Whereas time spent on social media increased with age, it did not relate to preference for immediate rewards. This suggests such tendencies may influence engagement through mechanisms beyond time spent—such as differences in how platforms are used or experienced.

Adolescents with a stronger preference for immediate rewards showed greater declines in behavioural activation (motivation to pursue goals or pleasurable experiences) as social media use increased. This vulnerability was stable over time but not seen across other indicators of mental health.

Most research focuses on demographic differences (e.g. age, gender), which provide a lens for examining population differences.

We propose that differences span hierarchical levels - where nuanced cognitive processes may yield deeper insight into individual risk and resilience. See schematic below.

Grateful to @rcpsych.bsky.social for the opportunity to present my research on “Rethinking social media addiction” and participate in the panel discussion.

Looking forward to translating the insights into the clinical-focused work in the pipeline.

Brilliant work by @saramehrhof.bsky.social on shared neurocognitive signatures of psychiatric and metabolic disorder at #cpconf2025

It was a pleasure visiting @_MAchterberg @EACrone @SYNClabEUR in Rotterdam! I’m grateful for all the insights and excited to continue our collaboration looking at cognitive factors of risk and resilience for social media and mental health.

Great conference on the “promises and pitfalls of preregistration” at the Royal Society!

Big thank you to the Netherlands Institute of Psychologists (NIP) for the thesis award and an awesome conference!!

New 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 ✎

Is psychopathy rooted in an information integration deficit? We examine this question in our new preprint with B. Verschuere, @RobinofOxford, A.T. McCune, @TheRealDrKev, @profelainefox.