Researchers Embrace Complexity in Social Media and Teen Mental Health

The researchers suggest that policymakers should focus on design elements with an eye on psychological needs, “discouraging agency-reducing features like autoplay and infinite scroll,” rather than implementing broader rules on screen time or on social media regardless of platform. Beyond this, politicians and regulators would be wise to follow the authors’ lead and embrace the complexity of the relationship between adolescent social media use and mental health by paying attention to regulations’ impact on minorities, divergent psychological effects, and the constant flux in platform features and how they are used.