The Programme on Adolescent Well-Being in the digital age investigates how the Internet, social media platforms, and video games influence the mental health and psychosocial functioning of young people. This ambitious research programme is pursued by a team of behavioural scientist’s keen to collect, collate, and analyse the best possible data to gain evidence-based insights that are useful for health policymakers and technology regulators.
Our team is studying individual, national, and international trends in the mental well-being of young people to determine for who, how and why health is changing over time. Our goal is to determine what role, if any, the introduction, and adoption of digital technologies shape well-being dynamics.
Our work has three main components: (1) The collation and analysis of dozens of datasets including data on technology use and health spanning many decades and countries. (2) Meta scientific research to determine the reliability of existing evidence and creating new tools to draw robust causal inferences about technology effects. And (3) generating and evaluating the scientific value of large-scale datasets leveraging the power of open datasets with objective data shared by technology platforms.
Professor of Human Behaviour and Technology
Project role: Principal Investigator
Professor Przybylski is a psychologist who studies how online social media and video games platforms influence users’ mental health. His research focuses on how data from these platforms can inform regulation, policymaking, and expert advice.
Research Associate
Project role: Co-Investigator
Matti Vuorre is an experimental psychologist. He applies his expertise in cognitive psychology and Bayesian modelling as a postdoctoral researcher in the Programme on Adolescent Well-Being in the Digital Age.
Research Associate
Project role: Co-Investigator
Niklas Johannes is a behavioural scientist. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Adolescent Well-Being in the Digital Age programme, where he studied effects of technology on well-being and performance.
21 September 2022
A new study finds that engaging with arts and culture online can improve mental health in young people.
8 September 2022
Two faculty members at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) have been awarded the title of full Professor by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in recognition of their exceptional contributions to scientific and legal scholarship.
27 July 2022
New Oxford study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science finds time spent playing video games is unlikely to impact well-being.
12 July 2022
OII researchers are collaborating with game developer FuturLab to study the effects of playing video games on the mental health of players.
BBC Radio Oxford, 27 September 2022
Oxford academic Dr Rebecca J Syed Sheriff explains how engaging with arts online can have a positive impact on mental health in young people.
Jack FM, 22 September 2022
Oxford researchers have examined the impact on depression and anxiety in 16-24 year-olds, in partnership with the Ashmolean Museum.
MIT Technology Review, 20 August 2022
Researchers have pinpointed the data might help to provide more clues about whether or not gaming is bad for our mental health.
