Alcohol, media, and emerging technology research (CAPR)
@alcoholandmedia.bsky.social
We are a group of researchers from La Trobe's Centre for Alcohol Policy Research (CAPR) focused on understanding 1) how alcohol is depicted/discussed in media, 2) what impact exposure to alcohol content may have, and 3) how we can intervene/inform policy
CAPR's director Emmanuel Kuntsche rocked the mic at the recent Global Congress on Behavioural Addictions in Istanbul. Here are some pics from his presentation on how machine learning is used in addiction research.
May 27, 2025 at 3:34 AM
CAPR's director Emmanuel Kuntsche rocked the mic at the recent Global Congress on Behavioural Addictions in Istanbul. Here are some pics from his presentation on how machine learning is used in addiction research.
But this is a post-hoc fallacy (since the decline occurred after social media emerged, social media caused the decline). There are lots of other things that could've led to the change. My favourite is that the Bee movie has led to a fracture in society and we have never recovered.
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November 29, 2024 at 12:25 AM
But this is a post-hoc fallacy (since the decline occurred after social media emerged, social media caused the decline). There are lots of other things that could've led to the change. My favourite is that the Bee movie has led to a fracture in society and we have never recovered.
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The first type of evidence people like to reach for is the trends in wellbeing over time. Here is an example from the Monitoring the Future Study showing declines in happiness.
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November 29, 2024 at 12:25 AM
The first type of evidence people like to reach for is the trends in wellbeing over time. Here is an example from the Monitoring the Future Study showing declines in happiness.
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One of my favourite papers on the topic is Orben's Sisyphean cycle of moral panic. The "wheel reinvention" phase is important for us researchers: we start working on a new technology but lack the theoretical and methodological frameworks from previous media to efficiently guide our work.
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November 29, 2024 at 12:25 AM
One of my favourite papers on the topic is Orben's Sisyphean cycle of moral panic. The "wheel reinvention" phase is important for us researchers: we start working on a new technology but lack the theoretical and methodological frameworks from previous media to efficiently guide our work.
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I used to start my lecture on social media by borrowing the words written in bold on the front of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: "Don't Panic".
With how rushed Australia's social media ban for under 16s was, I feel like our policy makers could've used the "don't panic" message.
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With how rushed Australia's social media ban for under 16s was, I feel like our policy makers could've used the "don't panic" message.
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November 29, 2024 at 12:25 AM
I used to start my lecture on social media by borrowing the words written in bold on the front of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: "Don't Panic".
With how rushed Australia's social media ban for under 16s was, I feel like our policy makers could've used the "don't panic" message.
🧵
/1
With how rushed Australia's social media ban for under 16s was, I feel like our policy makers could've used the "don't panic" message.
🧵
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Given that experiences of a blackout can predict subsequent alcohol-related problems, we had plans to test the acceptability of using Twitter to both identify and offer an intervention. We received funding riiiight before we lost access to Twitter's API.
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November 27, 2024 at 12:47 AM
Given that experiences of a blackout can predict subsequent alcohol-related problems, we had plans to test the acceptability of using Twitter to both identify and offer an intervention. We received funding riiiight before we lost access to Twitter's API.
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Both blackout and alcohol-related tweets were more commonly written on weekends and at night (at around 8PM). When compared to a non-holiday weekend, both alcohol and general Tweets were more common on new years eve and St. Patrick's day.
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November 27, 2024 at 12:47 AM
Both blackout and alcohol-related tweets were more commonly written on weekends and at night (at around 8PM). When compared to a non-holiday weekend, both alcohol and general Tweets were more common on new years eve and St. Patrick's day.
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Between 2009 and 2019, we identified 3.5 million alcohol-related blackout Tweets and 591 million general alcohol Tweets. Both blackout and general alcohol posts were more common in Nevada...
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November 27, 2024 at 12:47 AM
Between 2009 and 2019, we identified 3.5 million alcohol-related blackout Tweets and 591 million general alcohol Tweets. Both blackout and general alcohol posts were more common in Nevada...
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Our meta-analysis suggests that alcohol references in music are extremely common. The paper led by PhD student Gedefaw Alen found that 22% of song lyrics reference alcohol, while 25% of music videos feature alcohol imagery. Check the paper out here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
November 12, 2024 at 10:07 PM
Our meta-analysis suggests that alcohol references in music are extremely common. The paper led by PhD student Gedefaw Alen found that 22% of song lyrics reference alcohol, while 25% of music videos feature alcohol imagery. Check the paper out here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....