Broad agreement that social media is bad for kids, but only half of parents monitor usage

FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY, MADISON, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / November 19, 2024 / According to the latest results from the FDU Poll, sponsored by the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey and the Opioid Education Foundation of America, both parents and non-parents in the state agree that social media is bad for young people, and favor cigarette-style warning labels. However, parents are less likely to think that social media is bad for the mental health of young people, and less likely to say that it is linked with substance abuse issues.

"Young people are spending hours a day on social media," said Dan Cassino, Professor of Government and Politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and the Executive Director of the FDU Poll. "People aren't quite sure exactly how bad it is for them, but just about no one thinks it's good for them."

Earlier this year, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for warnings on social media sites similar to those found on cigarettes, warning users about the potential negative effects of social media on mental health, especially among minors.

Overall, 77 percent of New Jersey says that they would support a warning label requirement for social media, with only 13 percent saying that they're opposed to such a requirement. Support is higher among older voters, but even among the youngest cohort - people ages 30 and under - two thirds (67 percent) say that they support a warning.

About a quarter of respondents say that they currently have at least one child between the ages of 12 and 25 living at home with them, and these voters are more likely (84 percent) to support social media warning labels than adults who don't have children at home with them (72 percent), but the age of the children doesn't seem to matter. Support is also higher among Democrats (82 percent) than Republicans (73 percent), but the proposal is popular across party lines.

"You might expect a partisan divide over these warning labels, with concerns about the nanny state," said Cassino. "But there's just no significant political divide on these warning labels, probably because Democrats and Republicans are equally likely to see social media as bad for kids."

Despite the apparent concern over social media usage, parents in New Jersey are about equally divided on whether they monitor that usage. About 10 percent of parents with children 12-25 living at home say that their children don't use social media at all; the rest are almost equally divided between not monitoring usage at all (45 percent), and monitoring it at least "rarely" (43 percent). Only about a quarter of parents (26 percent) say that they monitor children's social media use "occasionally" or "frequently."

The same way a child's friends can have a great influence on their decision to experiment with drugs, your child's social media activities also can be an influencer in this decision," said Angelo Valente, the Executive Director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. "It is crucial that parents know who a child is spending time with both in person and on social media - and discuss with them the deadly risks of experimenting with drugs."

Most parents with children who use social media (68 percent) believe that their children are spending one to four hours a day on social media - but, of course, half of the parents whose children use social media also say that they don't monitor that usage, so it's not clear how they would know. Only about 1 in 7 parents (14 percent) say that their child uses social media for less than an hour a day, and about the same number (14 percent) say that their child uses it for more than four hours a day.

Parents are rather less likely than non-parents to say that social media use is generally bad for young people's mental health. Overall, 60 percent of New Jersey voters say that social media is generally bad for young people, with only 9 percent saying that it's good. But that figure is just 53 percent among parents, 10 points lower than among voters who don't have children living with them at home.

"I think we're seeing a lot of motivated reasoning with how parents view social media," said Cassino. "Parents have to be less likely to think social media is bad for kids, because if it was bad for kids, they'd have to do something about it."

New Jersey is similarly split on the impact of social media on substance abuse issues among young people. Experts have argued that social media can serve both as a source of stress among young people, as well as a potential source for illicit drugs. Exposure to images of other young people using drugs may serve to normalize their use for young users of social media. In addition, illicit drugs of various kinds, including synthetic opiates, have been sold through social media sites commonly used by young people, such as Snapchat. Forty percent of New Jersey voters say that social media increases the likelihood of substance abuse among young people, with an almost equal number (37 percent) saying that it has no effect. Only a small number (4 percent) think that social media use reduces the likelihood of substance abuse.

"Too many of our children are dying from tainted pills they access while online. Understanding the dangers of social media - where fentanyl-laced fake prescription drugs can be obtained with just a few clicks - can help parents save their child's life," said Elaine Pozycki, Founder and Chair of the Opioid Education Foundation of America. "All parents need to be aware of the risks of social media and know what their children can access and what they are exposed to."

