Stephanie Reich, UCI professor of education and expert on youth and social media who served on the committee that produced “Assessment of the Impact of Social Media on the Health and Wellbeing of Adolescents and Children” for the National Academies joins host Janeane Bernstein on KUCI 88.9fm.
Over the past 15 years, mental health among youth has seen a decline, one that coincides with the rise of smartphone technology that has changed the relationship between teens and the internet.
According to “Assessment of the Impact of Social Media on the Health and Wellbeing of Adolescents and Children” from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Released last month, the report urges industry-wide standards for social media to minimize harm and maximize benefit to adolescent health.
“Currently, there is limited legislation and industry standards focused on protecting kids online, especially those 13 years and older. There is a need for more transparency, data sharing and accountability,” says Stephanie Reich, a UC Irvine professor of education who served on the committee that wrote the report.
You can read more about the committee’s findings and recommendations here. Reich, whose research focuses on understanding and improving the social context of children’s lives, is enthused to engage in conversations about what is currently known and what can be done in the future to learn more about how to better support youth in a socially and digitally connected world. Though the report focused on adolescents, Reich’s work spans diapers to college and considers school and family contributors to children’s and teens’ media use.
Reich is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and Society for Community Research and Action. Her research focuses on understanding and improving the social context of children’s lives, centering on direct, indirect, and reciprocal influences on children, specifically through the family, digital, and school environment. Reich is a recipient of the Distinguished Early Career Applied Contributions to Media Psychology and Technology Award from the American Psychological Association and serves on the advisory boards of Raising Good Gamers, Future of Childhood, Children and Screens, and Next Gen Public Media (By/With/For Tweens and Teens).
