‘What if we don’t actually match?’ Exploring young people’s conceptualizations about the role of dating apps for identity and romantic relationships

In this study, I critically examined young people’s representations of digital dating, exploring beliefs about identity, relationships, and ‘genuine connection.’ With Tinder reporting 366 million users in 2022 and projections of 450 million by 2028 (Statista, 2024), digital dating remains central to contemporary relationships. For generations raised in an ‘always-on’ digital world, the boundaries between mediated and non-mediated interactions are increasingly blurred. This raises questions about how they conceptualize the relationship between embodied and digital identities and what implications […]

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 […]

„Safe“?!: Journalismus, Terrorismus und Social Media

Der Safety Check, der von Facebook in der Nacht des Terroranschlags in Wien am 2. November aktiviert wurde, ermöglichte den Nutzer*innen, die in Wien leben, anderen Menschen mitzuteilen, dass sie „sicher“ seien. Aber nicht sicher bzw. nicht zuverlässig waren die Informationen, die daran anschließend auf Facebook aktiviert wurden, wenn man angab, dass man „safe“ sei: Denn es wurde damit auch ein Feature – eine Diskussionsseite zum Terroranschlag – aktiviert, die nicht moderiert wurde, sodass hier Videos, die den Terroristen […]