Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies

Challenges of unrestricted assignment-based examinations (ABE) and restricted open-book examinations (OBE) during COVID-19 pandemic in India: An experimental comparison
Shakeel A, Shazli T, Salman MS, Naqvi HR, Ahmad N and Ali N
COVID-19 pandemic has affected every sphere of life specially the education sector observing a paradigm shift in the nature of pedagogy from offline face-to-face to online-virtual mode of learning. The biggest challenge in online-learning was the conduction of online examination for student's assessment specially in Indian context where digital divide is rampant. Thus, present study examines and compares the challenges faced by the students in two most widely accepted modes of examination by Indian universities and institutes of higher learning, that is, take home/unrestricted/assignment-based examination (ABE) and highly time restricted/open-book examination (OBE). Primary data was collected through questionnaires prepared by using Google forms to measure adaptability, satisfaction, and challenges using 5-point Likert's scale. Cronbach's test was performed on question items to check the reliability and internal consistency of the items. test has been applied in order to check whether there is a statistically significant relationship between the gender and place of residence in the acceptability of ABE and OBE. The findings suggest that both modes of examination have their own challenges largely governed by the digital and economic divide. The acceptance level of ABE and OBE is not associated with gender. However, we found the level of acceptance association of ABE with the place of residence of the students but not with OBE.
Understanding the emotional response to COVID-19 information in news and social media: A mental health perspective
Jones R, Mougouei D and Evans SL
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing social restrictions has been profound, affecting the health, livelihoods, and wellbeing of populations worldwide. Studies have shown widespread effects on mental health, with an increase in stress, loneliness, and depression symptoms related to the pandemic. Media plays a critical role in containing and managing crises, by informing society and fostering positive behavior change. Social restrictions have led to a large increase in reliance on online media channels, and this can influence mental health and wellbeing. Anxiety levels, for instance, may be exacerbated by exposure to COVID-related content, contagion of negative sentiment among social networks, and "fake news." In some cases, this may trigger abstinence, leading to isolation and limited access to vital information. To be able to communicate distressing news during crises while protecting the wellbeing of individuals is not trivial; it requires a deeper understanding of people's emotional response to online and social media content. This paper selectively reviews research into consequences of social media usage and online news consumption for wellbeing and mental health, focusing on and discussing their effects in the context of the pandemic. Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, for example, Natural Language Processing, Sentiment Analysis, and Emotion Recognition, are discussed as useful methods for investigating effects on population mental health as the pandemic situation evolves. We present suggestions for future research, and for using these advances to assess large data sets of users' online content, to potentially inform strategies that enhance the mental health of social media users going forward.
Challenges of online teaching during COVID-19: An exploratory factor analysis
Siddiquei MI and Kathpal S
COVID-19 has forced academic institutions around the world to shift toward the digital platform for teaching. The study aimed to find a possible model to understand the challenges of online teaching from home. Literature review and expert opinion identified the issues related to students, institutions, instructors, technology, and content, and based on the expert's opinion, the motivation construct was added. To obtain the data faculty members of different universities of North India were approached and requested to fill a self-administered questionnaire. This data was analyzed for its reliability and validity. Finally, the factor loading of all the items was analyzed to determine the scale appropriability.
Utility of telemedicine in sub-Saharan Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. A rapid review
Chitungo I, Mhango M, Mbunge E, Dzobo M, Musuka G and Dzinamarira T
Telemedicine is the use of technology to achieve remote care. This review looks at the utility of telemedicine during the pandemic, period March 2020 to February 2021. Eleven articles met inclusion criteria. There was moderate use of telemedicine in sub-Sahara Africa during the pandemic, however, there were also some limitations. Benefits of telemedicine include continuing medical service provision, connecting relatives with loved ones in quarantine, education, and awareness of mental health issues, and toxicovigilance and infection control. Challenges to the implementation of telemedicine on the continent were lack of supporting telemedicine framework and policies, digital barriers, and patient and healthcare personnel biases. To address these challenges, this article proposes the development of policy frameworks that fosters telemedicine use by all stakeholders, including medical insurance organizations, the introduction of telemedicine training of medical workers, educational awareness programs for the public, and improvement of digital platforms access and affordability.
