Social dynamics of media use

Digitalisation has not only lead to an increase in media content provided but also creates new opportunities for interacting with and about media content. Sharing links to YouTube videos, posting tweets on TV shows, or commenting online news articles are just a few examples how social interactions have become an inherent part of today’s media and our everyday life. We investigate the social dynamics (on- and offline) related to media use in order to understand how digitalisation affects media use, social structures, and the media themselves. 

We are especially interested in adolescent’s media use since they are oftentimes more open for technological innovations and our research shows that their media use is closely linked to their social context. We collaborate with various schools in Switzerland and Germany and are specialised in collecting and analysing longitudinal network data. 

In order to identify potential negative consequences of online media and to develop appropriate coping strategies we support the OECD developing respective recommendations. OECD-Workshop