Tobias Dienlin
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Tobias Dienlin
@tobiasdienlin.com
1.9K followers 650 following 370 posts
Media Psychology & Communication | Privacy & Well-Being | Open Science & Slow Science | IKMZ & University of Zurich | https://tobiasdienlin.com
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November 7, 2025 at 8:44 PM
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💯
November 7, 2025 at 4:28 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
And here's the study and central figure.

Kratz, F., & Brüderl, J. (2025). Assessing age trajectories (of subjective well-being): Clarifying estimands, identification assumptions, and estimation strategies. European Sociological Review, jcaf038. doi.org/10.1093/esr/...
November 4, 2025 at 7:54 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
Looking forward to @fassiluisa.bsky.social‘s talk at our department next week :)
Social Media Use and Adolescents’ Mental Health: What do we actually know? Guest Talk Media Psychology & Methods Division Monday, 03 November 2025 14.00 – 15.00, AND-3-23 Luisa Fassi is a Graduate Student with the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at University of Cambridge, UK Biography Luisa Fassi is a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge, working across the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and the Department of Psychiatry. Her doctoral research, which was recently recognised by the Psychology of Technology Dissertation Award, focuses on studying the relationship between social media use and adolescents' mental health. Abstract Mental health conditions affect one in seven adolescents globally, and social media has become a central part of young people’s daily lives. These parallel trends have sparked widespread concern, yet research linking social media use to youth mental health remains mixed and often lacks clinical relevance. In this lecture, I present findings from two complementary studies that aim to bridge this gap and inform both clinical and societal responses. The first is a pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis that synthesizes 15 years of research on the relationship between social media use and internalising symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety) in both community and clinical samples. The second study is a registered report that analyses a nationally representative UK sample to examine differences in social media use among adolescents with and without mental health conditions. Unlike most studies that rely on single-questionnaire assessments, this study integrates clinical diagnoses made by professional raters based on multi-informant interviews. Together, these findings highlight the need for more targeted psychoeducation, clinical assessments, and interventions that reflect adolescents’ diverse lived experiences when it comes to social media use.
October 29, 2025 at 6:11 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
Das @foeg.bsky.social hat soeben das aktuelle Jahrbuch zur Qualität der Medien in der Schweiz vorgestellt.

Zentrale Ergebnisse:

- Anzahl der News-Depriviertem nimmt stetig zu
- News-Deprivierte mit weniger Wissen
- AI Tools beinhalten ≥ 5% Fake News
- Medienqualität stabil
October 27, 2025 at 10:09 AM
tobiasdienlin.com
“[S]tatistical complexity risks becoming decorative—used to signal analytical sophistication rather than deepen theoretical insight”

Several good points by Winston Peng in his inaugural piece as HCR editor.

academic.oup.com/hcr/advance-...
September 26, 2025 at 6:55 PM
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ICYW, this is how @ikmz.bsky.social students are writing their theses.
September 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
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We're happy to have @laurentwang.bsky.social come visit our division at @ikmz.bsky.social Tuesday next week!

Everyone onsite invited to join :)
Biography Laurent Wang is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research focuses on the social and psychological uses and effects of information communication technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, social media). Specifically, he uses quantitative and qualitative methods to study how people 1) negotiate online privacy decisions and 2) navigate digital inequalities challenges in the constantly-shifting technological landscape. He has published in flagship journals such as Communication Research, Communication Monographs, New Media & Society, Information, Communication & Society, and Journal of Advertising. He has received prestigious research awards such as the James J. Bradac Award and the Steven H. Chaffee Award for Excellence in Research. His research activities have been supported by various external (e.g., the National Science Foundation, Washington Media Scholars Foundation, and the International Communication Association) and internal funding sources (e.g., UCSB’s African and Asian Students in STEM program). Abstract The rapid advancement of digital technologies presents significant challenges for individuals seeking to safeguard their personal information and effectively navigate the digital environment. This talk addresses these challenges by drawing from psychological, structural, and ecological perspectives. Insights from three research projects highlight that privacy management and digital inequality are not merely matters of individual choice, but are also embedded in broader sociotechnical contexts. The talk concludes by outlining future theoretical and practical directions for understanding and addressing the intertwined issues of technology, privacy, and inequality in the digital society.
September 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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At #mepsy25, I’ll present research together with @shinyikang.bsky.social where we test five central claims of @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social‘s anxious generation, using large scale data from the #mentalhealthdays.

Join Thursday, 4.15 pm, LK051

Spoiler alert: we get somewhat surprising results.
Five central claims of Jonathan Haidt: 1. Well-being, particularly depression, is deteriorating. 2. Social media negatively impacts youth well-being. 3. Social networking sites are more harmful than messaging apps. 4. Effects are more harmful for girls. 5. Effects are more harmful for younger users.
September 10, 2025 at 6:05 AM
tobiasdienlin.com
The results echo prior findings: Yes, on average, social media use appears somewhat detrimental for well-being.

However, other aspects are more relevant, and regulating social media will not be a panacea.

