Social Media and Mental Health: From Research Design to Attentional Mechanisms

This webinar features two expert presentations exploring how social media influences psychological functioning. Each presentation will be followed by an opportunity for audience interaction, allowing for questions and discussion with the speakers.

Presenter 1: Prof. dr. Ernst Koster (Ghent University)   

Title: Studying Social Media and Wellbeing: How Well-Suited Are Experimental Designs?

Abstract: Research into the link between social media use and wellbeing has produced a fragmented and often inconsistent evidence base, partly attributable to differences in the research designs employed. In this talk, I will discuss how methodological choices (e.g., study design, measurement approach, and analytic strategy) shape the conclusions drawn about this link, and consider what these differences imply for interpreting and comparing findings across studies.

Presenter 2: Prof. dr. Amit Lazarov (Tel Aviv University)             

Title: Social Media Usage and Social Anxiety Disorder – An Attentional Perspective

Abstract: Common definitions of social anxiety disorder (SAD) focus on fear and/or avoidance experienced during “real” social situations taking place in the actual physical/concrete world. Accordingly, extant research on attention allocation in SAD has predominantly focused on these situations utilizing lab-based experimental designs in controlled lab settings. However, in conjunction with the rapid advancement in technology, physical in-person encounters are no longer the sole medium for social interactions to occur, with technology-based social media platforms (SMP) becoming an integral part of daily social life. Given the growing dominance of SMPs as a medium for social functioning, it is crucial to explore the implications of social anxiety within this novel social environment, including the realm of attention allocation. In this talk, I will present a series of consecutive studies, all using advanced eye-tracking methodology, designed to explore attention allocation of socially anxious individuals (vs. controls) during actual usage of different social media platforms. In doing so, I will focus on three realms of social functioning – exposure to socially-relevant information, receiving social feedback, and social communication, while using three prominent social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.