The research team at the University of California – Davis is partnering with the Erikson Institute and Northwestern University to run a national longitudinal survey of young people examining the differences in media use during COVID, during the initial phases post-COVID and once settled into the new normal as it relates to mental health and well-being. The team will collect survey measures of adolescents’ digital media use through the use of diary measures, measures of the importance of social connection via digital media, and variables related to well-being.
The research team will disseminate preliminary and final results and will create parent and educator targeted resources guides. These guides will support parents and educators in understanding the realities of media use by adolescents during the COVID pandemic as a tool that can both support and hurt mental health and development, and work to mitigate against any negative impacts as we come out of the pandemic and return to some level of normality.