Collaboration with @orbenamy.bsky.social and @davidsmahel.bsky.social, now published.
Abstract: What impact do people think social media has on their well-being? To answer this question, we adopted a global perspective, analyzing 7.1 million observations from 191,672 users across 182 countries. Users believed social media had a small but negative impact on their well-being: Whenever respondents felt that social media affected their current well-being, their well-being in that moment was reduced by 2% compared with their average. The size of this perceived effect differed across users and countries. Whereas people in several northeastern regions, such as Russia and Kazakhstan, believed social media benefited their well-being, negative perceived effects appeared most prominently in the Anglosphere (United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand), Scandinavia, and parts of South America (Chile, Argentina). Other activities showed stronger effects on well-being, such as listening to music (plus 8%), relaxing (plus 6%), health issues (minus 8%), or studying (minus 7%), which suggests that the negative effects of social media use are comparatively small. Male participants reported significantly more negative effects compared with female and gender-diverse participants. Differences also emerged across age groups, with younger generations reporting more negative effects. In conclusion, according to users across the world, social media has a negative but small perceived impact on their well-being.
August 20, 2025 at 4:59 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
The effect does differ somewhat across countries.

Interestingly, countries where social media bans are currently discussed (Anglosphere, Scandinavia) indeed show somewhat more negative effects.
Picture of the globe with countries colored according to the effect size of social media use on well-being. Table reporting results for individual countries.
August 20, 2025 at 4:59 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
Our results showed that social media use has a negative but rather small effect on well-being (2% decrease).

Other aspect have stronger effects (music: 8% increase; studying: 6% decrease).

Notably, the effect differed strongly across users (much more than the other activities).
Figure displaying a coefficient plot with 95% CIs of activities and their self-reported effects on well-being.
August 20, 2025 at 4:59 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
Users indicated how they felt on a scale from 0 to 100.

They could then select events that made them feel this way -- with social media being one option.
image of the app. On the left hand side, people can indicate how they feel with a slider. They could then select what made them feel this way.
August 20, 2025 at 4:59 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
We collaborated with the (now discontinued) app VOS health, an app to measure and improve user well-being.

We analyzed 7.1 million observations from 191,672 users across 182 countries.
Picture from the website of the app VOS.health
August 20, 2025 at 4:59 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
Partic. interested in feedback on this:

- We conduct a glorious serial mediation with cross-sectional data 🥶
- BUT, underlying theory is plausible: Perc of tech→grats→use→attachment
- We hope to control for all relevant confounders
- We acknowledge estimates imperfectly capture estimands

Thoughts?
July 1, 2025 at 8:49 AM
tobiasdienlin.com
What bothers me when googling for @cos.io preprints is that when you click on the search result, you don't get to the preprint server but automatically download the paper.

Often, I just want to get the DOI, read the abstract, or see the stats ...

#openscience #academicsky
July 1, 2025 at 8:17 AM
tobiasdienlin.com
Food for thought.

H/t @dingdingpeng.the100.ci & @literalbanana.bsky.social
June 30, 2025 at 5:02 AM
tobiasdienlin.com
5 years ago, @niklasjohannes.bsky.social and I summarized the literature on the effects of digital technology use on adolescent well-being as follows.

Do you think the findings still apply?

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
1. The general effects of digital technology use on well- being are likely in the negative spectrum, but very small—potentially too small to matter. 2. No screen time is created equal; different uses will lead to different effects. 3. Digital technology use is more likely to affect short-term positive or negative affect than long-term life satisfaction. 4. The dose makes the poison; it appears that both low and excessive use are related to decreased well-being, whereas moderate use is related to increased well-being. 5. Adolescents are likely more vulnerable to effects of digital technology use on well-being, but it is important not to patronize adolescents—effects are comparable and adolescents not powerless. 6. The current empirical research has several limitations: high-quality studies with large-scale samples, objective measures of digital technology use, and experience sampling of well-being are still missing.
June 24, 2025 at 6:25 AM
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Using the scalar invariant scale Online Privacy Literature Scale, @masurphil.bsky.social find that:

Privacy Literacy: 🇩🇪 > 🇺🇸

Privacy Literacy in 🇩🇪: 👨 > 👩

Privacy Literacy in 🇺🇸: 👨 < 👩

#ica25
June 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
Central insights from our study on relationships with AI chatbots ⬇️

@naru96.bsky.social #ica25
June 15, 2025 at 12:28 AM
tobiasdienlin.com
Strong methods at display at #ica25 privacy session:

- SESOI
- Replications
- Preprints
- Bayesian Stats
- Response Surface Analysis …

#openscience #researchreform
June 15, 2025 at 12:22 AM
tobiasdienlin.com
CAT Best Paper Award at #ica25: @masurphil.bsky.social with a study on norms on social media
June 13, 2025 at 9:35 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
Hm, should work actually. But the files tab is now quite hidden ... did you try clicking here?
June 13, 2025 at 5:22 PM
tobiasdienlin.com
You can now find the slides here: osf.io/b63zw/ #ica25
June 13, 2025 at 4:36 PM
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The presentation is part of the #ica25 theme panel on „Disruptive Perspectives on Scholarly Communication in Publishing, Media, Communications, and Beyond“, chaired by @valquiriaramos.bsky.social.

Other panelists are Alice Freerakers, Chelsea Ratcliff, and Laura Moorhead.
With technological changes, demands for hyperproductivity and social impact, studying academic communication remains critical, requiring holistic approaches from communication science. We’ll explore scholarly communication as an emerging disruptive area, presenting communication between and from researchers as the subjects of inquiry. This panel examines how researching academic publishing can help provide a better understanding of its production processes and their impact on society inside and outside academia, and how evolving publication practices influence society's information routines.
June 12, 2025 at 7:27 AM