the science

In a close collaboration with the Winston Center of Technology and Brain Development, Eyes Up’s mission is informed by the latest research about the impact of social media, AI, and other emerging tech on children and adolescents’ brain development and mental health.

Mitch Prinstein (Co-Director of the Winston Center), featured on 60 Minutes - “Character AI pushes dangerous content to kids, parents and researchers say”

Mitch Prinstein (Co-Director of the Winston Center), testifying to Congress on AI Chatbots and the danger they pose to children

Dr. Eva Telzer (Co- Director of the Winston Center), interview on CNN - “Study: Social Media Could Be a Brain-Changer for Teens”

What we’re up against

  • Research on brain development reveals that kids are biologically built to increasingly care about feedback from peers starting around age 10, and unable to control their impulses to seek that feedback like an adult would until their mid-twenties. Kids often get their devices at the absolutely worst time, and social media capitalizes on this dopamine- and oxytocin-fueled developmental vulnerability period.

  • Most teens are exposed to cyberhate online (i.e., discrimination, bullying), which predicts increases in anxiety and depression not only among those targeted, but also among bystanders. Research shows that the nature of cyberhate online is even more damaging than the same behaviors offline, because posts are often anonymous and elevated through likes/comments.

  • Social media has the potential to be used to help youth development, but most report that they use it to compare themselves to others online and/or to increase their status or followers. This is among the worst ways to use social media, however, predicting increases in psychological distress and risk taking behavior over time.

  • Not surprisingly, kids who use their phones in school get lower grades. More surprising, is that the same outcome occurs for the kids sitting behind them. “Secondhand screen” effects therefore affect entire classrooms. In 1992, 20% of students were below NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) basic. In 2024, 32% of students were below NAEP basic. This is an increase of 60% of 12th-graders testing below basic reading level.

  • An alarming number of adolescents report that they have been directed by AI to content that teaches them how to engage in self-cutting and/or pro-anorexia behavior, and how to hide this behavior from their parents. In one demonstration using a new phone out of the box and a brand new social media profile, this content was recommended in less than 20 minutes.

  • Over 45% of teens report significant “digital stress” due to notification overload, pressure to remain online as long as possible, and anxiety related to the status of their own posts. Teens report that this digital stress significantly interferes with their ability to complete daily roles and routines (e.g., hygiene, sleep, exercise, eating), and research reveals that the more digital stress teens report, the more depression they experience within the next year.

  • About 50-75% of teens now use AI Chatbots that are programmed to be sycophantic, and research reveals that adolescents now trust chatbots more than their parents or teachers. Chatbots currently are programmed to tell users that they are “psychologists” or “therapists” and their “advice” has led to disastrous consequences for many teens and families. AI-enabled companions are now built within toys marketed towards youth between 0 and 6 years old.

  • Using the diagnostic criteria for clinical dependency to illegal substances, but swapping the words “social media” for “nicotine” or “cocaine,” our research reveals that over 50% of youth meet criteria for at least one symptom of clinical dependency to social media. Over 95% report uncontrolled excessive use, and almost half report symptoms of withdrawal, tolerance, and/or interference with daily life skills.

  • Primarily because of social media and its addictive qualities, most US adolescents have substantial delayed sleep onset and poor quality sleep; less than 25% meet medical guidelines for sleep duration. These is critically important because these sleep disruptions are related to smaller brain growth (i.e., in brain white matter) during adolescence, which after infancy is supposed to be the period of most rapid brain growth and re-organization.