When, how, and for whom does social media promote social connection and relationship building? When, how, and for whom does social media bring about isolation, anxiety, or loneliness? Is it a case of either-or or both-and?

Rather than thinking of social media as having a singular, unalterable effect on its users, we should ask what role social, geographic, and developmental contexts play in how social media is used.

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media hosted scholars across communication, business, education, psychology, technology, and public health to discuss the context of social media use. The purpose of the discussion was to identify what we know and don’t know about how context influences the way social media is used and its effects on well-being. This event was moderated by RSM Visiting Scholar Jeffrey Hall.

PANELS
1. Adolescents, Schools, Families and Friends (00:00:00-01:30:00)
Carrie James, Linda Charmaraman, Lee Humphreys

2. Online Communities, Remote Workers, and Public Health (01:30:10-02:53:39)
Connie Hadley, Diane B. Francis, Nancy Baym

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The Institute for Rebooting Social Media (RSM) is a three-year, “pop-up” research initiative at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center to accelerate progress towards addressing social media’s most urgent problems, including misinformation, privacy breaches, harassment, and content governance. By convening participants across industry, government, civil society, and academia in focused, time-bound collaboration, the Institute has a portfolio of research, projects, programming, and educational opportunities aimed at improving the state of digital social spaces. Learn more about RSM here: https://rebootingsocialmedia.org/

Be sure to also check out the brand new Applied Social Media Lab (ASML),
which gives industry-trained technologists the freedom to build social media solutions that center the public interest. Learn more about ASML and our open jobs here: https://asml.cyber.harvard.edu/

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