March 12 | How Internet and Social Media Adoption Relate to Global Well-Being in the Digital Age

Join the Cyber Policy Center on Tuesday, March 12th from 12 Noon–1 PM Pacific, for How Internet and Social Media Adoption Relate to Global Well-Being in the Digital Age, with Andrew K. Przybylski, Professor of Human Behaviour and Technology at the University of Oxford. The session will be moderated by Nate Persily, co director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, and is part of the Winter Seminar Series, a series spanning January through March hosted at the Cyber Policy Center. Sessions are in-person and virtual, via Zoom and streamed via YouTube, with in-person attendance offered to Stanford affiliates only. Lunch is provided for in-person attendance and registration is required. This session will take place in Encina Hall, on the 3rd floor in the Oksenberg Conference Room.

This talk will provide a historic and empirical perspective on how we might understand the links that might link the adoption and use of the internet, mobile broadband, and social media to longer-term trends in mental health and psychological well-being. Starting with a review as to why this question is important and ways this question has been asked over time it will cover how we have understood and tested the idea. The heart of the talk is a review of three global studies examining technology and wellness across the last two decades with a special emphasis on methodology and representativeness. The talk closes with a reflection on what these kinds of studies can and cannot show us as well as cautions about the perils of oversimplifying a complex global phenomenon. Avenues for future research, the formidable challenges ahead, as well as the value of transparent, reproducible, and diverse research will be explored.

About the Speaker

Andrew K. Przybylski is the Professor of Human Behaviour and Technology at the University of Oxford. Professor Przybylski investigates how online social media and video games platforms shape human motivation and influence the health and well-being of their users.  

Professor Przybylski has published more than 100 peer reviewed academic and conference papers which have been cited more than 20,000 times in the past decade. He is a frequent commentator on the effects of internet-based technology on our lives and works closely with national and global policymakers to empower users and independent scientists to address the most pressing questions of health and human development in the digital age.  

Professor Przybylski’s research, commentary, and contributions are regularly featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, Wired Magazine, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The Week, and international outlets including the BBC World Service and PRI’s The World.   

In acknowledgment of his scientific and policy achievements he was recently appointed as an Honorary Professor at The Educational University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Psychosocial Health where he is working to build mutually beneficial relationships between the students and faculty of both institutions.  

His undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral degrees were earned at the University of Rochester in the United States.