An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will examine the current research and make conclusions about the impact of social media on the mental and physical health and wellbeing of adolescents and children. The committee will consider the following questions:
1. In what ways, if any, does social/digital media affect the mental and physical health and wellbeing of adolescents and children (age 13 -18 yrs), including anxiety, depression, addiction and self-efficacy, social isolation, relationship malformation, relationship with their parents, life satisfaction and physical activity?
a. Do these effects differ between different social/digital media use (e.g. social media vs video streamers)?
b. Do the effects of social/digital media on adolescents and children differ between different demographics of children (race and ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status)?
2. In what ways, if any, does the product design of social media (e.g., consumer retention strategies, data profiling, advertising, and others) affect adolescents and children’s physical and mental health and wellbeing?
3. What consequences, if any, do the effects of social/digital media on adolescents and children’s mental and physical health and wellbeing have for education, social development, family dynamics, and projected economic prospects?
4. Do new forms of social media (such as 3D social networking) raise novel questions for the health and wellbeing of adolescents and children and their families?
The committee should identify what is needed in a research agenda to more fully understand the impact of social media on adolescents, children and their families, as well as the data that would be required in order to comprehensively evaluate the effects of social media products on the mental and physical health and wellbeing of adolescents and children.
The committee should also make recommendations for steps that parents, social media companies, and public officials can take to maximize potential benefits and minimize potential harms of social media for adolescents and children.