SOCIAL MEDIA

Why guys who post a lot on social media are seen as less manly. For better or worse, much of life is categorized along gendered lines: Clothing stores have sections for men and women, certain foods are considered more manly or more feminine, and even drinks can take on a gendered sheen (“manmosa,” anyone?). Our newly published research finds that even social media is a canvas for rigid gender stereotyping. Specifically, we show that men who post often on social media are seen as feminine, a phenomenon we refer to as the “frequent-posting femininity stereotype.” We observed this bias in four experiments featuring over 1,300 respondents from the U.S. and U.K. To post is to be seen as unmanly As consumer behavior researchers, we have long been interested in the contradictions, peculiariti...

What is Discord? An internet researcher explains the social media platform at the center of Pentagon leak of top-secret intelligence. The Justice Department on April 14, 2023, charged Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member, with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. Media reports suggest that Teixeira didn’t intend to leak the documents widely but rather shared them on a closed Discord community focused on playing war games. Some of the documents were then shared to another Discord community with a larger following and became widely disseminated from there. So what is Discord and should you worry about what people are encountering there? Ever since...

Social Media Isn’t the Main Reason Teens Are Depressed. Politicians and media are in their latest wave of ascribing young people’s mental health problems to anything but their real source: dysfunctional adults. The “dangers” of social media lend themselves to alarmist headlines, especially when there are high-profile cases of abuse or violence with a social media component. That’s why many commentators, advocates, and Congress members are simply blaming teens for their increased stresses and advancing proposals to ban persons under age 16 from social media like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Like many policy efforts when it comes to youth, this misses the mark and ignores the real crises afflicting teenagers. The real crises the most troubled teens face involve their parents’ rising...