Methodology

The survey was conducted between October 20 and October 27, 2024, using a voter list of adult New Jersey residents carried out by Braun Research of Princeton, New Jersey. Voter lists were obtained from Aristotle International of Washington, DC. Respondents were randomly chosen from the list, and contacted via either live caller telephone interviews, or text-to-web surveys sent to cellular phones, resulting in an overall sample of 806 registered voters in New Jersey. 221 of the surveys were carried out via live caller telephone interviews on landlines, 302 on live caller interviews to cell phones, and the remainder (286) were done on a web platform via weblinks sent via SMS to cell phones. Surveys were conducted only in English. Respondents were considered likely voters if they (a) were registered to vote in the state, and (b) said that they planned to vote in the Senate race.

The data were weighted to be representative of the population of New Jersey voters, according to data from Pew Research. The weights used, like all weights, balance the demographic characteristics of the sample to match known population parameters. The weighted results used here are balanced to match parameters for sex, age, education and race/ethnicity.

SPSSINC RAKE, an SPSS extension module that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables using the GENLOG procedure, was used to produce final weights. Weights were trimmed to prevent individual interviews from having too much influence on the final results. The use of these weights in statistical analysis helps to ensure that the demographic characteristics of the sample approximate the demographic characteristics of the target population. The size of these weights is used to construct the measure of design effects, which indicate the extent to which the reported results are being driven by the weights applied to the data, rather than found in the data itself. Simply put, these design effects tell us how many additional respondents would have been needed to get the weighted number of respondents across weighted categories: larger design effects indicate greater levels of under-representation in the data. In this case, calculated design effects are approximately 1.3.

All surveys are subject to sampling error, which is the expected probable difference between interviewing everyone in a population versus a scientific sampling drawn from that population. Sampling error should be adjusted to recognize the effect of weighting the data to better match the population. In this poll, the simple sampling error for 806 registered New Jersey voters is +/-3.5 percentage points, at a 95 percent confidence interval. Including the design effects, the margin of error would be +/-4.1 percentage points, though the figure not including them is much more commonly reported.

This error calculation does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording, differences in translated forms, or context effects. While such errors are known to exist, they are often unquantifiable within a particular survey, and all efforts, such as randomization and extensive pre-testing of items, have been used to minimize them.

The FDU Poll is a member of the AAPOR Transparency Initiative and is devoted to ensuring that our results are presented in such a way that anyone can quickly and easily get all of the information that they may need to evaluate the validity of our surveys. We believe that transparency is the key to building trust in the work of high-quality public opinion research, and necessary to push our industry forward.

Weighted Telephone Sample Characteristics

806 Registered New Jersey Voters

Figures do not include individuals who declined to answer demographic items.

Man 49% N = 392
Woman 51% N = 410
Some Other Way 1% N = 5

18-30 17% N = 135
31-44 25% N = 203
45-64 36% N = 289
65+ 22% N = 180

White 69% N = 557
Black 13% N = 104
Hispanic/Latino/a 12% N = 95
Asian 5% N = 36
Other/Multi-racial 1% N = 9

No college degree 61% N = 495
College degree or more 39% N = 324

Region Classifications

Northwest: Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Warren Counties
Northeast: Bergen and Passaic Counties
Urban Core: Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, and Union Counties
South: Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties
Coast: Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties

Question Wording and Order

First off, we'd like to ask you a few questions about the upcoming Senate Election

P1. [Shuffle order of top candidates] In November's New Jersey Senate election, do you intend to vote for Andy Kim, the Democrat, Curtis Bashaw, the Republican, for someone else, or do you not plan on voting?

1. Andy Kim, the Democrat

2. Curtis Bashaw, the Republican

3. Someone else

4. Not going to vote

5. [Vol] Don't know/ Refused

And how do you feel about the candidates?