Anxiety sensitivity mediates relations between anxiety (but not depression) and problematic smartphone use severity, adjusting for age and sex, in Chinese adolescents early in the COVID-19 pandemic
Hallauer CJ, Rooney EA, Yang H, Meng Q, Montag C and Elhai JD
Risk factors for problematic smartphone use (PSU) have rapidly become an important area of research due to the prevalence of smartphones and functional impairment associated with PSU. Our aim was to examine relations between established predictors of PSU (depression and anxiety) and a potential mediator of PSU (anxiety sensitivity; AS). Participants ( = 4752) from junior and senior high schools in Tianjin, China completed a web-based survey with measures of depression, anxiety, AS, and PSU. Descriptive and inferential analyses revealed significant differences between males and females on depression severity, and between junior and senior high school students on AS and PSU severity. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that anxiety was positively associated with AS when adjusting for depression; and AS was significantly associated with greater PSU severity, adjusting for age and sex. Additionally, AS mediated relations between anxiety and PSU severity. Current findings on AS are consistent with theoretical models of problematic internet use (Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution) and previous research linking AS to other kinds of behavioral addictions (e.g., smoking, alcohol use).
Ethics for integrating emerging technologies to contain COVID-19 in Zimbabwe
Mbunge E, Fashoto SG, Akinnuwesi B, Metfula A, Simelane S and Ndumiso N
Zimbabwe is among the countries affected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and implemented several infection control and measures such as social distancing, contact tracing, regular temperature checking in strategic entry and exit points, face masking among others. The country also implemented recursive national lockdowns and curfews to reduce the virus transmission rate and its catastrophic impact. These large-scale measures are not easy to implement, adhere to and subsequently difficult to practice and maintain which lead to imperfect public compliance, especially if there is a significant impact on social and political norms, economy, and psychological wellbeing of the affected population. Also, emerging COVID-19 variants, porous borders, regular movement of informal traders and sale of fake vaccination certificates continue to threaten impressive progress made towards virus containment. Therefore, several emerging technologies have been adopted to strengthen the health system and health services delivery, improve compliance, adherence and maintain social distancing. These technologies use health data, symptoms monitoring, mobility, location and proximity data for contact tracing, self-isolation, and quarantine compliance. However, the use of emerging technologies has been debatable and contentious because of the potential violation of ethical values such as security and privacy, data format and management, synchronization, over-tracking, over-surveillance and lack of proper development and implementation guidelines which impact their efficacy, adoption and ultimately influence public trust. Therefore, the study proposes ethical framework for using emerging technologies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework is centered on ethical practices such as security, privacy, justice, human dignity, autonomy, solidarity, beneficence, and non-maleficence.
Prevalence and Predictors of Children's Persistent Screen Time Requests: A National Sample of Parents
Domoff SE, Borgen AL, Kim SJ and Emond JA
Child screen media use may cause family conflict, and risk factors for such conflict are not well characterized. This study examined risk factors of persistent requesting to use screen media among preschool-age children, focusing on parent-reported characteristics of parent and child screen media use. Data was collected through an online survey completed in 2017 by a nationally recruited sample of 383 parents of 2-5-year-old children. Parents reported on their child's and their own screen media use, household/sociodemographic measures, and child requests to use screen media. Persistent requesting was defined as exhibiting "bothersome" or "very bothersome" behaviors to use screen media. Poisson regression with robust standard errors computed the prevalence risk ratio of persistent requests on parent and child screen media use characteristics, adjusted for household and sociodemographic characteristics. Overall, based on parents' reports, 28.7% of children exhibited persistent requesting, which was often accompanied by whining, crying, gesturing, or physically taking a device. In an adjusted regression model, higher amounts of parental time spent using social media, but not parental time spent using other screen media, was associated with a greater prevalence of children's persistent requests. In latter models, children's use of smartphones and engagement with online videos were independently related to persistent requests. Across all models, children's total quantity of screen media use was unrelated to persistent requests. Practitioners advising families on managing conflict around child screen media use should consider characteristics of both child and parent screen media use.
