Social Media | Penn Today

I’ve been hooked on social media for 15 years: How I’m finally breaking the habit

A 2018 study by Melissa Hunt of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues found that lessening social media use to 30 minutes a day can significantly decrease anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep problems, and fear of missing out.

Penn’s SAFELab sits at the intersection of technology and social work

PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton, founder and director of the SAFELab, discusses the initiative’s research on grief, gun violence, and social media as well as its new space at the Pennovation Center.

The influencer industry is having an existential crisis

Emily Hund of the Annenberg School for Communication advocates for the unionization of influencers and online creators in her new book, “The Influencer Industry.”

A national TikTok trend is sparking thefts of Kias and Hyundais in Philadelphia—and residents are feeling the impact

PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton calls the Kia Boyz Challenge on TikTok a “perfect storm” for young people in cities where vehicle theft is common, since they know it could be a shortcut to notoriety.

The U.S. is considering a TikTok ban. Philadelphia content creators don’t care

Postdoctoral fellow Frances Corry of the Annenberg School for Communication says that TikTok isn’t going anywhere and that the U.S. needs to include Silicon Valley’s major social media platforms in a conversation about data collection and consumer protection.

A silhouette of a person in black on a red background. The person is holding a phone that reads "COVID-19" and the back of the head is open, with many different symbols flowing out, including a globe, a hospital, a needle, a vial, a mask, the dollar sign, and a TV screen that reads "Fake News."

Q&A

Why COVID misinformation continues to spread

Penn Medicine’s Anish Agarwal discusses why false claims about the virus and vaccines arise and persist, plus what he hopes will come from NIH-funded research he and Penn Engineering’s Sharath Chandra Guntuku have recently begun.

icons of individuals connected by social media.

Is social media good or bad for social unity?

Annenberg professors Sandra González-Bailón and Yphtach Lelkes reviewed all of the previous literature to determine what scholars have discovered to date.

From Penn student to record deal: How a 15-second TikTok video changed my lifefoam

In an Op-Ed, Wharton School fourth-year Inci Gurun from Istanbul writes about her journey from first-time TikToker to viral singer-songwriter.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, so does misinformation about it

Anish Agarwal of the Perelman School of Medicine says that online and offline discussions and impressions of the coronavirus are constantly shifting.

Elon Musk polls Twitter users on whether he should step down as chief executive

Pinar Yildirim of the Wharton School says that Elon Musk’s new Twitter policies are anti-competitive, preventing communication across consumers comparing competitors.

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