Amy Orben
orbenamy.bsky.social
Amy Orben
@orbenamy.bsky.social

tech + teens + better science @ http://digitalmentalhealth.group // Group Leader, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge // Fellow + Director of Studies, St. John's College // ๐Ÿ“ธ marcus ginns

Amy Orben is a British experimental psychologist who is a group leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. Her research considers how digital technologies impact adolescent mental health. Orben was awarded the British Neuroscience Association Researcher Credibility Prize in 2021 and the inaugural Medical Research Council Impact Prize in 2023. .. more

Psychology 23%
Education 21%

Was lovely having you here Stefano!
I had a great time in Cambridge, great people, great science and lovely place. Thanks a lot to @orbenamy.bsky.social @georgiaturner.bsky.social @sjblakemore.bsky.social

Reposted by Amy Orben

I had a great time in Cambridge, great people, great science and lovely place. Thanks a lot to @orbenamy.bsky.social @georgiaturner.bsky.social @sjblakemore.bsky.social

Reposted by Amy Orben

Last year after @orbenamy.bsky.social & I wrote about traffic jams in the science of tech safety, Alan reached out because he'd been seeing something similar.

You might know Alan for his role on the team that exposed Instacart price discrimination in Dec

www.consumerreports.org/money/questi...
Instacartโ€™s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill, CR and Groundwork Collaborative Investigation Finds - Consumer Reports
Exclusive: Instacartโ€™s AI pricing may be inflating your grocery bill.
www.consumerreports.org
Professor @orbenamy.bsky.social from @mrccbu.bsky.social will co-lead the worldโ€™s first major trial to test whether reducing social media use can improve teen mental health.

Find out more about the IRL Trial: https://bit.ly/4a2FZmB

#socialmedia #research
Thousands of UK schoolchildren to take part in major study of social media use and teen mental health
A trial that will put a daily limit on the social media use of thousands of Bradford teenagers is set to begin this year. It will be the largest study yet to investigate whether use of these online pl...
bit.ly
A new article provides evidence that Miles Hewstone was engaging in sexual harassment/assault at Oxford and other universities for 30 years. More women have bravely come forward to describe his behavior. This is the tip of the iceberg since I know other women.
www.thetimes.com/uk/education...
Oxford University โ€˜withheld information about harassment claimsโ€™
Miles Hewstone, who quit in 2019 but retained his emeritus titles for years, is accused of making unwanted advances towards students and researchers
www.thetimes.com
โ€œWe requested information about the case to at least protect attendees of our future events and potentially act against Hewstone, however, Oxford University never provided any information.โ€

Open Access: archive.is/ue5k8#select...

Paywall: www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

#SocialPsyc #AcademicSky
Oxford University โ€˜withheld information about harassment claimsโ€™
Miles Hewstone, who quit in 2019 but retained his emeritus titles for years, is accused of making unwanted advances towards students and researchers
www.thetimes.com
Should scientists apply to OpenAI's fund for research on AI & mental health? Should policymakers consider it a credible safety effort?

Avriel Epps & I see it as "grantwashing," and it's an insult to anyone whose loved one's death involved chatbots. We explain:

www.techpolicy.press/beware-of-op...
Beware of OpenAI's 'Grantwashing' on AI Harms | TechPolicy.Press
J. Nathan Matias and Avriel Epps say OpenAI's announced research funding is the perfect corporate action to make sure we don't find answers for years.
www.techpolicy.press

Reposted by Amy Orben

Curious about how smartphones shape childrenโ€™s development?

Weโ€™re recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher for 3(+2) years for a cutting-edge randomized controlled trial conducted in collaboration with @orbenamy.bsky.social and her team.

iwm-tuebingen.de/en/career/jo...
IWM Tรผbingen
Post-Doctoral Researcher (m/f/d)
iwm-tuebingen.de

Reposted by Amy Orben

In the 2020 Election Project, Meta collaborated w/ academics to study how FB impacts elections.
โฌ‡๏ธ @aanixel.bsky.social, @fassiluisa.bsky.social & I argue that such research collaborations, w/ clear conflicts of interest, should be regulated. Would love to hear thoughts!๐Ÿ’ฌ
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We need transparency standards for social media research that involves companies | PNAS
We need transparency standards for social media research that involves companies
www.pnas.org
Social media ~ mental health meta-analysis:

- Cited 7 times
- The 45 included studies appear not to exist
- The authorsโ€™ institution appears not to exist
- The journal editors wonโ€™t respond

*also*... I heard she is looking for research jobs in mainland Europe, so if you are looking for a postdoc soon, you know who to contact over Christmas!