Do Young Children of the "Selfie Generation" Understand Digital Photos as Representations?
Johnson CR, Flores I and Troseth GL
In research from the 1990s, very young children failed to use pictures as representations of real events. Today, many children in the "selfie generation" are constantly photographed by their families using smartphones. While family photos are created, children are exposed to live video on the phone screen that, with a screen touch, becomes an instant photo. Children also revisit these family photos in the phone's photo library. This study explored whether toddlers growing up around smartphone photography are more successful in applying information from a photo to a real event, compared to children in the earlier research. Sixty 2-year-old children (23.0 to 26.2 months; = 24.5 months) were asked to use pictures of a toy's hiding place (printed photographs or digital photos on an iPhone) to search for the hidden toy in 5 conditions. Toddlers were not successful with printed or digital images, whether the digital photos were accessed from the phone photo library or the researcher took the photos during the study. However, after children collaborated with the researcher to create digital photos to help an adult confederate, they were significantly more likely to use photos themselves to solve the search task. Children who experienced this scaffolding with printed photos were somewhat more successful than those without training. As with traditional symbolic media, young children's learning from emerging technologies needs the support of an adult who co-views the medium and helps clarify the symbolic relation between screen and world.
Mobile learning acceptance in social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak: The mediation effect of hedonic motivation
Sitar-Tăut DA
M-learning is a trending field in educational organizations, companies, and also for individual study. However, in some regions the ampleness of the phenomenon is not quantifiable or comparable due to the lack of an adequate framework and reliable metrics. Our research intends to make a little light by assessing the degree of m-learning adoption in students at a moment when face-to-face education moved suddenly online due to the COVID-19 outbreak's rapid and unpredictable spread. A new model relying on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was built to investigate and explain relationships between constructs. It reveals the key factors affecting technology adoption by considering hedonic motivation a mediator instead of an exogenous variable as in UTAUT2. Based on an analysis of 311 higher education learners, the way how performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions influence directly or indirectly the behavioral intention is researched. The analysis was conducted employing partial least squares structural equation modeling. The strongest relationship is between hedonic motivation and behavioral intention followed by the one between perceived effectiveness and hedonic motivation. Age, gender, and experience moderate the model's relationships. Research contributes to theory development by successfully adjusting the original UTAUT model. Results indicate that universities may offer learners an enjoyable m-learning experience by activating social support groups and inserting gameplay elements into the learning system.
COVID-19 information fatigue? A case study of a German university website during two waves of the pandemic
Skulmowski A and Standl B
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the ubiquity of health-related information, disseminated using digital technology. However, recent research suggests that this accessibility of (often negative) information can induce adverse psychological effects, including anxiety, panic-based hoarding, and other unhealthy behaviors. Some of these consequences have been explained with the idea of an information overload. Considering these current developments, it may become harder to effectively communicate COVID-19-related information in smaller, local contexts, such as universities. By analyzing the page views and searches on the website of a university of education in Germany, we derive recommendations for the delivery of information of local organizations. One conclusion is that the need for information during the pandemic decreases as time passes (at least at the local level of institutions such as universities), and even new emergencies such as the beginning of the second wave of COVID-19 only affect this behavioral pattern to a minor extent. As a result of this COVID-19 information fatigue, strategies to keep members of institutions informed are discussed. In addition, we suggest developing a mobile app for delivering individualized information right on hand using machine learning and natural language processing strategies. In sum, individual organizations interested in keeping their members informed concerning COVID-19 should consider the use of personalized information strategies that avoid inducing negative emotional states. Moreover, potentials for connecting people using digital technology could be harnessed in local organizations.
