Adolescents find social media to be the most authentic media form, according to a new Center for Scholars and Storytellers at UCLA study.

CSS, an adolescent-centered research group within the psychology department, published its annual “Teens and Screens” report to gain a better understanding of American teenagers’ perspectives about the media. This year’s report focused on elevating adolescent voices by asking a wider range of questions, according to the center’s website.

The report was conducted through a survey on over 1,500 adolescents aged 10 to 24, according to the study’s text. The results were then compiled into easily digestible findings which the center hopes will be easily accessible to stakeholders, said Atlas Burrus, a CSS research manager.

“You can’t find a lot of directors who are willing to sit down for a couple hours and read heavy, intense academic articles,” Burrus said. “But a nicely designed thing with maybe a tip sheet at the end and the big findings right up top – we feel like it can make a lot more change.”

The goal of the report is to get a baseline assessment of what adolescents are looking for in the media and communicate that with media companies, Burrus said.

One of this year’s study’s main findings was that teenagers believe social media is a more realistic media space than video games, streaming platforms and live-streaming services. According to the study, over 31% of survey participants said social media makes the most authentic content.

Burrus said this was not surprising, since the report has found social media to be the most popular among young people for multiple years now.

“Social media is often just directly to regular people,” they said. “It feels more inherent, more connected.”

Madelyne Goforth, a first-year business economics student, said she also finds social media to be the most authentic platform. Unlike movies or TV shows, which she said are an interpretation of how adults believe teenagers behave, content created by teenagers themselves is more realistic, she added.

Goforth said her favorite media platform is Instagram because of its widespread use among her peers and convenience.

“It’s definitely easier to access, rather than watching a movie, which takes a lot longer,” she said.

Khanh Linh, a first-year business economics student, said she agreed with Goforth about the convenience of social media. She only has time for short breaks while studying, so she tends to use TikTok rather than longer forms of media, she added.

However, Linh said she does not believe that social media is truly authentic unless influencers choose to be more transparent.

“It depends on people with a large following opening up about themselves first for others to feel they have a space to do that,” Linh said.

The study found that a primary reason teenagers choose to engage with social media is to take their minds off stressors. Another finding in the study was that adolescents tend to prefer fantasy worlds to reality, which Burrus said could be connected to this desire for escapism.

“We connected it with how scary the world has been recently,” Burrus said. “That need to be in a different world.”

Burrus added that they hope the report’s findings empower adolescents to express their opinions.

“I hope it really encourages folks to listen to more adolescents, to seek their expertise and to uplift their own voices,” Burrus said. “Above all else, I really just want young folks to know that their voices are incredibly powerful and to encourage them to use it.”