PROMISE: Improved Social Media Policies for Young People

Over the past ten years, digital communication has grown rapidly. Social media in particular has become a big part of daily life, especially for young people. At the same time, there are increasing concerns about mental health problems in this age group. This project aims to better understand how social media affects young people and to improve policies that protect their well-being in todays digital world. We will use a modern and thorough approach that includes reviewing existing studies, talking to young people, running real-life experiments, and using computational methods to analyze data. By looking separately at preteens (1012 years), teenagers (1317), and young adults (1825), we want to find out which policies work best for each age group. In this project, we plan to: 1. Give an overview of current and suggested social media policies 2. Discuss these ideas directly with young people 3. Test one promising policy in a real-world setting 4. Use computational methods to explore how and why policies have an effect 5. Share clear, evidence-based recommendations This project looks at how social media impacts the well-being of young people from different social, cultural, and policy angles. A Young People Advisory Board and a Co-Creation Workshop will make sure that young peoples views are included in shaping the project and its outcomes. By comparing results across countries and cultures, we hope to improve the digital lives of young people everywhere. We will share what we learn through social media, public events, and by working with NGOs, so that our findings reach as many people as possible. Our team brings together experts from communication, psychology, sociology, and media studies. By working together, we aim to carefully find, test, and improve policy ideas for social mediahelping to support the well-being of future generations.