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The Hidden Cost of Social Media on Young Minds
Insights from an AI-based interviewing study of 583 youth and parents across Singapore and Australia
by Gemma Calvert, James Breeze and Ella Carnegie-Brown
Executive Summary
As policymakers worldwide debate the future of platforms like TikTok, this study delivers urgent, first-person insight into how social media is shaping the brains, behaviours and emotional lives of the next generation. In a joint project by Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore), Research Network, and ListenLabs.ai, 583 young people aged 13–25 and their parents from Singapore and Australia were interviewed using an innovative AI-based interviewing platform. Instead of surveys or Likert scales, participants spoke freely and candidly in voice-recorded interviews, revealing how social media affects their attention, emotions, mental health, relationships and sense of self.