New report from the Digital Mental Health Group @MRC CBU on social media bans.

As UK debate grows, we review current evidence, key gaps, and what’s coming next to inform decision-making.

🔗 www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/d0b4c5...

🇦🇺 Report from Australia on under-16 social media ban compliance:
• Kids (8–15, parent-report) with accounts dropped from 50% → 31%
• Closures came from platforms (43.6%), kids (36%), and parents (26%)
Conclusion: some platforms aren’t doing enough to comply.
www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/ind...

Baby and toddler screen time guidance - Best Start in Life Guidance for parents on managing screen time for under 5s. Learn what's recommended and how to build healthy habits from an early age.

Parent-facing guidance: beststartinlife.gov.uk/screen-time-...
Research report: www.gov.uk/government/p...

UKgov publishes new screen time guidance for under 5s
👨‍🍼 <2s: Avoid screens except shared activities
👶 2-5s: Try for less than 1hr a day
📱 Choose safe, slow-paced content
🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Lead by example
🛌 Have screen-free areas/times
Glad to have contributed. Parent guidance and research report linked below.

Meta and YouTube Found Negligent in Landmark Social Media Addiction Case

This verdict seemed very likely the moment that TikTok and Snap settled rather than go to trial. A landmark moment for Big Tech www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/t...

UK teenagers to trial social media bans and digital curfews The government will interview the young people and their parents before and after they try the limits to assess their impact.

Hiring! 🙌 Communications and Operations Coordinator to help share mu team's research and support a fast-moving, high-impact group.
Major rebrand ahead + real chance to build things from scratch in an area where there is high media interest ⬇️.
Closes 14 April. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/communi...

UK teenagers to trial social media bans and digital curfews The government will interview the young people and their parents before and after they try the limits to assess their impact.

Glad to see this study is being conducted by @orbenamy.bsky.social to try and get more evidence for policy in this area
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mine are having a nice time as well ☺️

🎉 Congratulations to Georgia Turner on successfully passing her PhD viva!
Her work brought together cognitive neuroscience and social media research using reinforcement learning, network modelling and ML. We’re delighted she’s staying with the Digital Mental Health Group as a Research Associate. 👏

🎉 Congratulations to @georgiaturner.bsky.social for passing her PhD with flying colours today! A meticulous and truly interdisciplinary piece of work.

Thank you also to @lorenzspreen.eurosky.social and Paul Fletcher for acting as examiners 🙌

🚨New pre-print🚨

osf.io/preprints/ps...

What if the relationship between smartphone use and mental health depends not just on specific harmful or beneficial activities, but also on how users transition between activities?

Was lovely having you here Stefano!

Instacart’s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill, CR and Groundwork Collaborative Investigation Finds - Consumer Reports Exclusive: Instacart’s AI pricing may be inflating your grocery bill.

Last year after @orbenamy.bsky.social & I wrote about traffic jams in the science of tech safety, Alan reached out because he'd been seeing something similar.

You might know Alan for his role on the team that exposed Instacart price discrimination in Dec

www.consumerreports.org/money/questi...

Thousands of UK schoolchildren to take part in major study of social media use and teen mental health A trial that will put a daily limit on the social media use of thousands of Bradford teenagers is set to begin this year. It will be the largest study yet to investigate whether use of these online pl...

Professor @orbenamy.bsky.social from @mrccbu.bsky.social will co-lead the world’s first major trial to test whether reducing social media use can improve teen mental health.

Find out more about the IRL Trial: https://bit.ly/4a2FZmB

#socialmedia #research

Oxford University ‘withheld information about harassment claims’ Miles Hewstone, who quit in 2019 but retained his emeritus titles for years, is accused of making unwanted advances towards students and researchers

A new article provides evidence that Miles Hewstone was engaging in sexual harassment/assault at Oxford and other universities for 30 years. More women have bravely come forward to describe his behavior. This is the tip of the iceberg since I know other women.
www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

Oxford University ‘withheld information about harassment claims’ Miles Hewstone, who quit in 2019 but retained his emeritus titles for years, is accused of making unwanted advances towards students and researchers

“We requested information about the case to at least protect attendees of our future events and potentially act against Hewstone, however, Oxford University never provided any information.”

Open Access: archive.is/ue5k8#select...

Paywall: www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

#SocialPsyc #AcademicSky

Very important piece.

"Whether or not OpenAI leaders intend to muddy the waters of science, grantwashing hinders technology safety ... It adds uncertainty and debate in areas where companies want to avoid liability and that uncertainty gives the appearance of science."

We need transparency standards for social media research that involves companies | PNAS We need transparency standards for social media research that involves companies

In the 2020 Election Project, Meta collaborated w/ academics to study how FB impacts elections.
⬇️ @aanixel.bsky.social, @fassiluisa.bsky.social & I argue that such research collaborations, w/ clear conflicts of interest, should be regulated. Would love to hear thoughts!💬
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Curious about how smartphones shape children’s development?

We’re recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher for 3(+2) years for a cutting-edge randomized controlled trial conducted in collaboration with @orbenamy.bsky.social and her team.

iwm-tuebingen.de/en/career/jo...

Social media ~ mental health meta-analysis:

- Cited 7 times
- The 45 included studies appear not to exist
- The authors’ institution appears not to exist
- The journal editors won’t respond

*also*... I heard she is looking for research jobs in mainland Europe, so if you are looking for a postdoc soon, you know who to contact over Christmas!

🥂 Congratulations @fassiluisa.bsky.social for passing her viva!

Luisa has been a hugely respected and influential team member. Her dedication to rigorous and careful research has been evident throughout the four years I have had the privilege of supervising her with @tamsinford.bsky.social.

knowing many directly affected, I personally asked some senior male colleagues to speak out about this during my earlier years as a professor, as i felt too vulnerable due to my stage of career.. it was shocking how much this was 'common knowledge' among women and how few male colleagues knew 😔

Oxford University Has Failed Women Over Harassment Concerns, Staff Say The university has repeatedly been slow to act against male academics accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, a Bloomberg investigation found.

Horror stories of sexual harassment from Oxford University

'Prof Hewstone turned up unannounced & dropped his trousers ... touched women inappropriately ... made comments about relationships with students'

Oxford will do nothing, betcha

Brutal from Bloomberg

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Completely agree Nils; and also extend my thanks to Katherine Griffiths who did such important and careful journalistic work on this issue.

📣 Digital Research Community!

The new UK Adolescent Health Study will follow 100k young people (8–18yrs) for 10+ years. Please share what digital technology measures you think it should include.

Please complete this survey (by 24th November 2025 @ 9AM): cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

My first paper, out in PsychReview!!

Along with @orbenamy.bsky.social, Nik & @jaeggiadrian.bsky.social, @realadamhunt.bsky.social & I revisit an old theoretical question using concepts from evo psychiatry and anthro:

Why do mixed associations exist b/w social media & mental health?

A 🧵

This isn't just a national issue either; it is the single biggest soft power asset we have in a globally degrading information economy.

So glad to see this out! 👏👏👏👏

🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Some people are at greater risk of experiencing negative mental health outcomes of social media use than others, but why?

🧵

We examined whether individual differences in cognitive processes shape risk and resilience to mental health effects on social media: osf.io/preprints/ps...