SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Yesterday, a California jury held Google and Meta liable for causing the depression and anxiety of a woman who used social media compulsively as a child. Another jury in New Mexico said that Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health and violated state law. The companies are appealing these verdicts, but the cases cast a spotlight on the design of social media platforms as addictive and harmful to kids. So what might a new, safer social media design for children and teens look like? NPR mental health correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee is here to tell us more. Hey there.
RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: So let's set the stage a little bit. What do researchers know about social media addiction in teens?
CHATTERJEE: So, you know, researchers used to look at screen time to understand the potential impacts of social media on teen mental health. But more recently, they've been looking specifically at symptoms of addiction. So things like, do they experience conflict with friends and family because of their social media use? Do they have trouble getting off the apps? Do they have withdrawal symptoms?
And Dr. Jason Nagata is a pediatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, and a leading researcher on teen use of digital media. And in a recent study, he found that nearly half of underage users say they lose track of how much time they spend on social media. Here's Nagata.
JASON NAGATA: We found that, like, 16% of 11- to 12-year-olds said that they tried to use their social media apps less but couldn't. Eighteen percent said that they use social media apps to forget about their problems, and 23% said they spent a lot of time thinking about use of their social media app.
CHATTERJEE: And he suspects that it's even worse for older teens.
DETROW: Do we - I mean, I think we all have gut feelings about this, but scientifically, do they know - do they have a way to measure this kind of compulsive use of social media and that it's linked to poor mental health in kids?
CHATTERJEE: In fact, Nagata himself has looked into this. He says 11- to 12-year-olds with addictive views were more likely to report symptoms of depression, attention problems and behavioral issues one year from the start of the study.
NAGATA: We also unfortunately found that it was associated with high risk of suicidal behaviors, sleep disturbances and even experimentation with substances like marijuana, tobacco and alcohol one year later.
CHATTERJEE: And, you know, he says it's this addictive use that's tied to these outcomes more than the time they spend on social media.
DETROW: OK, so given all that, what could make social media sites less addictive?
CHATTERJEE: So, you know, companies have initiated some changes, and some have been - some users have started making changes, too. You may set a time limit on your Instagram account, for instance, or maybe you've turned off your notifications. But when it comes to vulnerable minors, researchers say platforms have to make the design less addictive.
I spoke with Mitch Prinstein. He's at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and researches technology and brain development. And he says teens should not be getting notifications of, you know, likes and dislikes. He says that feature is not a good fit for the developing teen brain.
MITCH PRINSTEIN: Remember, these are young folks who have a hypersensitive social brain and a very weak prefrontal cortex, or their brakes are very weak.
DETROW: So we're talking about brakes like brakes on a car there. Like, it's hard for a teen to just stop using social media.
CHATTERJEE: That's exactly right. And the other thing that both Prinstein and Nagata say is that the default for minors should be that - should be not sharing their data with other companies to personalize content to make these sites addictive.
DETROW: NPR's Rhitu Chatterjee, thank you so much.
CHATTERJEE: Thanks, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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