Amy Orben

University of Cambridge | Cam · MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit

Adolescents’ increasing engagement with digital media raises significant concerns about its impact on a variety of outcomes. However, existing research often relies on self-reported measures of time spent on digital devices, which fail to capture the complexity and nuances of digital interactions and experienced. Data donation offers a more reliabl...

Social media have fundamentally transformed how we live and communicate. However, the methods to study how our cognitive systems interact with technology platforms are very limited. Computational modelling represents a new avenue to uncover the finegrained cognitive processes driving social media behaviour. Here, we develop a novel computational mo...

Importance In response to widespread concerns about social media’s influence on adolescent mental health, most research has studied adolescents from the general population, overlooking clinical groups. Objective To synthesize, quantify, and compare evidence on the association between social media use and internalizing symptoms in adolescent clinic...

The rise of social media has dramatically altered the social world – introducing new social behaviours which can satisfy our social needs. However, it is yet unknown whether human social learning strategies, which are well-adapted to the offline world we developed in, operate as effectively within this new social environment. Here, we describe how...

Educational technology (EdTech) research should champion the values of open science in order to be robust, methodologically rigorous, collaborative, inclusive, and transparent. ‘Open science’ is, broadly, an approach to scientific scholarship that adopts tools to promote openness, mitigate against bias, enhance opportunity for collaboration, and re...

The social world is inherently uncertain. We present a computational framework for thinking about how increasingly popular online environments modulate the social uncertainty we experience, depending on the type of social inferences we make. This framework draws on Bayesian inference, which involves combining multiple informational sources to updat...

Importance: There are many concerns about the link between social media use and adolescent mental health. However, most research has studied adolescents from the general population, overlooking clinical groups. To address this gap, we synthesize, quantify and compare evidence on the relationship between social media use and internalising symptoms i...

Researchers investigating the impacts of social media on mental health must consider where exactly adolescents are in their cognitive and social development. Researchers investigating the impacts of social media on mental health must consider where exactly adolescents are in their cognitive and social development.

Research on whether social media use relates to adolescent depression is rapidly increasing. However, is it adequately representing the diversity of global adolescent populations? We conducted a preregistered scoping review (research published between 2018 and 2020; 34 articles) to investigate the proportion of studies recruiting samples from the G...

Social media usage impacts upon the mental health and wellbeing of young people, yet there is not enough evidence to determine who is affected, how and to what extent. While it has widened and strengthened communication networks for many, the dangers posed to at-risk youth are serious. Social media data offers unique insights into the minute detail...

Should academics collaborate with social media and gaming companies to identify and reduce mental health impacts on children and young people? While opinions on this question sharply diverge within the academic community, in practice collaboration is already widespread. As digital platforms increasingly dominate the time and attention of many young...

Background Adolescence is a period of life when young people increasingly define themselves through peer comparison and are vulnerable to developing mental health problems. In the current study, we investigated whether the subjective experience of economic disadvantage among friends is associated with social difficulties and poorer mental health in...

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing social restrictions disrupted young people’s social interactions and resulted in several periods during which school closures necessitated online learning. We hypothesised that digitally excluded young people would demonstrate greater deterioration in their mental health than their digitally connected peers during...

To help move researchers away from heuristically dismissing “small” effects as unimportant, recent articles have revisited arguments to defend why seemingly small effect sizes in psychological science matter. One argument is based on the idea that an observed effect size may increase in impact when generalized to a new context because of processes...

Increasing global policy interest in measuring and improving population wellbeing has prompted academic investigations into the dynamics of lifespan life satisfaction. Yet little research has assessed the complete adolescent age range, although it harbours developmental changes that could affect wellbeing far into adulthood. This study investigates...

Concerns about parenting adolescents are not new, but the rapid diffusion of digital technologies has heightened anxieties over digital parenting. Findings are decidedly mixed regarding the impact of digital technologies on adolescent well-being, and parents are left to navigate their concerns without an empirically based road map. A missing link f...

Belonging is a basic human need, with social isolation signaling a threat to biological fitness. Sensitivity to ostracism varies across individuals and the lifespan, peaking in adolescence. Government-imposed restrictions upon social interactions during COVID-19 may therefore be particularly detrimental to young people and those most sensitive to o...

