🚨 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS 🚨
1/ We invite proposals for posters and symposia for the New Directions in Social Media Research conference at St John’s College, University of Cambridge (7–8 Dec 2026).
We especially welcome future-facing research on how the social world is changing in the digital age.
Since January, Prof @orbenamy.bsky.social has given evidence to three UK Parliament select committees (Culture, Media & Sport; Science, Innovation & Technology; Education), helping bring research into policy debates on social media and young people.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Since January, Professor Amy Orben Buckley has contributed oral evidence to three House of Commons Select Committee inquiries:
· Culture, Media and Sport Committee (13 Jan 2026)
· Science, I...
Excited to see @sakshighai.bsky.social work started when a PhD in the Cambridge team published in Nature!
Amy Orben
So glad to see this work out! Well done @sakshighai.bsky.social
Amy Orben
Digital Mental Health Group, Cambridge
Georgia Turner
🎉 Congrats to our RAs & Placement Student on a brilliant month!
🌍 Ioanna Fokas joined panels at Oxford University and Save the Children on social media bans.
🏆 Jamil Adjallah received a travel grant to present at the BAP Meeting.
🎓 @bcdavidson.bsky.social will begin a PhD with us this October. 🚀
🚨New preprint🚨
Available here: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Do adolescents who report feeling addicted to social media share a single behavioural-emotional profile?
We analysed data from >7,000 UK adolescents and found, strikingly, that **47%** feel addicted to social media.
Digital Mental Health Group, Cambridge
New from @orbenamy.bsky.social on BOLD (Jacobs Foundation):
“What is the recommended screen limit for young children - and why?”
“Many parents feel they are making high-stakes decisions with very little clear guidance"
A look at the evidence & its limits.
🔗 boldscience.org/whats-the-re...
Join our workshop on measuring adolescent digital engagement in cohorts. In this session, you’ll:
🔎 Learn insights from a new social media measures report
🤝 Contribute to shaping the future of research in this field
🌐 Connect with a community focused on evolving UK policy
shorturl.at/8l1H6
One in six Internet-using adolescents in parts of Africa and Asia faced technology-facilitated sexual abuse in 2020–21. As digital access expands globally, better protection is crucial.
go.nature.com/430fJFd
Georgia Turner
Potential screen time benefits for children must be weighed against the risks
One in six Internet-using adolescents in parts of Africa and Asia faced technology-facilitated sexual abuse in 2020–21. As digital access expands globally, better protection is crucial.
Honoured to share our new paper in @nature.com today. Across 12 countries in eastern and southern Africa and Southeast Asia, 1 in 6 internet-using children had experienced technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse. A thread 🧵
🚨 Does social media use show established neurocognitive signatures of addiction?
Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
