Amanda Lenhart is a Data & Society affiliate and head of research at Common Sense Media. Prior to joining Common Sense, she was the program director for Data & Society’s Health + Data team, leading research on health-related surveillance of essential workers, Silicon Valley’s myths about healthy tech, and how social media company workers think about and enact digital well-being for kids in the product design process. Previously, Amanda was the deputy director for the Better Life Lab at New America, and a senior research scientist at a collaboration between the Associated Press and NORC. She started her career at the Pew Research Center, where she helped to found the internet team and pioneered and led research on teens and families for 16 years. 

Amanda specializes in translating rigorous research for a broad national audience. Dedicated to public communication, she has testified before congressional subcommittees and the Federal Trade Commission. Amanda’s work has been featured in numerous national publications and broadcasts, including The New York Times, PBS Newshour and NPR’s All Things Considered.

Amanda serves on the advisory board of the Technology and Adolescent Mental Wellness initiative at the University of Wisconsin’s department of pediatrics. For the past eight years, she has advised the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History on the development of an exhibit exploring the natural and social history of the cell phone. Amanda recently joined the technical advisory panel to the newly launched American Academy of Pediatrics Center on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.