Young people across the globe are increasingly using social media to navigate their identities, form relationships and interact with their environments. In North America, for example, the proportion of teenagers (13 to 17 years old) who use social media grew from about a quarter in 2015 to about a third in 2024 (Vaverio & Sidoti, 2024). At the same time, despite teens in the Global South making up over two-thirds of the global youth population, research on their social media use (SMU) is lacking.

Most research tends to adopt narrow, pathological perspectives when investigating social media effects, which neglect the ways in which SMU can support young people’s relational wellbeing. Therefore, given the mixed evidence of SMU effects (both positive and negative), the lack of holistic perspective on SMU globally, and the lack of participatory, high-quality research on SMU in the Global South, this project aims to develop a more holistic perspective that views social media as a tool that youth can use to address their needs and achieve their personal goals, whilst acknowledging the potential for harm, and the need to develop appropriate skills to use social media in ways that support wellbeing.

This project addresses this gap by asking: How do young people in the Global South experience and make sense of their social media use? How does SMU relate to their relational wellbeing? And what skills and strategies might help them use social media in ways that support healthy, meaningful relationships?

To answer these questions, we will use a combination of participatory qualitative and quantitative research methods to understand young people’s experiences with social media in Indonesia, South Africa, India, and Vietnam. Along with basing our research on key theories and developments, our questions, procedures, and instruments will also be guided by a small group of teenagers (our “youth advisory board”).

To ensure that we are basing our work on the latest findings, we will begin the project with a systematic scoping review. Thereafter, we will conduct focus groups with young people in each of the four study countries. The findings of these focus groups will serve as the basis for subsequent cross-country surveys to assess the prevalence of these antecedents and experiences, how they relate to relational wellbeing, and how these antecedents and experiences vary across countries. In addition, a diary study will be conducted in two locations that show the most contrasting experiences to investigate how youths experience, evaluate and self-regulate their social media use in their daily lives. Finally, building on the previous phases, we will implement a program in Indonesia aimed at fostering digital literacy among young people to support them in using social media in ways that support their relational wellbeing.

Our project aims to develop critical knowledge about the relationship between social media use and youth relational wellbeing in the Global South. Beyond understanding this dynamic, we also aim to co-develop digital skills and practices with young people to enable them to harness social media to support their relational wellbeing, and mitigate any possible detrimental effects. Our overarching goal is to understand social media use in youths’ own context, especially when the option to use social media (“effortless play”) is in contest with meaningful work and social interactions (“effortful work”).

The study aims to advance understanding of the ways in which digitalisation is changing the lives of young people today. Specifically, it aims to develop a more holistic perspective for understanding how youth in the Global South experience their social media use in relation to their wellbeing. This overarching aim will be addressed through four work packages that consist of a literature review, focused group discussions, cross-country surveys, and a diary study, which will be carried out over the three-year project. These studies will be disseminated as academic papers, presented at conferences, and communicated with the media and all relevant stakeholders. The fourth work package will also result in the development of a module that, if feasible, could be rolled out across other schools and regions within Indonesia.

The success of the project will be measured by assessing both the quality of the research outputs and the extent to which the project achieves meaningful engagement and real-world impact. Progress will be tracked through the completion of each major phase of the project, including the scoping review, focus groups, surveys, and diary studies. The involvement of the youth advisory board will be evaluated based on the consistency and depth of their contributions, alongside their own feedback on the participatory process. We will also assess the reach and relevance of our findings through academic publications, presentations, and engagement with local stakeholders, educators, and the media. The effectiveness of the digital literacy module will be evaluated using pre- and post-program assessments.

Taken together, these indicators will help us determine whether the project is meeting its core aims: generating new knowledge about youth social media use in the Global South, co-developing tools to support relational wellbeing, and creating outcomes that are relevant and actionable within local contexts.