Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SMART (Social Media Artistic tRaining in Teenagers)
Reporting period: 2025-05-01 to 2026-10-31
The digital age has transformed how we interact with technology, with over 60% of the global population using the internet and more than 5 billion people having social media accounts. This digital immersion starts remarkably early –some reports show 10% of 1-year-olds already experiencing regular exposure to digital devices. By adolescence, many teens report using social media "almost constantly" (7 hours per day, on average).
Research reveals concerning links between excessive smartphone/social media use during youth development and negative cognitive and emotional outcomes. These include impaired impulse control, diminished executive functions, reduced cognitive flexibility, poor emotional regulation, low self-esteem, and decreased academic performance. These issues can potentially develop into anxiety and depression disorders persisting into adulthood.
However, social media's impact is not universally negative. Benefits include promoting healthy habits, fostering creativity, building supportive communities, and facilitating skill acquisition. The relationship between well-being and social media usage thus appears to be complex, influenced by individual differences, usage patterns (passive vs. active engagement), content type, and demographic variables.
Neuroimaging studies, primarily conducted with adults, suggest that excessive social media use affects brain regions involved in reward processing and executive functions, including the amygdala, ventral striatum, and prefrontal cortex. Moderate use, conversely, may enhance connectivity between reward-related areas and those governing executive functions.
Interestingly, art-based interventions have demonstrated positive effects on the very neural networks negatively impacted by social media overuse. Engagement with visual arts and music has been shown to enhance connectivity in critical brain structures and pathways, potentially improving cognitive performance across domains like memory, attention, creativity, and emotional control.
The SMART (Social Media Artistic tRaining in Teenagers) project thus aims to investigate whether 3 months of artistic appreciation and practice can positively alter how teenagers interact with social media, and whether digital arts-based interventions can mitigate the negative influences of digital devices and social media platforms on youth’s mental health. These artistic interventions also contain a component of critical thinking around social media, trying to transform the way teens use these platforms into a more intellectual, goal-oriented, and hopefully creative or arts-related usage.
Research reveals concerning links between excessive smartphone/social media use during youth development and negative cognitive and emotional outcomes. These include impaired impulse control, diminished executive functions, reduced cognitive flexibility, poor emotional regulation, low self-esteem, and decreased academic performance. These issues can potentially develop into anxiety and depression disorders persisting into adulthood.
However, social media's impact is not universally negative. Benefits include promoting healthy habits, fostering creativity, building supportive communities, and facilitating skill acquisition. The relationship between well-being and social media usage thus appears to be complex, influenced by individual differences, usage patterns (passive vs. active engagement), content type, and demographic variables.
Neuroimaging studies, primarily conducted with adults, suggest that excessive social media use affects brain regions involved in reward processing and executive functions, including the amygdala, ventral striatum, and prefrontal cortex. Moderate use, conversely, may enhance connectivity between reward-related areas and those governing executive functions.
Interestingly, art-based interventions have demonstrated positive effects on the very neural networks negatively impacted by social media overuse. Engagement with visual arts and music has been shown to enhance connectivity in critical brain structures and pathways, potentially improving cognitive performance across domains like memory, attention, creativity, and emotional control.
The SMART (Social Media Artistic tRaining in Teenagers) project thus aims to investigate whether 3 months of artistic appreciation and practice can positively alter how teenagers interact with social media, and whether digital arts-based interventions can mitigate the negative influences of digital devices and social media platforms on youth’s mental health. These artistic interventions also contain a component of critical thinking around social media, trying to transform the way teens use these platforms into a more intellectual, goal-oriented, and hopefully creative or arts-related usage.
The main tasks and achievements performed so far have been:
>> Finding Teaching Artists (TAs) and artistic organizations to form the work team to develop the SMART intervention program and implement the intervention part of the experiment. A session per session parallel curriculum between music composition (MUS) and photography (VIS) interventions was designed and detailed in collaboration with the involved TAs. This syllabus and the materials created for its implementation are now openly available to be distributed and applied beyond our study through the Open Access publication of the SMART protocol paper [https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2550079].
Also, the collaborative links and joint work performed with these communities of artists have opened new avenues of collaborations that are going to last beyond the boundaries and funded time of this project.
>> Submitting the study protocol to local ethics IRBs (New York University and New York State Department of Education) to ensure that the implementation of SMART was performed in agreement with the highest standards in terms of research ethics. This is especially crucial in our case, since we study vulnerable populations (i.e. minors).
>> Searching for participating high schools where SMART could be implemented. Over a dozen of public high schools in the NYC area were contacted, from which 2 accepted to participate and acted as the recruitment and implementation contexts for our project.
>> Registering the SMART study protocol as a Clinical Trial (ID#: NCT06402253 - https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06402253(opens in new window)) preparing a protocol manuscript, and submitting it to an Open Access journal (current status: published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology).
>> Implementing the intervention programs (MUS, VIS) in the participating high schools during the 2024 Spring semester, and the Fall 2024–Spring 2025 semesters. We have recruited 39 participants who fully completed the intervention (20 in the MUS and 19 in theVIS group).
>> Recruiting and testing control (CON) participants, who did not complete any type of intervention but will serve to compare the interventions with a comparable 3-month period without performing any new creative training. Behavioral measures have been collected from this group before and after a 3 month period. Weekly measures that mirror the ones collected for the MUS/VIS groups have also been recorded. The group of control participants has been now fully recruited (N=18).
>> A first analysis of preliminary data was performed during Summer 2024. Then, the final database has been organized to perform the final analyses. Although the data analyses process is still ongoing, initial information suggests that our MUS intervention had positive effects on stress levels and in the use of digital devices in social contexts, while our VIS intervention had positive effects on executive functions and cognitive control.
