In recent years, there was ample discussion around the influence of social and mobile media on their users’ well-being. The public discourse on this topic thereby focused mainly on the potential negative effects of digital media use. The aim of this project is to test whether this kind of public discourse and the resulting social norms surrounding social and mobile media use impact how users are influenced by their use. We will, for example, examine, if young users' perceived mobile media use (e.g., as too long) is more important for media effects than the actual objective use (e.g., usage time) and whether perceived used is impacted by social norms.

With the deeper integration of digital media into everyday life, communication scholars’ interest in measuring the predictors, contexts, and consequences of media use directly in daily life has increased. One of the most suitable methods for studying media use in everyday life are experience sampling methods (ESMs). In ESM designs, participants are sent several, short surveys per day, asking them about current or recent experiences. ESM has many advantages including the possibility to assess situational factors and to minimize recall problems. Yet, ESM also has disadvantages with the most important being the intrusiveness in participants’ daily lives and the effort required from them. To reduce effort and increase compliance, in ESM, constructs are often assessed with one item, however, there are nearly no validated one-item measures for ESM available. In this project, we aim at validating one-item measures for ESM context for key communication projects and generally improve methodological approaches and design in ESM studies.

Susanne Baumgartner, Lara Wolfers (March 22)

Television content is often discussed online on forums such as Reddit, or on rating sites such as Rotten Tomatoes. Especially television series can spark lively debates about the themes they address and the captivating narratives they present. These online conversations could elicit and even strengthen entertainment experiences of viewers and foster connectivity among them. The project Extended Entertainment Experiences investigates the process through which television series can increase public connectivity by motivating online discussions. It does so through surveys asking viewers about their experiences when watching television series and discussing them with others, and by analysing the content and characteristics of online conversations about television series. 

Smartphones are among one of the most pervasive technologies that young people throughout the world have adopted for entertainment experience. And yet, at the same time, there is increasing evidence that smartphones may have a detrimental influence on sleep. Problematically, this evidence has ignored individual differences in development by focusing mainly on adults, lacks an interdisciplinary approach, and suffers from significant methodological limitations (e.g. heavy reliance on self-report data). Launched in Spring 2019,  the digiSLEEP team will address these gaps by capitalizing on the latest methodological and technological innovations in the field of media exposure and sleep tracking. The digiSLEEP team aims to understand how smartphones are influencing sleep of today’s adolescents and emerging adults by asking about the the effect of time spent on smartphone, the effect of exposure to smartphone screen light, and the effect of smartphone media content. This research line is co-directed by Susanne Baumgartner and Sindy Sumter.