Reactions to Social Media Warning Labels Among Teens and Young Adults

NCT07199660 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 81445
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,012
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate whether social media warnings are perceived as more effective than control labels among teens and young adults, and to identify the most promising topics for social media warnings for these age groups. A secondary objective is to compare perceived message effectiveness of warnings refined using artificial intelligence (AI) vs. those not refined using AI.

Conditions

Screen Time Exposure

Keywords

teenagers; young adults; warning labels; social media

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Perceived message effectiveness for discouraging social media use

  The study will assess perceived message effectiveness for discouraging social media use with 1 item: "How much does this message discourage you from wanting to use social media?" Response options will range from "Not at all" (coded as 1) to "A great deal" (coded as 5). Higher scores indicate higher perceived message effectiveness.

  The survey will measure perceived message effectiveness immediately after participants are exposed to the message.

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Awareness of the harms of social media use

  The survey will measure awareness of the harms of social media use immediately after participants are exposed to the message.

Study Arms (1)

Warning labels

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants view 15 messages in random order: 6 warning messages about social media developed by a team of human experts (1 each about 6 different topics), 6 warning messages about social media developed by artificial intelligence (1 each about the same 6 topics as the human-developed messages), an additional 1 warning message that mirrors the language proposed by the state of California, 1 voluntary warning message developed by human experts, and 1 control message.

Behavioral: Human-developed negative body image warning; Behavioral: Voluntary warning; Behavioral: Human-developed depression and anxiety warning; Behavioral: Human-developed addiction warning; Behavioral: Human-developed sleep warning; Behavioral: Human-developed mental health harms to young people warning; Behavioral: Human-developed warning that social media has not been proven safe; Behavioral: Control message; Behavioral: California's proposed social media warning; Behavioral: Artificial-intelligence-developed depression and anxiety warning; Behavioral: Artificial-intelligence-developed negative body image warning; Behavioral: Artificial-intelligence-developed addiction warning; Behavioral: Artificial-intelligence-developed sleep warning; Behavioral: Artificial-intelligence-developed mental health harms to young people warning; Behavioral: Artificial-intelligence-developed warning that social media has not been proven safe

Interventions

Human-developed negative body image warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to negative body. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Voluntary warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message suggesting user take a break from scrolling on social media. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Human-developed depression and anxiety warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to depression and anxiety. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Human-developed addiction warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message warning that social media can be addictive. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Human-developed sleep warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message that social media use can contribute to poor sleep quality. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Human-developed mental health harms to young people warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to mental health harms for some young people. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Human-developed warning that social media has not been proven safe BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message warning that the use of social media has not been proven safe for young people. The message was developed by humans without using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Control message BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message about encouraging seatbelt use while traveling in a vehicle.

Warning labels

California's proposed social media warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message warning about the harms of social media use that mirrors the language the state of California has proposed for mandatory social media warnings.

Warning labels

Artificial-intelligence-developed depression and anxiety warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to depression and anxiety. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Artificial-intelligence-developed negative body image warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to negative body. The message was developed using artificial intelligence

Warning labels

Artificial-intelligence-developed addiction warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message warning that social media can be addictive. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Artificial-intelligence-developed sleep warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message that social media use can contribute to poor sleep quality. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Artificial-intelligence-developed warning that social media has not been proven safe BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message warning that the use of social media has not been proven safe for young people. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Artificial-intelligence-developed mental health harms to young people warning BEHAVIORAL

Participants will view a message about the risk of social media use contributing to mental health harms for some young people. The message was developed using artificial intelligence.

Warning labels

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 29 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Age between 13-29 years
• Reside in the United States
• Able to complete a survey in English
• Access to the internet

You may not qualify if:

• Younger than 13 or older than 29 years
• Reside outside of the United States
• Unable to complete a survey in English
• Lacks access to the internet

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Stanford University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Stanford School of Medicine

Palo Alto, California, 94304, United States

Location

Study Officials

• Anna H. Grummon, PhD

  Stanford School of Medicine

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 22, 2025
• First Posted: September 30, 2025
• Study Start: December 2, 2025
• Primary Completion: December 16, 2025
• Study Completion: December 16, 2025
• Last Updated: March 16, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: SAP, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: Investigators will post IDP upon acceptance of any manuscripts associated with the data generated in this study.
• Access Criteria: Data and code will be publicly available.

Locations

US (1)