Beyond Screen Time: Experimental Investigation of Digital Affordances and Adolescent Resilience
Abstract
How can digital environments better support adolescent resilience? This PhD investigates how digital affordances shape social comparison, perceived pressure, emotion regulation and responses to everyday challenges. It connects developmental psychology with the engineering of interactive environments to test the psychological consequences of design choices. Controlled experiments and measures of everyday experience will examine how interfaces support recovery, autonomy and social connection. The project suits a student who can combine psychological insight with programming, digital prototyping and quantitative analysis to build and evaluate experimental environments. Findings will inform digital designs that better support young people's wellbeing.
How to Apply
Please contact Dr Nejra Van Zalk if you are interested in applying for this project.
For more information on submitting a PhD application, please consult our application pages here. When you submit your application, please cite this project title in the 'how you are planning to fund your PhD' section.
The deadline for submitting your application is 11 January 2027.