Hundreds of Wisconsin teens are helping UW researchers understand more about their online life, with potentially transformative results.
The study, led by Dr. Megan Moreno, a professor of pediatrics in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, is a long-term, federally-funded project designed to show how social media affects the physical and mental health of adolescents, including their brain development. Participants, along with their parents or guardians, agree to allow researchers to closely track their online activity for two years. They also complete surveys, sit for interviews and in some cases, undergo brain scans.
The project encompasses three independent studies, each led by a different researcher. Moreno will focus on behavior and Dr. Ellen Selkie, a professor of pediatrics, will examine well-being. Chris Cascio, a professor of journalism and mass communication and director of UW’s Communication, Brain and Behavior Lab, will study social media’s effects on the brain. A critical part of the work is to bring findings back to Wisconsin communities and share them with youth, families, healthcare providers, educators and policymakers. Moreno characterized it as an “inquiry study” without a negative or positive slant, and said its broad scope is one of its strengths. A six-month funding freeze enacted as part of a wave of cuts to research programs at universities across the country led to UW–Madison making adjustments to the project’s parameters. The National Institutes of Health funding has now been restored. Moreno said that the project’s goals continue to align with bipartisan priorities on Capitol Hill.
Read more about studying the effects of social media on youth
