Now Recruiting Teens and Young Adults.


We are conducting a study to understand the activities that teens and young adults engage in on social media. Participants will receive a $50 Amazon gift card for completing the study.

Who can Participate?

  • Participants must be teens or young adults between 13-21 years old.
  • Participants must be English speakers based in the United States.
  • Participants must have had an Instagram account for the time period specified below:

    •       - Under age 18: At least 3 months

          - Age 18: At least 2 years

          - Age 19: At least 3 years

          - Age 20: At least 4 years

          - Age 21: At least 5 years

  • Participants must have exchanged direct messages with at least 15 people.
  • Teens under 18 need parental consent to participate in this study.
  • Participants must have received at least 2 direct message conversation that made them or someone else feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

    • Participants will be asked to complete surveys and provide their Instagram data. This data will be used for research purposes only. All personally identifiable information will remain confidential. Participants between the ages of 13-17 may be asked to participate in a follow-up interview study involving teens and their parents. This study has been approved by UCF's Institutional Review Board and the researchers have obtained NIH Certificate of Confidentiality as a further protection of our participants.

    Completing this study takes about an hour, and all tasks are carried out online. We highly recommend that you complete the study using a personal computer with Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. If you are using an Apple device (such as an iPhone, iPad, or computer running macOS), please note that Safari will require additional setup; you can see more information on our FAQ page.

    If you have any questions, please email stirlab@ucf.edu