Sara Grady
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saramgrady.bsky.social
Sara Grady
@saramgrady.bsky.social
340 followers 520 following 190 posts
Media psychologist, studying narratives & entertainment and why people spend time on them. Pop culture junkie, absolute nerd + social scientist
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saramgrady.bsky.social
Possibly the best week in my wonderful Communication & Pop Culture class: analyzing how and why their favorite songs became trendy, from audio cues to normative aesthetic structures to business practices and memeification. I feel a playlist coming on...
meme from Pen15 of Steve Buscemi (middleaged dude) trying to pass as a high schooler saying "how do you do fellow kids"
October 30, 2025 at 6:04 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
This year especially seems like an important one to revisit the (shamefully) timeless words of Frederick Douglass, on the 4th of July and all it stands for. A long read for a long weekend, but a perennially good one. loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1852Fre...
Frederick Douglass Quote: "For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but the thunder. We need the store, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling in the nation must be quickened, the conscience of the nation must be roused, the propriety of the nation must be startled, the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed: and its crimes against God and man must be denounced".
July 3, 2025 at 7:24 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Ohio legislators passed SB1 this spring (despite massive outcry). It goes into effect today. Here’s a tiny sliver of what’s happening #highered #DEI

Specifics: compliance.osu.edu/focus-areas/...
List of SB1 requirements, per OSU. Ohio universities are prohibited from having protected class be considered in admissions, have scholarships based on them or have any training or staff dedicated to DEI.
June 26, 2025 at 1:48 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Friends writing a paper you're going to cite for years is a cause for celebration!