P2. Would you say that you have a favorable view of Andy Kim, an unfavorable view of him, or do you not know enough about him to say?

1. Favorable

2. Unfavorable

3. Don't Know

4. [Vol] Refused

P3. Would you say that you have a favorable view of Curtis Bashaw, an unfavorable view of him, or do you not know enough about him to say?

1. Favorable

2. Unfavorable

3. Don't Know

4. [Vol] Refused

Now, we'd like to ask you a few questions about transportation in New Jersey.

T1. NJ Transit is funded in part by the state's gas tax. NJ Transit needs funds to repair and replace equipment and infrastructure, which could help with the system's frequent delays and cancellations. But NJ Transit is also short on money for operating expenses. While funds from the gas tax are supposed to be used only for infrastructure and equipment, in recent years, they've been used for operating expenses as well.

What do you think? If you had to choose, should money from the transportation trust fund be used just to improve NJ Transit infrastructure, or used just for operating costs?

1. Infrastructure

2. Operating costs

3. Don't Know

4. Refused

[Shuffle Order of Arguments]

T2. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has proposed a major project that would expand the section of the Turnpike leading to the Holland Tunnel, which would be paid for by existing tolls. Supporters of the project say that it would speed up traffic, and the bridges on the route need to be replaced anyway. Opponents say that it would bring more cars into the area, and could have a negative impact on the health of the people living in the area.

What do you think? Should the section of the turnpike leading to the Holland tunnel be expanded, or not?

1. Favor expanding the turnpike

2. Oppose expanding the turnpike

3. Don't Know

4. Refused

Some Questions Held for Future Release

Now, we'd like to ask you a few questions about young people and social media.

SM1. The US Surgeon General has recently recommended that social media sites be required to display warnings stating that the sites can be harmful to children, like the warnings now found on tobacco products. Would you support or oppose requiring social media sites to display such a warning?

1. Support Warning Requirement

2. Oppose Warning Requirement

3. [Vol] Don't Know

4. [Vol] Refused

SM2. Do you have any children between the ages of 12 and 25 living at home with you?

1. Yes

2. No

3. [Vol] Don't Know

4. [Vol] Refused

Sm3. [Only ask to respondents who report having children at home] How old is the child or children living with you at home? [Check all that apply]

1. 12 to 15

2. 16 to 18

3. 19 to 25

4. [Vol] Refused

SM4. [Only ask to respondents who report having children at home] Some parents keep track of how much time their children are spending on social media, while others do not. Thinking about [randomize, and use same randomization for next question as well] the oldest/youngest child currently living with you, how often, if at all, do you monitor your children's social media usage?

1. Child doesn't use social media

2. Child uses social media, but I don't monitor that usage

3. I use apps or other means to monitor their usage, but only rarely

4. I use apps or other means to monitor their usage occasionally

5. I use apps or other means to monitor their usage frequently

6. [Vol] Don't Know

7. [Vol] Refused

SM5. [Only ask to respondents who report having children at home] Thinking about [use prior randomization] the oldest/youngest child currently living with you, about how many hours a day would you say that they spend on social media?

1. Less than an hour a day

2. 1 to 2 hours

3. 3 to 4 hours

4. More than four hours

5. [Vol] Don't Know

6. [Vol] Refused

SM6. In general, do you think there is a relationship between social media use and mental health issues among young people? Would you say that…

1. Social media use is neither good nor bad for young people's mental health

2. Social media use is generally good for young people's mental health

3. Social media use is generally bad for young people's mental health

4. [Vol] Don't Know

5. [Vol] Refused

SM7. In general, do you think there is a relationship between social media use and substance abuse issues among young people? Would you say that…

1. Social media use neither increases nor decreases the likelihood of substance abuse among young people

2. Social media use neither increases the likelihood of substance abuse among young people

3. Social media use neither decreases the likelihood of substance abuse among young people

4. [Vol] Don't Know

5. [Vol] Refused

Release Tables

Contact:

SOURCE: Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey