Our work sits at the intersection of developmental psychology, digital media, and mental health. We focus on how problematic patterns of social media and gaming develop, who is at risk, and what role emotional problems, ADHD symptoms, and individual differences play — both as predictors and as outcomes. To answer these questions we use a range of methods: qualitative interviews, longitudinal cohort data, laboratory tasks, and intensive smartphone-based tracking. These six interconnected studies are our way of building a nuanced picture and contributing to youths' development and well-being in a digital world.
Focus group interviews with teenagers in Dutch secondary schools — in their own words, about effects, mechanisms, and their need for change.
Tracking 645 Dutch adolescents over two years to determine the temporal direction of associations between emotional problems and problematic use.
A laboratory study testing whether inhibitory control, reward sensitivity, and time perception explain the ADHD–digital media link.
An experimental study investigating whether sexualised social media content activates pornography-related urges, and whether meaningful content attenuates these effects.
A two-week smartphone study capturing how social media use and emotional states interact, moment to moment, in adolescents' and young adults' daily lives.
A five-wave study of 1830 Dutch adolescents tracking bidirectional associations between depression, anxiety, and self-perceived addiction over one year.