Tag Archives: Social media

frank_peters / Shutterstock Mark de Rond, Cambridge Judge Business School By the time you finish reading this article, at least one new case of child sexual abuse will have been reported. In the US, a child is sexually assaulted every nine minutes. In the UK, this figure is closer to one every seven minutes. The sexual abuse of children is …

Shutterstock/Shopping King Louie Olaya Moldes Andrés, Cardiff University The early days of COVID brought a new sense of urgency to shopping for certain items. Toilet paper, pasta and bread flew off the shelves as people stocked up on vital supplies. Then came the must-have purchases to help with the tedium of lockdowns, with hot tubs, kitchen gadgets and new pets …

Shutterstock/Shopping King Louie Olaya Moldes Andrés, Cardiff University The early days of COVID brought a new sense of urgency to shopping for certain items. Toilet paper, pasta and bread flew off the shelves as people stocked up on vital supplies. Then came the must-have purchases to help with the tedium of lockdowns, with hot tubs, kitchen gadgets and new pets …

Exposure to videos of disasters can trigger post-traumatic stress symptoms in some children. Chokchai Poomichaiya / EyeEm via Getty Images Jonathan S. Comer, Florida International University and Anthony Steven Dick, Florida International University When disasters strike, the flood of images on TV and social media can have a powerful psychological impact on children – whether those children are physically in …

Likes and swipes don’t always make us feel good. Shutterstock Marianne Etherson, York St John University and Thomas Curran, London School of Economics and Political Science We all do it. Robot-like, we endlessly scroll through social media feeds. To an extent, we even go about our daily lives staring at screens while ignoring the world around us. In fact, evidence …

Mark Zuckerberg’s company says the kids are all right, but the data it presents is only about how the average social media user is doing. AP Photo/Eric Risberg Joseph Bak-Coleman, University of Washington Fall 2021 has been filled with a steady stream of media coverage arguing that Meta’s Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram social media platforms pose a threat to users’ …

Facebook has known that its algorithms enable trolls to spread propoganda. STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images Filippo Menczer, Indiana University An internal Facebook report found that the social media platform’s algorithms – the rules its computers follow in deciding the content that you see – enabled disinformation campaigns based in Eastern Europe to reach nearly half of all Americans in the …

insta_photos/Shutterstock Kathryn Buchanan, University of Essex; Gillian Sandstrom, University of Essex; Lara Aknin, Simon Fraser University, and Shaaba Lotun, University of Essex Picture this: it’s April 2020, you’re between Zoom meetings, and scrolling through your social media newsfeed. Headlines like “Death toll continues to rise”, “COVID-19 may cause long-term health implications” and “Health-care systems overwhelmed” flash across your screen. Your …

Instagram’s emphasis on filtered photos of bodies harms girls’ self-image. Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images Christia Spears Brown, University of Kentucky Facebook officials had internal research in March 2020 showing that Instagram – the social media platform most used by adolescents – is harmful to teen girls’ body image and well-being but swept those findings under the rug to continue …

Shanvood/Shutterstock Francesca Sobande, Cardiff University Social media influencers – people famous primarily for posting content online – are often accused of presenting artificial versions of their lives. But one group in particular is blurring the line between real and fake. Created by tech-savvy teams using computer-generated imagery, CGI or virtual influencers look and act like real people, but are in …