The emergence of self-help content on social media: An interview with psychologist Maike Preissing

Earlier this year, in March of 2024, #YouthMediaLife hosted its second international conference, where I had the opportunity to present my research on “The Language of Short-Form Self-Help on Social Media”. In my talk, I discussed the use of hashtags on Instagram posts about neurodiversity and mental health. My investigation focused on hashtags such as #neurodiverse, #selfdiagnosis, #neurodivergent, #neurodivergence, #selfdiagnosed, and #neurodiversity. At the time of conducting my research, I found that the hashtags #neurodiversity and #neurodivergent were, by […]

#YML24 Conference Impressions

We have summarized our personal impression of the interdisciplinary conference #YouthMediaLife 2024: Interdisciplinary Perspectives into Digital Practices, held from March 25, 2024 to March 28, 2024, at the University of Vienna. Susanne Reichl Lisza-Sophie Neumeier Georg Wendt It’s a peculiar feeling to bemoan a four-day event that, in its lead-up, drew much attention, demanded It’s a peculiar feeling to bemoan a four-day event that, in its lead-up, drew much attention, demanded lots of effort, and necessitated great care from […]

From Head to Toe: A Deep Dive into the Linguistic Repertoires of two Austrian Members of Generation Alpha

In the setting of a cozy living room in Vienna, two young minds, Lena (10) and Stella (8), equipped with colored pencils, embarked on a creative journey that would unveil the anatomy of their linguistic repertoires (quite literally). As they filled in silhouettes of themselves on a DIN-A3 sheet of paper with vibrant colors, little did I expect how extensively their drawings would serve as windows into their worlds where language intersects with personal experiences, emotions, family dynamics and aspirations for the future.

ChatGPT – more than just a buzzword: Understanding the AI’s background

With the launch of ChatGPT, the topic of artificial intelligence has become omnipresent. Whether it is in the context of medicine, research, finance, or e-learning, seemingly everybody prides themselves on incorporating artificial intelligence. Particularly, the use of and debate around ChatGPT has skyrocketed in this context. While most of us are aware of the fact that ChatGPT has vehement defenders as well as intense critics, we are often not aware of the mechanics behind ChatGPT as well as the […]

Let’s talk money! Wie Jung und Alt ihren Weg zur finanziellen Selbstbestimmung finden

Im Rahmen des #YML-Praxisgesprächs mit dem Titel „Let’s talk money: Wie Kinder und Jugendliche ihren Weg zur finanziellen Selbstbestimmung finden“ veranschaulichte Julia Vlahovic von Three Coins in einem interaktiven Vortrag, wie Finanzkompetenz, also ein verantwortungsvoller Umgang mit Geld, gefördert werden kann, doch … Guter Umgang mit Geld – Was ist das überhaupt? Geld beeinflusst beinahe alle Bereiche unseres Lebens und eine Vielzahl unserer Entscheidungen – sei es der Kauf von Sneakers oder die Planung der eigenen Altersvorsorge. Deshalb ist […]

„Youthless policy is useless policy“ – aus dem Leben einer Europäischen Jugenddelegierten

Es gab eine Zeit, in der ich keine Ahnung davon hatte, dass Jugendpolitik etwas ist, woran 27 EU-Mitgliedsstaaten regelmäßig gemeinsam arbeiten. Genauso wenig wusste ich, dass „Erasmus“ viel mehr ist als die Möglichkeit, an einer anderen Universität zu studieren. Und hätte mir jemand gesagt, dass es eine Institution gibt, die seit 20 Jahren meine Rechte und Interessen als junge Person vertritt, ich hätte es vielleicht nicht geglaubt. Was hat sich von damals zu heute für mich verändert? Anfang 2019 […]

On critical video game literacy – #YouthMediaLife’s newest team member introduces his research interest in a roughly 10-minute video

Depending on your media habits and social network, you may – or may not – be familiar with the image on top. It shows New York Times’ Wordle, a daily word game in which players have to guess a five-letter word in six attempts or fewer. If you have played the game yourself, you are likely familiar with its rules and implicit conventions (such as that there are no pluralized words as solutions) – you may even have tried […]

(EME)MUSIC to a Researcher’s Ears: Identifying a new Research Gap

Beethoven (German), Brahms (German), Liszt (Hungarian) – many of the composers that we associate with Vienna are not, in fact, originally from the “city of music”, or even from Austria. In fact, people have been coming to Vienna to learn and to play music for centuries; it can be argued that musical education in Austria (particularly in Vienna and Salzburg) has a long-standing tradition of internationalisation that goes much further back than the recent strategic trends in higher education […]

Ein Pilot:innenprojekt: Create your „own“ Avatar

Fragestellungen zu Covid-Zeiten: Nicht erst seit geraumer Zeit ist die Grenze zwischen dem, was öffentlich oder Öffentlichkeit meint im Unterschied zu dem was privat oder Privatheit bedeutet, verschwommen. 1 Dazu mögen verschiedenste Sphären des Digitalen und die Unumgänglichkeit der Digitalisierung, oder Mediatisierung ihren Beitrag geleistet haben. Diese provisorische, weil praktisch nur mehr sprachlich haltbare Grenzziehung und das Faktum des gegenwärtig andauernden Zustandes einer Pandemie führten uns vor die Dringlichkeit die Frage nach dem Körper zu stellen. Eine Frage zu […]

#YML21 Conference Impressions

Wir haben unsere persönlichen Eindrücke der interdisziplinären Konferenz #YouthMediaLife 2021, die vom 29.03.21 bis 01.04.21 auf einer digitalen Eventplattform abgehalten wurde, zusammengefasst. Lisza-Sophie Neumeier #YML21 Conference Report Ariane Manutscheri Amadea Brenner These days are all about challenges. And about making things work. Twelve hours after #YouthMediaLife 2021 became a material space in an immaterial world, frizzy clanks of ink being swept onto paper hover above a sheet of crinkled paper. My declared plan: telling a story that is not […]