Visualizing pathogens: Disfluent shapes of pathogens increase their perceived complexity and danger while realism and disfluency boost the credibility of visualizations
Skulmowski A and Rey GD
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the public was regularly presented with visualizations of the viral pathogen causing this disease. Since there are several ways of visually communicating information, we investigate whether different types of visualizations affect how viewers judge the credibility of information as well as the complexity and potential harm of pathogens. A first experiment was conducted to assess whether a round, fluent shape elicits a different response than pathogens featuring disfluent components such as thread-like appendages. Visualizations of disfluent bacteria were rated as more credible than those of fluent bacteria. In Experiment 2, bacteria were either presented as realistic renderings or as cartoon-like line drawings (varied between-subjects). Furthermore, half of the six bacteria had fluent shapes, while the other half featured disfluent shapes, resulting in the within-subjects factor of fluency. Participants were asked to rate the credibility, complexity, and risk of serious illness associated with these bacteria. We found that disfluent bacteria were perceived as having a more complex metabolism and as holding a higher risk for serious illness. Furthermore, realism and disfluent shapes increase the credibility of visualizations, but not the credibility of additional information. These results have important implications for the field of science communication.
Health anxiety related to problematic smartphone use and gaming disorder severity during COVID-19: Fear of missing out as a mediator
Elhai JD, McKay D, Yang H, Minaya C, Montag C and Asmundson GJG
Health anxiety has been linked with fear and anxiety regarding COVID-19. Higher levels of health anxiety likely increased social distancing and self-isolating during the pandemic. We investigated relations among health anxiety, fear of missing out (FOMO) on rewarding social experiences from social distancing, and consequential levels of problematic smartphone use (PSU) and gaming disorder (GD). We surveyed a broad sample of 812 U.S. and Canadian participants during the pandemic, in late-May 2020, using the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, FOMO Scale, Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version, and GD test. Significant bivariate relationships were found among health anxiety, FOMO, PSU, and GD severity. Using structural equation modeling, FOMO mediated relations between health anxiety and both PSU and GD severity. We discuss FOMO as an important variable explaining problematic digital technology use to compensate for unmet social needs from social distancing. We discuss these findings within the context of the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution theoretical model of problematic internet use. Results offer novel insight into the role of health anxiety on FOMO from unmet social needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and consequential problematic internet use.
The current state and impact of Covid-19 on digital higher education in Germany
Zawacki-Richter O
This case study looks at the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on teaching and learning at universities in Germany. It examines the question of whether the current practice of in the online term 2020 will lead to an acceleration of the digitalization of teaching and learning, and on what we can build upon in this development. In the light of the state of digital higher education in Germany and international experience in the field of distance education, as well as organizational support structures, the results of a longitudinal study on the media use behavior of students will be presented. While the acceptance of e-learning tools was slightly declining before the Covid-19 outbreak, it is to be assumed that the demand for digital offers will rather increase. Despite some reluctant reactions, it can be assumed that the current situation will have a positive effect on digital innovations in university teaching in Germany due to the pressure of the crisis, the great commitment of many teachers, and raised expectations.
Cyberchondria in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic
Starcevic V, Schimmenti A, Billieux J and Berle D
Cyberchondria is an excessive or repeated online health information seeking that is associated with increasing levels of health anxiety or distress. This article presents a model of cyberchondria during public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The factors that contribute to cyberchondria at this time include (a) a heightened perception of threat and fear of a newly identified and poorly understood disease; (b) difficulty in coping with uncertainty associated with the pandemic; (c) lack of authoritative and trustworthy sources of relevant health information; (d) difficulty in coping with abundance of information that is often confusing, conflicting, unverified and constantly updated, along with a decreased ability to filter out unnecessary information; and (e) inability of excessive online health information seeking to provide the necessary information and deliver reassurance. These factors amplify fear and distress, which increases the perception of threat and uncertainty and perpetuates further online health searches. Cyberchondria has significant public health implications because of the associated distress or functional impairment and effects on health behaviors. Cyberchondria should be addressed by targeting a heightened perception of threat, improving management of uncertainty and online health information and promoting an ability to critically appraise the results of online health searches. This should contribute to a better online health information literacy. The model of cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic explains the hypothesized rise in cyberchondria during public health emergencies and helps to formulate a framework for prevention of cyberchondria and its effective management.
