Written by Anupriya Dasgupta, answers by Catharina Schoppmann
As part of a new series on our science communication blog, we asked some Behavioural Science Research Master’s students about their major thesis projects. Catharina Schoppmann is a second-year student working with the Social Development group on a project investigating the relationship between Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and time spent scrolling on social media. Here’s what we learnt.
What is your project and how and where does it fit into the larger discipline of behavioural science?
I’m looking at the relationship between Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) symptoms, time spent scrolling on apps like TikTok or Instagram, and the emotional effects of the online content. We asked Dutch adolescents to track their time spent on social media, assessed possible ADHD symptoms, and also had them indicate how they perceived the emotional intensity, or content valence, of the content they consumed in a day. We want to find out whether there generally is a difference in scrolling time depending on how much emotion the content is rousing, whether increased ADHD symptoms are connected to increased scrolling time, and whether ADHD symptoms influence the relationship between content valence and scrolling time. In the grand scheme of things, the goal is to shed light onto what could contribute to increased scrolling behavior, and in which way personal characteristics can influence this relationship. That could help to identify risk factors to look out for in people who may spend too much time on social media, especially adolescents with ADHD symptoms.
How would you explain the relevance of your study to someone unfamiliar with the technical details?
Many of our current social media apps keep us hooked by giving us small feelings of reward with every scroll; just enough to keep us engaged. However, there still might be individual differences in social media behavior. Some people might be more prone to extended scrolling, and some people might stop earlier. Our study is trying to find out what characteristics may contribute to how long one may stay on their phone. Past research has predominantly focused on doomscrolling, but social media doesn’t only offer negative content. Maybe positively perceived content will keep users engaged for even longer!
This study is focusing on adolescents specifically, as they are in a particularly vulnerable phase of their lives: they are developing socially, psychologically, and neurobiologically. This increased susceptibility to environmental influences might put them at risk of diminished mental well-being through excessive scrolling. The presence of ADHD symptoms may exacerbate this effect even further, as many apps use mechanisms that play on specific struggles someone with ADHD might experience: increased reward sensitivity and difficulty with behavior regulation.
Give us a bit of background into your study and how it has developed to this stage.
Initially, I was interested in the phenomenon of doomscrolling and how it relates to ADHD. My theory was that the reward sensitivity, i.e. how strongly you perceive and seek out pleasure-inducing outcomes, and decreased behavioral regulation skills that come with ADHD, can contribute to exacerbated doomscrolling. However, doomscrolling in a scientific sense only relates to negative content spirals (rant videos, negative news, etc.). My supervisor Leentje and I are both people who usually mostly get stuck in positive and entertaining scrolling cycles (memes, art videos, etc.), so we asked ourselves if there is a distinction in the effects of negative or positive content. My second supervisor Loes was already working on Project SOCIAL (a study assessing adolescents’ social media use and its implications on social relationships) and gave me the opportunity to add some measures to answer my research questions.
Why did you choose this project?
Social media and the psychology behind it has always fascinated me. I have ADHD myself, and I also feel that sometimes it’s so difficult to stop scrolling through videos, because it spoon-feeds me the dopamine I often lack. It basically feels like eating chips or sweets when you’re hungry: in the moment, you might enjoy it, but it’s not sustaining you in the long run, and you end up even hungrier. However, I rarely experience getting sucked into negative content loops, while others in my surroundings do, so I wanted to find out how these elements seem to interact with each other.
Who are you working with and what have you learnt so far about collaborating on a project like this?
I’m working with Leentje Vervoort as my first, and Loes Pouwels as my second supervisor. It has been a very rewarding but also challenging process thus far. The biggest thing I learned is to trust my own abilities. Sometimes I underestimate what I’m actually capable of and end up selling myself short or thinking I’m not able to do something well. Usually, that’s statistics-related. Leentje and Loes are really good at reminding me that my ideas matter and that they are worth being pursued.
What are some scientific insights you’ve gathered so far that have surprised you or taught you something new or interesting?
One of the most interesting things was to read that quite some studies found that pre-existing ADHD symptoms exacerbate after long periods of screentime. One study even found that the increased symptom severity lasted up to one year after excessive screen use in adolescents with ADHD! Another interesting fact was that doomscrolling usually is rooted in the desire to relieve uncertainty about something anxiety-inducing. It then backfires when the user can’t find the information that actually relieves this anxiety, so they keep looking further and further. A good example is the COVID-19 pandemic. In the beginning especially, people might have wanted to find out more about the virus, but were met with a news landscape filled with uncertainty, wrong information, or tragic headlines. So, they unknowingly kept digging for more and got stuck in a cycle.
Do a quick elevator pitch on why projects like yours should keep getting funded! 🙂
Social media is an irretrievable part of our modern world, and we need to better understand its implications and effects in order to help and protect adolescents’ well-being. In my opinion, educating them on safe social media use can be far more sustainable than simply forbidding them to use it.
What has been your favourite part of the project?
My favorite part is the meetings with my supervisors in which we want to discuss something important, but we keep getting side-tracked by about 59 different research ideas or other things. For example, Leentje and I have had extensive discussions about how adorable whale sharks are, and I really appreciate that!