๐Ÿฅ‚ Congratulations @fassiluisa.bsky.social for passing her viva!

Luisa has been a hugely respected and influential team member. Her dedication to rigorous and careful research has been evident throughout the four years I have had the privilege of supervising her with @tamsinford.bsky.social.
knowing many directly affected, I personally asked some senior male colleagues to speak out about this during my earlier years as a professor, as i felt too vulnerable due to my stage of career.. it was shocking how much this was 'common knowledge' among women and how few male colleagues knew ๐Ÿ˜”

Completely agree Nils; and also extend my thanks to Katherine Griffiths who did such important and careful journalistic work on this issue.
Horror stories of sexual harassment from Oxford University

'Prof Hewstone turned up unannounced & dropped his trousers ... touched women inappropriately ... made comments about relationships with students'

Oxford will do nothing, betcha

Brutal from Bloomberg

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Oxford University Has Failed Women Over Harassment Concerns, Staff Say
The university has repeatedly been slow to act against male academics accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, a Bloomberg investigation found.
www.bloomberg.com
Thisโ€”on my former university, department, and advisorโ€”is harrowing but required reading for all social psychologists. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Oxford University Has Failed Women Over Harassment Concerns, Staff Say
The university has repeatedly been slow to act against male academics accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, a Bloomberg investigation found.
www.bloomberg.com
๐Ÿ“ฃ Digital Research Community!

The new UK Adolescent Health Study will follow 100k young people (8โ€“18yrs) for 10+ years. Please share what digital technology measures you think it should include.

Please complete this survey (by 24th November 2025 @ 9AM): cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Adolescent Health Survey - Digital Media
Expert guidance shaping digital media questions in upcoming Adolescent Health Study.
cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com
My first paper, out in PsychReview!!

Along with @orbenamy.bsky.social, Nik & @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social, @realadamhunt.bsky.social & I revisit an old theoretical question using concepts from evo psychiatry and anthro:

Why do mixed associations exist b/w social media & mental health?

A ๐Ÿงต

Reposted by Amy Orben

The end logic of this if youโ€™re in the UK btw is DEFEND THE BBC.

Complain about it, protest bad coverage of course, but we wonโ€™t get another institution that makes safe, publicly funded, reliable, human-created, vetted content for kids if we let the BBC get destroyed.
We've reluctantly removed access to YouTube kids. It's now no longer just the odd thing

So glad to see this out! ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘
๐Ÿšจ New Preprint ๐Ÿšจ

Some people are at greater risk of experiencing negative mental health outcomes of social media use than others, but why?

๐Ÿงต

We examined whether individual differences in cognitive processes shape risk and resilience to mental health effects on social media: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Yes ๐Ÿ™ˆ didnโ€™t know I am not a proper researcher because of this fml

So excited this is now out!
๐Ÿšจ New Preprint ๐Ÿšจ

Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to โ€˜Likesโ€™ on social media.

๐Ÿงต

Social media rewards are inherently socialโ€”but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?

It turns out, yes!

Reposted by Amy Orben

In a preregistered study of 535 US Twitter users, we found that people learn more from social rewards during periods of high isolation. That is, when isolated, they weigh 'Likes' more heavily in deciding how often to post.

Reposted by Amy Orben

๐Ÿšจ New Preprint ๐Ÿšจ

Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to โ€˜Likesโ€™ on social media.

๐Ÿงต

Social media rewards are inherently socialโ€”but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?

It turns out, yes!

Reposted by Amy Orben

Are you a potential, current, or past ReproducibiliTea organizer? โœจ

Join our upcoming networking event!

๐Ÿ“… October 2, 2025 (16:00 CEST) on Zoom
๐Ÿ‘‰ Register for the Zoom link: forms.gle/iH6sHt3dB4Wf...

Everyone is welcome!

Great time in London watching intern @sineadcleary.bsky.social and research assistant Brandon Davidson give a fantastic presentation to the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology - what superstars I get to work with!

Congratulations!! โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.

Oh wow! Well glad to be of help in spotting those students ๐Ÿ˜