BIO

My name is Timothy Robinson and I am a second-year student at FSU majoring in political science with a minor in business. I graduated from Winter Park high school where I received my International Baccalaureate diploma. In 2019 I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout where I learned the importance of teamwork, problem solving, and giving back to the community. This summer I will be engaging in an internship with a criminal attorney in Orlando where I strive to prepare myself for a career in the legal field. Succeeding my undergraduate studies I strive to attend law school and practice either criminal or corporate law in the future.

Students, Social Media & Schools: Teen Social Media Use

Abstract

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, students and teens have been challenged with learning remotely and relying ever more on technology to interact with each other. Our study investigates teen social media use and ratings of happiness. Focusing on the positive and negative attributes the participants feel utilizing distance learning and online friendships, we expand this investigation to include the changes in the personal habits and mental health of the participants. There were 43 participants from ages 12-18. Participants were interviewed twice for 1 hour with a researcher and kept week-long video diaries where they recounted their day and their use of social media. This was done for the summer of 2020 and 2021. Using the interviews and the personal video diaries, we utilize Qualtrics forms to code the data into the social media, personal habits, and schooling categories. We expect to find that most teens acknowledge social media as a positive attribute to their happiness with overuse generating negative effects on their happiness. To date, this research project is still in the preliminary phase, and in the future, it will be used to further expand our knowledge on mental health and social media usage.

Keywords: Social Media, Mental health, COVID