Instagram is teaming up with the Center for Open Science (COS) to grant access to its data to a few academics who will study the impact of the platform on the mental health of young people and teens. We hope that the results of these pilot studies will shed light on the relationship between teens’ social media use and their mental health.
Instagram data will be accessible to academics for a period of up to six months as part of this initiative. Information gathered may pertain to the adolescent’s Instagram activity, preferences, the amount of profiles they follow, and other related characteristics. Nevertheless, Meta emphasizes that demographic data and the substance of postings, comments, or communications will remain confidential.
According to The Atlantic, COS will choose up to seven research projects on different parts of adolescent mental health as part of the initiative, but Meta will not be participating. Researchers must also get parental approval before recruiting teens. COS thinks that by combining data from Instagram with data from other sources, like as surveys, our understanding of adolescent well-being might be greatly improved.
According to Curtiss Cobb, VP of research at Meta, “Parents, lawmakers, academics, and technology companies are grappling with how best to support young people as they navigate online spaces, but we need more data to understand the full picture.” This highlights the importance of having more comprehensive data to support young people in online spaces.
Since Facebook employee Frances Haugen revealed internal studies in 2021 indicating that Instagram linked to elevated rates of sadness and anxiety among teenagers, concerns about the app’s effect on their mental health have persisted. Researchers were therefore urging Meta to increase transparency in its studies pertaining to mental health.
Instagram has responded by implementing measures to safeguard its younger users, but worries about the platform’s influence have not gone away, leading to a surge in regulations requiring users to verify their age and protect children online.