At least one comprehensive results-based article is expected to be prepared and submitted for publication during the year 2026. Once this manuscript is published, all data and metadata will be shared online through a public repository.
>> In addition, a Comentary article reflecting about the methodological, theoretical and logistic constraints encountered during the implementation of SMART and other internet-based research projects aiming to study digital consequences in youth from a social justice angle has been prepared and submitted for publication to the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (where is currently Under Review).
Progression of all activities planned in our project, as well as communication and dissemination activities involving SMART and the main researchers involved in the project during the MSCA-funded period has been described in the project’s website (https://smartproject.blog(opens in new window)) which we intend to keep updating with major events after the termination of the MSCA-funded period.
>> Finding Teaching Artists (TAs) and artistic organizations to form the work team to develop the SMART intervention program and implement the intervention part of the experiment. A session per session parallel curriculum between music composition (MUS) and photography (VIS) interventions was designed and detailed in collaboration with the involved TAs. This syllabus and the materials created for its implementation are now openly available to be distributed and applied beyond our study through the Open Access publication of the SMART protocol paper [https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2550079].
Also, the collaborative links and joint work performed with these communities of artists have opened new avenues of collaborations that are going to last beyond the boundaries and funded time of this project.
>> Submitting the study protocol to local ethics IRBs (New York University and New York State Department of Education) to ensure that the implementation of SMART was performed in agreement with the highest standards in terms of research ethics. This is especially crucial in our case, since we study vulnerable populations (i.e. minors).
>> Searching for participating high schools where SMART could be implemented. Over a dozen of public high schools in the NYC area were contacted, from which 2 accepted to participate and acted as the recruitment and implementation contexts for our project.
>> Registering the SMART study protocol as a Clinical Trial (ID#: NCT06402253 - https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06402253(opens in new window)) preparing a protocol manuscript, and submitting it to an Open Access journal (current status: published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology).
>> Implementing the intervention programs (MUS, VIS) in the participating high schools during the 2024 Spring semester, and the Fall 2024–Spring 2025 semesters. We have recruited 39 participants who fully completed the intervention (20 in the MUS and 19 in theVIS group).
>> Recruiting and testing control (CON) participants, who did not complete any type of intervention but will serve to compare the interventions with a comparable 3-month period without performing any new creative training. Behavioral measures have been collected from this group before and after a 3 month period. Weekly measures that mirror the ones collected for the MUS/VIS groups have also been recorded. The group of control participants has been now fully recruited (N=18).
>> A first analysis of preliminary data was performed during Summer 2024. Then, the final database has been organized to perform the final analyses. Although the data analyses process is still ongoing, initial information suggests that our MUS intervention had positive effects on stress levels and in the use of digital devices in social contexts, while our VIS intervention had positive effects on executive functions and cognitive control.
At least one comprehensive results-based article is expected to be prepared and submitted for publication during the year 2026. Once this manuscript is published, all data and metadata will be shared online through a public repository.
>> In addition, a Comentary article reflecting about the methodological, theoretical and logistic constraints encountered during the implementation of SMART and other internet-based research projects aiming to study digital consequences in youth from a social justice angle has been prepared and submitted for publication to the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (where is currently Under Review).
Progression of all activities planned in our project, as well as communication and dissemination activities involving SMART and the main researchers involved in the project during the MSCA-funded period has been described in the project’s website (https://smartproject.blog(opens in new window)) which we intend to keep updating with major events after the termination of the MSCA-funded period.
Results are still to be confirmed through a comprehensive exploration of the data (currently ongoing).
However, here we list other empirical results and observations gathered during the MSCA-funded period:
>> Adherence to both interventions (MUS and VIS) was high and feedback from students was overall positive. Students enjoyed the sessions and, in general, discovered an artistic talent that, in most cases, they had not properly explored before; in some cases, students found or discovered a career motivation they were not certain could be their call.
>> Preliminary results with the full database showed some promising trends: (1) the MUS group showed reduced levels of stress and lower usage of smartphones in social contexts post-intervention when compared with the other two groups, while (2) the VIS group presents better performance in an attention and cognitive control task post-intervention when compared to the other groups. Nonetheless, these results are yet to be confirmed through the full exploration of the data.
>> Important practical and logistic experience has been gathered in these two years, which would make the implementation of a potential follow-up study easier.
>> In the few cases where SMART evaluations pointed to clinical mental health issues in some of our participants, the affected students were promptly diverted to the counseling services available at their high school, ensuring appropriate attention, care, and support. In all these cases, the students showed no severe diagnostics that improved with the received support, and were able to continue their usual activities, including their participation in our study and interventions.
However, here we list other empirical results and observations gathered during the MSCA-funded period:
>> Adherence to both interventions (MUS and VIS) was high and feedback from students was overall positive. Students enjoyed the sessions and, in general, discovered an artistic talent that, in most cases, they had not properly explored before; in some cases, students found or discovered a career motivation they were not certain could be their call.
>> Preliminary results with the full database showed some promising trends: (1) the MUS group showed reduced levels of stress and lower usage of smartphones in social contexts post-intervention when compared with the other two groups, while (2) the VIS group presents better performance in an attention and cognitive control task post-intervention when compared to the other groups. Nonetheless, these results are yet to be confirmed through the full exploration of the data.
>> Important practical and logistic experience has been gathered in these two years, which would make the implementation of a potential follow-up study easier.
>> In the few cases where SMART evaluations pointed to clinical mental health issues in some of our participants, the affected students were promptly diverted to the counseling services available at their high school, ensuring appropriate attention, care, and support. In all these cases, the students showed no severe diagnostics that improved with the received support, and were able to continue their usual activities, including their participation in our study and interventions.