Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,

For a science fair, I am doing a science project about social media's impact on social behavior. The participants of this experiment are in 3 different age groups and 1 control group of people who don't use social media often. My research will be mostly based on surveys and self observation. But I was wondering if I could have any help on more ways to accurately research this topic. The outcome of the experiment should be able to tell me if social media is isolating people or connecting them to other like minded people.

Hello! This sounds like a very cool experiment!

One thing that could be interesting is having your participants not use any social media for a day or two and then have them compare their feelings to a normal day. Maybe you could find if they feel more lonely with or without social media. I think for the most part surveys would be the best way to collect data - make sure to get information about how much time each participant spent on social media, which social media platform they were using, what they spent time doing on social media, etc. The more information the better!

Keep us updated with results! This topic is super cool!

Good luck and let us know if you have any other questions!
Chloe