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An internal research study at Meta dubbed \u201cProject MYST\u201d created in partnership with the University of Chicago<\/a>, found that parental supervision and controls \u2014 such as time limits and restricted access \u2014 had little impact on kids\u2019 compulsive use of social media. The study also found that kids who experienced stressful life events were more likely to lack the ability to moderate their social media use appropriately.<\/p>\n This was one of the notable claims revealed during testimony at the social media addiction trial that began last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is identified by her initials \u201cKGM\u201d or her first name, \u201cKaley.\u201d She, along with her mother and others joining the case, is accusing social media companies of creating \u201caddictive and dangerous\u201d products that led the young users to suffer anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and more.<\/p>\n The case is now one of several landmark trials that will take place this year, which accuse social media companies of harming children. The results of these lawsuits will impact these companies\u2019 approach to their younger users and could prompt regulators to take further action. <\/p>\n In this case, the plaintiff sued Meta, YouTube, ByteDance (TikTok), and Snap, but the latter two companies had<\/a> settled<\/a> their claims before the trial\u2019s start.<\/p>\n In the jury trial now underway in L.A., Kaley\u2019s lawyer, Mark Lanier, brought up an internal study at Meta, which he said found evidence that Meta knew of, yet didn\u2019t publicize, these specific harms. <\/p>\n In Project MYST, which stands for the Meta and Youth Social Emotional Trends survey, Meta\u2019s research concluded that \u201cparental and household factors have little association with teens\u2019 reported levels of attentiveness to their social media use.\u201d <\/p>\n Or, in other words, even when parents try to control their children\u2019s social media use, either by using parental controls or even just household rules and supervision, it doesn\u2019t impact whether or not the child will overuse social media or use it compulsively. The study was based on a survey of 1,000 teens and their parents about their social media use.<\/p>\n The study also noted that both parents and teens agreed on this front, saying \u201cthere is no association between either parental reports or teen reports of parental supervision, and teens\u2019 survey measures of attentiveness or capability.\u201d<\/p>\n If the study\u2019s findings are accurate, that would mean that the use of things like the built-in parental controls in the Instagram app or the time limits on smartphones wouldn\u2019t necessarily help teens become less inclined to overuse social media, the plaintiff\u2019s lawyer argued. As the original complaint alleges, teens are being exploited by social media products, whose defects include algorithmic feeds designed to keep users scrolling, intermittent variable rewards that manipulate dopamine delivery, incessant notifications, deficient tools for parental controls, and more. <\/p>\n During his testimony, Instagram head Adam Mosseri claimed not to be familiar with Meta\u2019s Project MYST, even though a document seemed to indicate he had given his approval to move forward with the study.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do a lot of research projects,\u201d Mosseri said, after claiming he couldn\u2019t remember anything specific about MYST beyond its name. <\/p>\n However, the plaintiff\u2019s lawyer pointed to this study as an example of why social media companies should be held accountable for their alleged harms, not the parents. He noted that Kaley\u2019s mother, for example, had tried to stop her daughter\u2019s social media addiction and use, even taking her phone away at times. <\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the study found that teens who had a greater number of adverse life experiences \u2014 like those dealing with alcoholic parents, harassment at school, or other issues \u2014 reported less attentiveness over their social media use. That means that kids facing trauma in their real lives were more at risk of addiction, the lawyer argued. <\/p>\n On the stand, Mosseri seemed to partially agree with this finding, saying, \u201cThere\u2019s a variety of reasons this can be the case. One I\u2019ve heard often is that people use Instagram as a way to escape from a more difficult reality.\u201d Meta is careful not to label any sort of overuse as addiction; instead, Mosseri stated that the company uses the term \u201cproblematic use\u201d to refer to someone \u201cspending more time on Instagram than they feel good about.\u201d <\/p>\n Lawyers for Meta, meanwhile, pushed the idea that the study was more narrowly focused on understanding if teens felt they were using social media too much, not whether or not they were actually addicted. They also generally aimed to put more of the responsibility on parents and the realities of life as the catalyst for kids like Kaley\u2019s negative emotional states, not companies\u2019 social media products.<\/p>\n For instance, Meta\u2019s lawyers pointed to<\/a> Kaley being a child of divorced parents, with an abusive father, and facing bullying at school.<\/p>\n How the jury will interpret the findings of studies like Project MYST and others<\/a>, along with the testimonies from both sides, remains to be seen. Mosseri did note, however, that MYST\u2019s findings had not been published publicly, and no warnings were ever issued to teens or parents as a result of the research.<\/p>\n Meta has been asked for comment. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n