Adolescence is a period of life when young people increasingly define themselves through peer comparison and are vulnerable to developing mental health problems. In the current study, we investigated whether the subjective experience of economic disadvantage is associated with social difficulties and poorer mental health in early adolescence. We us...

The relationship between social media use and life satisfaction changes across adolescent development. Our analyses of two UK datasets comprising 84,011 participants (10–80 years old) find that the cross-sectional relationship between self-reported estimates of social media use and life satisfaction ratings is most negative in younger adolescents....

Despite the rapid proliferation of digital technologies in the Global South, most academic research on social media and adolescent well-being has primarily focused on the Global North. This review investigates how social media impacts adolescent well-being in the Global South. We first review five regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Af...

Research on whether social media use relates to adolescent depression is rapidly increasing. However, is it adequately representing the diversity of global adolescent populations? We conducted a pre-registered scoping review (research published between 2018-2020; 34 articles) to investigate the proportion of studies recruiting samples from the Glob...

Background: Social isolation is strongly associated with poor mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing social restrictions disrupted young people's social interactions and resulted in several periods during which school closures necessitated online learning. We hypothesise that digitally excluded young people would demonstrate greater deter...

Belonging is a basic human need, with social isolation signaling a threat to biological fitness. Sensitivity to ostracism varies across individuals and the lifespan, peaking in adolescence. Government-imposed restrictions upon social interactions during COVID-19 may therefore be particularly detrimental to young people and those most sensitive to o...

Adolescence is a period of rapid change, with cognitive, mental wellbeing, environmental biological factors interacting to shape lifelong outcomes. Large, longitudinal phenotypically rich datasets available for reuse (secondary data) have revolutionized the way we study adolescence, allowing the field to examine these unfolding processes across hun...

Psychological researchers currently lack guidance for how to evaluate the practical relevance of observed effect sizes, i.e. whether a finding will have impact when translated to a different context of application. Although psychologists have recently highlighted theoretical justifications for why small effect sizes might be practically relevant, s...

Digital technology is ubiquitous in modern adolescence, and researchers are concerned that it has negative impacts on mental health that, furthermore, increase over time. To investigate whether technology is becoming more harmful, we examined changes in associations between technology engagement and mental health in three nationally representative...

Digital technologies are drastically changing the lives of children and young people. For years, the default psychological approach to addressing questions about digital technology's effects on development was to try and establish evidence‐based time use guidelines, that is, concrete amounts of time that children and adolescents are recommended to...

Digital technology is ubiquitous in modern adolescence, and researchers are concerned that it has negative impacts on mental health that, furthermore, increase over time. To investigate if technology is becoming more harmful, we examined changes in associations between technology engagement and mental health in three nationally representative sampl...

Background: Early-life adversity is associated with adverse mental health outcomes and poorer cognitive functioning in later development. However, little is known about how early-life adversity, mental health and cognition affect one another or how the effects unfold over time. In a unique longitudinal sample, we use a path model approach to study...

Increasing global policy interest in measuring and improving population wellbeing has prompted many academic investigations into the dynamics of life satisfaction across the lifespan. While numerous international projects now track adults’ life satisfaction trajectories, little research has simultaneously assessed both adults and adolescents using...

Widespread concerns about new technologies—whether they be novels, radios, or smartphones—are repeatedly found throughout history. Although tales of past panics are often met with amusement today, current concerns routinely engender large research investments and policy debate. What we learn from studying past technological panics, however, is that...

The idea that in behavioral research everything correlates with everything else was a niche area of the scientific literature for more than half a century. With the increasing availability of large data sets in psychology, the “crud” factor has, however, become more relevant than ever before. When referenced in empirical work, it is often used by r...

Adolescence (the stage between 10 and 24 years) is a period of life characterised by heightened sensitivity to social stimuli and the increased need for peer interaction. The physical distancing measures mandated globally to contain the spread of COVID-19 are radically reducing adolescents' opportunities to engage in face-to-face social contact out...

Debates concerning the impacts of screen time are widespread. Existing research presents mixed findings, and lacks longitudinal evidence for any causal or long-term effects. We present a critical account of the current shortcomings of the screen time literature. These include poor conceptualisation, the use of non-standardised measures that are pre...

Widespread concerns about new technologies – whether they be novels, radios or smartphones – are repeatedly found throughout history. While past panics are often met with amusement today, current concerns routinely engender large research investments and policy debate. What we learn from studying past technological panics, however, is that these in...