@elisabaek.bsky.social @rzhprfshr.bsky.social & @joebayer.bsky.social map how social connection is defined & measured, point to their false equivalencies + consider how media/constant connectivity changes things ♥️
chart from paper on the 4 types of social connection in research to date chart on different ways to measure the 4 types of social connection in the paper
June 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Bye #ica25, such a fruitful few days!So proud of all the awesome #ohistate grads/alumni doing amazing work, like @juleswilson21.bsky.social @rzhprfshr.bsky.social @qinli0.bsky.social @mqrmobile.bsky.social — & so glad CO provided the necessary brain breaks!
Bear Creek trail in Jefferson Co Colorado
June 16, 2025 at 6:22 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
The Denver event is happening a short walk from the hotels this afternoon #ica25
Denver event is 12-4 in Lincoln Memorial Park today Map from Conference Centr to park
June 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
These kinds of sessions why I go to #ica25. Meaghan Sanders, @olivermb.bsky.social @artraney.bsky.social @bowmanspartan.bsky.social all thinking around and about advancing theory around emotional entertainment experiences in a variety of interconnected ways. My brain is swimming, in a good way
Charlie from Always Sunny being wild
June 13, 2025 at 11:07 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Absolutely recommend the rooftop bar at Populus for #ica25 drinks, lovely view over the capitol
View of bar
June 13, 2025 at 1:34 AM
saramgrady.bsky.social
2 media coping/well-being projects: Rockstar PhD student @juleswilson21.bsky.social will present her work on media use during grief (Mass Comm, Mon 9) & bestie @elisabaek.bsky.social will share preliminary findings on story processing differences in lonely people’s brains (CSaB, Sat 9) #ica25
Program snippet Program excerpt
June 12, 2025 at 6:21 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
There will be a solidarity fair in the park not far from the hotels, 12-4
Map from convention center to 1449 Lincoln St Denver (in city park)
June 9, 2025 at 9:13 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Finding there 1) pathologies lead to gaming disorders not the other way around and 2) only 7% of young people are actually having detrimental effects related to gaming. (So yes, it’s a concern, but not where a lot of the popular witch hunts are looking or at a massive scale)
Model figure of results
May 17, 2025 at 6:26 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
@kyliewoodman.bsky.social is always phenomenal & ambitious — 3 studies w/ 10k young people (ABCD study) looking for meaningful threshold criteria for problematic gaming categories in 8minutes #CommHorizons2025 @medianeuro.bsky.social
Speaker photo 7% of adolescents are at clinical levels of dysfunctional media use w/ negative mental health outcomes (55% have no risk problems or negative effects—media actually helps protect from stress, depression etc!)
May 17, 2025 at 6:23 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
@gongxuanjun.bsky.social giving a wonderful talk on narrative impact & success (w @richardhuskey.bsky.social & @aeden.bsky.social) by using narrative structural models of networked characters & events to model popularity of a novel at #CommHorizons2025
Photo of speaker Event extraction model of character interactions Narrative network on Harry Potter
May 17, 2025 at 6:01 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Great talk from Anja Stevic (Standford Social Media Lab) on teen interventions: mapping how media use effects them & think through their own use w/ Digital Intervention Loop task. Comm Horizons @ucdavis.bsky.social starting off strong!
Digital Loop intervention task is a circle mapping media uses and mood before and after at each point on a 24hour wheel
May 17, 2025 at 5:25 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Comparing GPT reposnses to humans shows it’s only a good representation WEIRD American-Europeans (men) not everyone in both text and relational patterns
mohammadatari.bsky.social
Correlation of country language patterns and GPT =7, decreases dramatically btw WEIRD countries and others
April 25, 2025 at 4:57 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Really interesting to consider how taking (& reporting!) all the forking paths in analytical decisions gives a more robust picture of effects, as a “multiverse analysis” approach (h/t Dani Cosme) details here: dcosme.shinyapps.io/explore-sca/ #SANS2025 #commscience
Graphic, all analytical decisions in a decision tree of choices a a researcher makes in preprocessing & managing data A set of decisions becomes 1100 different models of the same tested relationship in the same data
April 25, 2025 at 3:44 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
#SANS2025 content has been fab, but 10/10 on location too
Chicago skyline and Ohio Street beach In the sun
April 24, 2025 at 8:51 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
#SANS2025 is hosting debates btw powerhouse scholars on major field questions. A fun model. 1st: @drdamienfair.bsky.social & @thaliawheatley.bsky.social on consortia studies vs small lab work. Some great insights on the utility of (well powered!) nimble, small studies as part of strong science.
Talk picture
April 24, 2025 at 4:50 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Some helpful context for today on what is (and isn’t) actually popular
Recent Pew Research poll showing most (53-59%) Americans disapprove of federal cuts, tariffs, and ending DEI, with an additional chunk (22-16%) only somewhat approve.
April 23, 2025 at 9:58 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Hundreds of #OSU doctors aren’t pulling any punches in letter to the Uni President on silencing and closure of DEI related work and convos @osuwexmed.bsky.social www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...
Quoted text in screenshot “most so-called DEI principles and concepts are repackaging concepts such as the fundamental bioethics principles of Justice, autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence”
April 23, 2025 at 1:02 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
@timothysnyder.bsky.social’s reasoned, informed approach to the dangers of the current moment a must-read snyder.substack.com/p/state-terror
Quote of text saying “if citizens endorse the idea that people named by authorities as “criminals”…have no right to due process, then they are accepting that they themselves have no right to due process. It is due process, and due process alone, that allows you to demonstrate that you are a citizen. Without it, the masked men in the black vans can simply claim that you are a terrorist and disappear you”
April 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Some compelling words from colleagues at UCDavis greencarelab.ucdavis.edu/how-universi...
Excerpt from the text in the link on the role of HE in fighting challenges to DEI “this is not a drill. It is a defining moment”
February 26, 2025 at 5:03 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
A government by,of, and for the people might need to listen to what people actually think
Graph. In a YouGov poll of 6400Americans, only 29% had an unfavorable opinion of DEI programs Graph. In a YouGov poll of 6400 Americans, only 16% report DEI programs negatively affect them personally
February 13, 2025 at 2:10 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Clarity in what’s at stake is key
Screenshot of Text from The article as a preview
February 5, 2025 at 10:40 PM
saramgrady.bsky.social
Welcome to 2025! I like coming back to work when things are quiet & I can read interesting papers before the chaos of term kicks off.

Today, emotional semantics across language groups: valence & arousal are critical almost across the board www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
January 2, 2025 at 3:27 PM