I-Corps: Interactive Technology for Social Media Use Awareness and Intervention

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a diagnostic tool that uses analytics on self-reported emotional state as well as content engagement and time spent on social media sites to create personalized social media interventions for users. The proposed technology also may gather aggregate level data to understand what the thresholds are for social media engagement and emotional well-being.

Currently, more than 90 percent of teens and young adults are social media users, and nearly half report being online almost constantly. Research correlates time spent on smartphones with high levels of loneliness, anxiety, and depression. The proposed technology aims to mitigate the effects of “always on” social media culture.

Current products that address this issue include apps that allow the user to briefly lock themselves out of their phones to limit screen time. These apps provide short-term solutions to a deeper problem – a culture of social media that demands hypervigilance and constant engagement. Social media is designed to be an immersive environment where users “lose time” mindlessly scrolling for hours on end.

The proposed technology aims to provide a long-term, sustainable solution to social media dependence.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a diagnostic tool to promote mindfulness around social media use. The proposed technology is designed to: 1) raise awareness of unconscious social media habits, including time spent on these sites and socio-emotional triggers that prompt clicking on social media apps; 2) stimulating reflection of how time spent on social media affects emotional well-being; and 3) providing momentary interventions in screen time through suggestions for non-screen related brain breaks.

The goal is to make visible unconscious, routinized behaviors related to technology devices and social media. The proposed technology addresses the harms of excessive screen time and social comparison on social media, especially among youth, a problem that has been well-documented in the research literature. This idea emerged out of findings from NSF research suggesting that youth struggle to self-regulate screen time and a break in routine may serve as a powerful catalyst for self-awareness of how social media affects self-esteem and emotional well-being.

Numerous studies have correlated depression, anxiety and low self-esteem with time spent on social media among youth. Yet, few researchers offer solutions and there are no widely used interventions at this time.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.