10 to 14 through their first months with a smartphone. What we learn will help shape the guidance parents get and give families everywhere a clearer, evidence-based picture of how social media and smartphones affect kids, and how to make them work for your family.

Dr. Kushlev is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University. His research has been published in journals including Psychological Science, and covered by The New York Times, The Economist, NPR, and The Washington Post.

Along the way, your family gets a front-row seat to the science, hands-on support setting up your child's new phone, up to $200, and entry into prize drawings. Most of all, you will be helping build the kind of trustworthy answers about social media and youth well-being that parents have been asking for.

You and your child may be able to participate if you are the parent of a 10-14-year-old who is about to receive their first smartphone!

What Your Family Gets

• Parental control know-how. We show you how to set up parental controls. How you use them is up to you, and what you learn is yours to keep after the study ends.

• $200 per family, paid across the four milestones.

• A real part in building better evidence on social media and youth mental health, the kind that can inform the advice parents are given and the policies shaping life online.

Who Are We Looking for?

• You and your child may be a good fit if:

  • Your child is 10 to 14 years old and about to receive their first smartphone.

  • Both parents consent to take part (when custody is shared).

  • Your child is willing to join the study activities.

  • Your child has no history of self-harm and no diagnosed developmental or serious mental health condition.

What Does the Study Involve?

Over about six months, we check in regularly with brief questions about your child's mood and phone use, along with activity from the device itself. At the start, the 3-month mark, and the 6-month mark, you and your child each complete a longer survey. Those surveys, along with a short setup meeting, are the milestones that come with compensation, listed below.

For the first three months, families are randomly placed in one of two groups:

• Restricted access: a specific set of social media apps is blocked on your child's phone.

• Naturalistic access: the study blocks nothing, and the choice of what to limit stays with you.

Comparing the two groups is what lets us learn about cause and effect, not just correlation.

Are There Any Other Incentives?

Yes.

Each family receives $200, paid across four milestones:

• Baseline survey ($25), completed before your child gets their phone. The parent and adolescent surveys take about 20 to 30 minutes and get shorter as the study goes on.

• Phone setup ($50), a 15 to 30 minute meeting with our team to set up parental controls and study software on your child's phone.

• 3-month survey ($50).

• 6-month survey ($75)

  Beyond the $200, participants who complete all study activities are entered into two prize drawings:

• A 1-in-50 chance at Beats Studio Pro headphones or a similar product, worth about $350, drawn for every 50 participants who complete the study.

• A 1-in-500 chance at a 55" Samsung Picture Frame TV, worth about $1,100, drawn at the end of the study, expected in 2028.

Your involvement could shape the future of adolescent mental health policy and research. For more information or to enroll your child, please click on “apply now” below or contact us at adolescentsocialmedia@georgetown.edu.