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Serious concerns have been raised about the effect of social media on teenagers\u2019 mental well-being. Meta is letting a group of researchers examine some of Instagram\u2019s data to determine if social media is psychologically damaging younger users.<\/p>\n
<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>reported that the Center for Open Science (COS) is launching a new joint pilot program with Meta to produce independent studies about how social media affects teenagers\u2019 mental health.<\/p>\n The <\/a> program will conduct \u201cindependent academic\u201d research using up to six months of Instagram data to determine the \u201cpotential positive or negative associations of Instagram use\u201d among teens and young adults. The study will also examine the positive and negative differences of large populations across the world and the causes of \u201cstatistical relationships between Instagram and social or emotional health,\u201d according to the program\u2019s website.<\/p>\n The data researchers can access may include an Instagram user\u2019s followers and the accounts they follow, account settings and the amount of time they spend on the photo sharing service. The researchers will not have access to users\u2019 demographic information or the contents of their posts and comments. The data will come from accounts based in 24 countries including the US and UK, according to the <\/a>.<\/p>\n Other scientific studies conducted by researchers from the <\/a> and <\/a> have found parallel links between social media use and the state of a person\u2019s mental health. The link earned greater awareness last year when <\/a>, a former director of engineering for Protect and Care at Facebook, testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that he alerted the company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg by email of the dangers their product could have on young people.<\/p>\n B\u00e9jar testified that seven days before the hearing, 13 percent of users on Instagram between the ages of 13-15 receive unwanted sexual advances. He also testified that his own 16-year-old daughter exhibited signs of a momentary decline in mental health when a user commented that she should \u201cget back to the kitchen\u201d under one of her posts.<\/p>\n