How humans behave with emerging technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Yan Z, Gaspar R and Zhu T
COVID-19 shifts mortality salience, activities, and values in the United States: Big data analysis of online adaptation
Evers NFG, Greenfield PM and Evers GW
What is the effect of a life-threatening pandemic at the societal level? An expanded Theory of Social Change, Cultural Evolution, and Human Development predicts that, during a period of increasing survival threat and decreasing prosperity, humans will shift toward the psychology and behavior typical of the small-scale, collectivistic, and rural subsistence ecologies in which we evolved. In particular, subjective mortality salience, engagement in subsistence activities, and collectivism will all increase, while the aspiration to be wealthy will decrease. Because coronavirus has forced unprecedented proportions of human activity online, we tested hypotheses derived from the theory by analyzing big data samples for 70 days before and 70 days after the coronavirus pandemic stimulated President Trump to declare a national emergency. Google searches were used for an exploratory study; the exploratory study was followed by three independent replications on Twitter, internet forums, and blogs. Across all four internet platforms, terms related to subjective mortality salience, engagement in subsistence activities, and collectivism showed massive increases. These findings, coupled with prior research testing this theory, indicate that humans may have an evolutionarily conditioned response to the level of death and availability of material resources in society. More specifically, humans may shift their behavior and psychology toward that found in subsistence ecologies under conditions of high mortality and low prosperity or, conversely, toward behavior and psychology found in modern commercial ecologies under conditions of low mortality and high prosperity.
Revisiting sustainable development Goal 4 in the context of COVID-19 Pandemic: A case study of online teaching in Algerian higher education institutions
Hadjeris F
The unanticipated transition from traditional/on-campus to distance learning has not only posed challenges in different contexts at the global level, but it also caused disparity in terms of access to education. As a mandate, Goal 4 of Sustainable Development Goals states that by 2030 all member states should work to "" (UNESCO, 2015). In practice, however, the responses of different international education institutions during the Covid-19 confinement indicate that the achievement of this equity plan at the global level is rather unfeasible. To address this issue from a local lens, this study seeks to examine the plan implemented for online teaching in the Algerian higher education institutions. It draws on a key body of literature on online infrastructure and pedagogy to explore (1) the different online teaching models that were implemented, (2) Algerian higher education teachers' practices within the framework of this new model of teaching, and (3) the different challenges encountered by teachers during this transition. To achieve this end, a qualitative study that is based on an analysis of teachers' interviews is conducted to explore teachers' practices in different higher education institutions in Algeria. The results of this research will not only highlight the prevailing disparities, but will also serve to offer recommendations that could be relevant to future teachers' professional development programs.
COVID-19 and technology use by teenagers: A case study
Yan S
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on regular life across the world has changed teenagers' use of technology. Through this case study, the author analyzed, reported, and reflected on personal experience of a shift in technology use during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are two parts of this case study. The first part highlights the new technology used in five inside-of-school activities, including classroom learning, group projects, dance tutorials, environmental club, and affinity group. The second part describes six outside-of-school actions that utilized technology, such as homework assignments, online test preparation, virtual workouts, listening to music, picking up hobbies, and interacting with peers. Based on the reflections on the author's first-hand experiences, adjustments at the personal, school, and society level are discussed.
Pandemics and infodemics: Research on the effects of misinformation on memory
Greenspan RL and Loftus EF
On social media and in everyday life, people are often exposed to misinformation. Decades of research have shown that exposure to misinformation can have significant impacts on people's thoughts, actions, and memories. During global pandemics like COVID-19, people are likely exposed to heightened quantities of misinformation as they search for and are exposed to copious amounts of information about the disease and its effects. This media environment, with an abundance of both accurate and inaccurate information, is often called an "infodemic." In the current essay, we discuss the consequences of exposure to misinformation during this infodemic, particularly in the domain of memory. We review existing research demonstrating how inaccurate, postevent information impacts a person's memory for a previously witnessed event. We discuss various factors that strengthen the impact of misinformation, including repetition and whether the misinformation is consistent with people's pre-existing attitudes or beliefs. We conclude by describing how social media companies and individual users can help prevent the spread of misinformation and the ways in which cognitive science research can inform these approaches.
