Meta Platforms Inc. has come under fire from the results of their own internal research, Project MYST. The research shows that teens increasingly believe they’re spending too much time on social media. This national survey, conducted with youth and their young adults, was designed to examine social media use and mental health trends among young people. Yet, the questions that these important findings have raised are crucial. They test the limits of the company’s accountability and dedication to addressing the problem of social media addiction.
Project MYST, short for Meta and Youth Social Emotional Trends, surveyed 1,000 teens and their parents regarding their social media usage. In response, Meta commissioned independent research to find out how young people use platforms such as Instagram. Their findings propelled the dangers of social media on teenagers’ well-being into the spotlight. Surprisingly, teens were self-aware enough to confess that they were spending more time online than felt productive to them.
The results of Project MYST indicated that parental guidance had minimal influence on teens’ attentiveness to their social media usage. According to the research, “parental and household factors have little association with teens’ reported levels of attentiveness to their social media use.” This unexpected result contradicts the idea that more parental supervision would successfully prevent excessive screen time for teens.
Many of these findings are deeply concerning—all pointing to real harms associated with social media use that Meta has been trying to conceal from the public. Despite all of these realities, the company has not given a single warning or suggestion to teens or their parents. These omissions have led to sharp criticism. That’s particularly poignant against the backdrop of a high-profile trial over social media addiction, playing out right now in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
At trial, plaintiff’s attorney Mark Lanier called attention to the importance of Project MYST when he questioned Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri under oath. Lanier’s inquiry highlighted the potential disconnect between Meta’s internal research and its public statements regarding the impact of its platforms on youth. At a 2021 Congressional hearing, Mosseri—under oath—testified that he wasn’t aware of the specifics behind Project MYST.
“I can’t remember anything specific about Project MYST beyond its name,” – Adam Mosseri
This denial runs counter to a city-issued work order showing that Mosseri had already signed off on the start of the project. His apparent inability to recall key facts is alarming. It interrogates the extent to which Meta is addressing critical findings on youth use and engagement on its platforms.
In an interview with us about Project MYST, Mosseri was unapologetic about its central, provocative idea. He emphasized that the point of the project is more to figure out what teens think about their social media use, instead of just calling it an addiction. He told us, “We don’t do a lot of public-facing research projects,” implying that there’s a wider practice of publicly studying what users do. His comments show he really doesn’t want to deal with the fallout from too much social media use. This inequity is starkly reflected in the survey results.
Project MYST uncovers crucial information about how social media affects young users’ mental health. In many ways, these findings mirror the opposition’s never-ending angst around this bad idea. Many teenagers expressed feelings of spending “more time on Instagram than they feel good about,” indicating a potential struggle with self-regulation in their online interactions.
As the trial unfolds, Project MYST will be sharing valuable learnings along the way. These revelations are sure to intensify the debate over social media regulation and corporate accountability. Advocates for digital wellness are adamant that tech giants such as Meta must be more transparent. They call for accountability by requiring these platforms to consider the impact they’ve had on their young users.