Debates concerning the impacts of screen-time are widespread. Existing research presents mixed findings, and lacks longitudinal evidence for any causal or long-term effects. We present a critical account of the current shortcomings of the screen-time literature. These include: poor conceptualisation, the use of non-standardised measures that are pr...

NOW PUBLISHED: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30186-3. Adolescence is a period of life characterized by heightened sensitivity to social stimuli and the increased need for peer interaction. The physical distancing measures mandated globally to contain the spread of Covid-19 are radically reducing adolescents’ opportunities to engage in face-...

Introduction: In light of growing concerns about an increasingly digital adolescence, the academic field investigating how digital technologies affect adolescents' psychological well-being is growing rapidly. In the last years, much research has amassed, and this has been summarised in over 80 systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Materials and m...

Background Throughout the developed world, adolescents are growing up with increased access to and engagement with a range of screen-based technologies, allowing them to encounter ideas and people on a global scale from the intimacy of their bedroom. The concerns about digital technologies negatively influencing sleep are therefore especially notew...

ReproducibiliTea can build up open science without top-down initiatives, says Amy Orben. ReproducibiliTea can build up open science without top-down initiatives, says Amy Orben. Open science is a process, not a one-time achievement or a claim to virtue

Objective: Previous studies have offered mixed results regarding the link between digital screen engagement and the psychosocial functioning of young people. In this study we aimed to determine the magnitude of this relation, to feed into the discussion regarding whether amount of digital screen time has a subjectively significant impact on the ps...

The idea that in behavioural research everything correlates with everything else was a niche area of the scientific literature for over half a century. With the increasing availability of large datasets in psychology, and the heightened interest in falsifiability and null results, the ‘crud’ factor has however become more relevant than ever before....

In this study, we used large-scale representative panel data to disentangle the between-person and within-person relations linking adolescent social media use and well-being. We found that social media use is not, in and of itself, a strong predictor of life satisfaction across the adolescent population. Instead, social media effects are nuanced, s...

The notion that digital-screen engagement decreases adolescent well-being has become a recurring feature in public, political, and scientific conversation. The current level of psychological evidence, however, is far removed from the certainty voiced by many commentators. There is little clear-cut evidence that screen time decreases adolescent well...

The widespread use of digital technologies by young people has spurred speculation that their regular use negatively impacts psychological well-being. Current empirical evidence supporting this idea is largely based on secondary analyses of large-scale social datasets. Though these datasets provide a valuable resource for highly powered investigati...

The open science movement is rapidly changing the scientific landscape. Because exact definitions are often lacking and reforms are constantly evolving, accessible guides to open science are needed. This paper provides an introduction to open science and related reforms in the form of an annotated reading list of seven peer-reviewed articles, follo...

Few scientific developments are as divisive as the increasingly popular Open Science movement. Because exact definitions are lacking and reforms are constantly evolving, accessible guides to Open Science are needed. This paper provides an introduction to Open Science and related reforms in the form of an annotated reading list of 8 peer-reviewed ar...

Social media is radically altering the human social landscape. Before the internet era, human interaction consisted chiefly of direct and reciprocal contact, yet with the rise of social media, the passive consumption of other users’ information is becoming an increasingly popular pastime. Passive consumption occurs when a user reads the posts of an...

In an academic environment predominantly focused on empirical results, theory is a vital – but ojien overlooked – component of successful research. The novel psychological research field of cyberpsychology is missing the theoretical foundations normally available to traditional research areas. To ensure that cyberpsychology becomes a successful and...

We greatly appreciate the care and thought that is evident in the ten commentaries that discuss our debate paper, the majority of which argued in favor of a formalized ICD-11 gaming disorder. We agree that there are some people whose play of video games is related to life problems. We believe that understanding this population and the nature and se...

We greatly appreciate the care and thought that is evident in the ten commentaries that discuss our debate paper, the majority of which argued in favor of a formalized ICD-11 gaming disorder. We agree that there are some people whose play of video games isrelated to life problems. We believe that understanding this population and the nature and sev...

Social media is becoming an increasingly common part of everyday life. Many social media sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) support new interpersonal interaction methods, some of which are neither directed nor reciprocated. For example, social media users can read online 'posts' (self-disclosures) of their friends without interacting with...