FLORIDA, USA — Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) have started a new study that will track young people over the next 25 years to learn more about the long-term impacts of digital media.
It's something that the USF team, comprised of experts from various disciplines, said differs from many other works.
“We have research from other fields that tracks people across decades, looking at cardiovascular health or work-life balance across the lifespan. We don’t have that yet for digital media use and wellness,” said Justin Martin, the Eleanor Poynter Jamison Chair in Media Ethics & Press Policy at USF St. Petersburg and lead researcher of the study, in a statement. “We know that digital media affect people, especially children, in meaningful and often adverse ways, so it’s important to study the same individuals across the lifespan.”
According to a press release from USF, the Life in Media Survey will cover topics such as social media use and addiction, cyber bulling, news consumption, streaming services, parental controls, artificial intelligence and more.
Data will be collected from participants who are currently between the ages of 11 to 13, the release states.
This month, around 1,500 youth in Florida will be taking the survey which was reportedly constructed with the help of the Harris Poll. It will help the USF team get baseline data which will get published in a report in Spring 2025.
From there, the research team at the university will start a nation-wide, long-term survey for up to 9,000 participants, the release states. Through 2050, they'll survey the same participants twice a year.
The overall study will help develop insight on changes in attitudes, behaviors, sleep quality and mental health from adolescence into adulthood.
“Let’s say kids who spend more time on social media and devices have higher rates of depression, which is what some of the data is telling us. Is it because of the device and media itself, or is it because time spent with digital media means kids have less time for sports, clubs and other socialization activities?” USF psychology professor and expert on adolescent development Wendy Rote said in a statement. “What you can get from a long-term study is broad patterns and trends of media use by individuals and examine those at different times in their life to pick apart and answer such questions.”
More information on the new study can be found on USF's website.