How much money would we need to pay students to leave social media for a month? How about if none of their peers had access to it either? Would you believe that students suggested they would pay money to have social media removed from their university?
Researchers who are experts in behavioral economics recently conducted a fascinating set of experiments with college age students to explore these questions.
What would your guesses be? $50, $500, or even more? Read on as I think the answers may surprise you!
Below, I write this as a Q&A because I think it is super important to share with our kids, students, athletes, dancers… all youth! So print this out and ask them the questions!
The investigators were interested in the “Product Market Trap.” This concept refers to a situation where the market produces goods that individuals consume, not necessarily out of genuine desire but rather due to societal pressures, including the negative feelings of not owning or using a popular product.
Research focusing on consumer attitudes towards high-status items, such as expensive watches, highlights this phenomenon. Not surprisingly, a large percentage of people who do not own status watches wish these products weren’t available on the market (approximately 70%).
But surprisingly, roughly 50% of those who own such luxury watches expressed a wish that these products — and the social obligation to possess them — did not exist!
Essentially, the study reveals a significant discrepancy between the perceived value or desire for high-status items and the actual demand, driven by social norms rather than genuine consumer interest.
Researchers wanted to study social media from a similar perspective. They surveyed over 1,000 college students at different colleges.
They first asked the social media-using students how much they would need to earn to go a month without using TikTok or Instagram.
*See at the end of the blog how the research paper describes, in a paragraph, the three components of their experiments.
What do you think the average was?
Answer: $50 (I know, this seems pretty low right?)
You might wonder how the researchers determined this amount. I know I was curious. I wanted to know the possible financial gains the students could choose from. For example, were they given a range of $0 to $50 or $0 to $200? Or other? It turns out individuals' electronic survey questions had different amounts of money they could choose from.
After collecting all the answers, the researchers came up with the $50 answer. In my reading of the methods section, which included reading the actual survey questions, I found that $200 may have been the highest amount that a person could have chosen to stop using TikTok or Instagram for a month.
Next, they asked, “If many of your friends in your social circle stopped using TikTok or Instagram with you, how much would you need to get paid?”
Answer: $33
So, it's not too surprising. If others were off the platform, the feelings of not partaking would be less painful, and thus, they desired less of a monetary reward.
And here was a really cool question they asked, “If we could get the university to get all students to go off of TikTok or Instagram, what money would that take?”
Via the survey, students were told that if 90% of students said they wanted all students not to use these for a month, the school would actually do it! In other words, the researchers said they were discussing this with the school.
Ultimately, the investigators were trying to figure out if students would require being paid to remove the platform in this situation or if they would actually pay for this to happen.
Answer: The students, on average, said they would pay $30 to make that happen.
Now, let's move on to the reasons the students gave for their answers. What was the number one reason they wanted people to stop these platforms?
Answer: Fear of missing out
This answer was not surprising and significantly outweighed the answer of being “addicted” to the product.
Ultimately, the researchers call this “the social media trap” – similar to the above-mentioned “product market trap” and watches.
This research, particularly as a Q&A exercise with youth, is a wonderful way to discuss our societal conundrum. From there, additional topics to explore are how to improve social media for young people and ensure plenty of time off social media for those using it.
Questions to get the conversation started with your family or group:
*Excerpt from the research paper about the three main questions asked in their survey. (this has been slightly edited for length consideration)
“The experiment proceeds in three main steps: In step 1 we measure individual-level willingness to accept (WTA) to deactivate one’s social media for four weeks while keeping constant others’ social media consumption…. In steps 2 and 3, we plausibly reduce the size of our respondents’ networks by presenting the possibility of a large-scale deactivation where all participating students at their university deactivate their accounts."
"Participants are truthfully told that this large-scale deactivation will be conducted if we recruit two-thirds of the students at their university. To measure network effects, we measure individual WTA conditional on all participating students being asked to deactivate their account in exchange for monetary compensation in step 2 … Finally, In step 3, we elicit individuals’ preferences over the deactivation of the social media accounts of all participating students, including themselves. In particular, we measure whether individuals are willing to forego payment or instead require a payment to deactivate all participating students’ accounts.”
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How much money would we need to pay students to leave social media for a month? How about if none of their peers had access to it either? Would you believe that students suggested they would pay money to have social media removed from their university?
Researchers who are experts in behavioral economics recently conducted a fascinating set of experiments with college age students to explore these questions.
What would your guesses be? $50, $500, or even more? Read on as I think the answers may surprise you!
Below, I write this as a Q&A because I think it is super important to share with our kids, students, athletes, dancers… all youth! So print this out and ask them the questions!
The investigators were interested in the “Product Market Trap.” This concept refers to a situation where the market produces goods that individuals consume, not necessarily out of genuine desire but rather due to societal pressures, including the negative feelings of not owning or using a popular product.
Research focusing on consumer attitudes towards high-status items, such as expensive watches, highlights this phenomenon. Not surprisingly, a large percentage of people who do not own status watches wish these products weren’t available on the market (approximately 70%).
But surprisingly, roughly 50% of those who own such luxury watches expressed a wish that these products — and the social obligation to possess them — did not exist!
Essentially, the study reveals a significant discrepancy between the perceived value or desire for high-status items and the actual demand, driven by social norms rather than genuine consumer interest.
Researchers wanted to study social media from a similar perspective. They surveyed over 1,000 college students at different colleges.
Many young people are overwhelmed by constant social media use, which can displace important activities like sleep, schoolwork, and friendships. Over 200 school districts are suing platforms like Meta for harms related to social media addiction. The blog covers what problematic social media use is from a clinical perspective and how our kids can talk with a friend (or family member) if they are worried their friend might have some level of problematic use.
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A week ago, Instagram announced changes to its rules for “Teen Accounts.” All new teen users will be defaulted into these accounts, and current teen users will transition over the next two months. Instagram’s head of Products, discussed these changes, and one comment surprised me. She mentioned that teens aged 13 to 16 will need parental permission to have a public account, hoping this would encourage dialogue between teens and parents about social media use. However, I feel this still puts too much responsibility on parents when we need broader societal solutions. I discuss this and the rest of the changes in today's blog.
READ MORE >
We have created a table that compares the 4 most common social media platforms and the specific ways they are similar and different. Spoiler alert, they are way more similar than different. It makes perfect sense since companies see what young people use on other apps and incorporate such features into their own apps.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
