Abstract
Our proposed study is the first to evaluate the causal impact of social media use on adolescent mental health and academic achievement. We will conduct experiments with N=3,000 adolescents ages 11-15. Adolescents will be randomly assigned to 1) treatment groups that receive incentives or nudges to reduce social media use or 2) a control group. We will track amount and type of social media use objectively via an app. We will compare the treatment and control groups on social media use, mental health, and academic achievement. Our study will enroll a high proportion of socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents and a high proportion of Black/Hispanic adolescents. Both groups are reported to use social media at higher rates than higher-income and White counterparts. Our aims are to 1) measure the impact of incentives and nudges on social media use; 2) evaluate whether reducing use leads to improved mental health and academic achievement; 3) explore the mechanisms through which effects may emerge; and 4) understand if there are disparate effects by socio-economic status (SES), race/ethnicity and gender.