A critical review of emerging technologies for tackling COVID-19 pandemic
Mbunge E, Akinnuwesi B, Fashoto SG, Metfula AS and Mashwama P
COVID-19 pandemic affects people in various ways and continues to spread globally. Researches are ongoing to develop vaccines and traditional methods of Medicine and Biology have been applied in diagnosis and treatment. Though there are success stories of recovered cases as of November 10, 2020, there are no approved treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. As the pandemic continues to spread, current measures rely on prevention, surveillance, and containment. In light of this, emerging technologies for tackling COVID-19 become inevitable. Emerging technologies including geospatial technology, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, telemedicine, blockchain, 5G technology, smart applications, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), robotics, and additive manufacturing are substantially important for COVID-19 detecting, monitoring, diagnosing, screening, surveillance, mapping, tracking, and creating awareness. Therefore, this study aimed at providing a comprehensive review of these technologies for tackling COVID-19 with emphasis on the features, challenges, and country of domiciliation. Our results show that performance of the emerging technologies is not yet stable due to nonavailability of enough COVID-19 dataset, inconsistency in some of the dataset available, nonaggregation of the dataset due to contrasting data format, missing data, and noise. Moreover, the security and privacy of people's health information is not totally guaranteed. Thus, further research is required to strengthen the current technologies and there is a strong need for the emergence of a robust computationally intelligent model for early differential diagnosis of COVID-19.
Socio-educational implications of technology use during COVID-19: A case study in General Santos City, Philippines
Toquero CMD and Talidong KJB
Digital technology has served people for educative purposes and formation of virtual social connections for the co-existence of human relationships amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents the socio-educational implications of the newly-formed virtual relations made possible through technology. It explores the use of emerging technologies and the effect of these technologies to fulfill the social and educational needs of the stakeholders in times of a crisis or emergency. The use of emerging technologies paved the way for the stakeholders to establish virtual relationships with a common goal to rid quarantine boredom, provide relief efforts, and educate the virtual community relative to COVID-19 while maintaining a safe environment. The authors recommend for an empirical research on the newly-existing online group relationships and how these virtual relationships and emerging technologies can affect social relations and human learning behaviors.
Interactional theory of childhood problematic media use
Domoff SE, Borgen AL and Radesky JS
The growth of mobile device access and ownership has yielded many opportunities and challenges for raising healthy digital media consumers. As adoption of mobile and internet-connected devices has increased among children, concerns for healthy child development have been expressed regarding excessive or problematic use. Although much theoretical and empirical work has been conducted evaluating adolescents' and adults' risks for dependence on various screen media (e.g., Gaming Disorder, Internet Addiction), little theoretical consideration has been expounded regarding the etiology and maintenance of problematic media use earlier in childhood (i.e., under age 12 years). The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework through which to investigate problematic media use in early childhood. Our theory, the Interactional Theory of Childhood Problematic Media Use (IT-CPU) merges developmental and clinical psychology theories, with communication and human-computer interaction perspectives. We outline distal and proximal factors that we hypothesize contribute to the development of problematic media use in childhood, and emphasize maintaining factors that could be targets for intervention. Finally, we provide recommendations for an interdisciplinary research agenda to test our proposed theory and inform experimental trials to prevent and treat childhood problematic media use.
COVID-19 as an accelerator for digitalization at a German university: Establishing hybrid campuses in times of crisis
Skulmowski A and Rey GD
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, teaching in universities needed to be quickly transitioned from regular on-campus classes into technology-enhanced teaching formats. In this article, we present the case study of Chemnitz University of Technology (Germany), where digital classes were introduced in a matter of weeks. By analyzing syllabus data, we found that the use of video and video conferencing is an important current development. Related to these findings, we present evidence from instructional psychology and social media research that can help in the design of teaching during this crisis. We highlight the need for multimodal learning, that is, learning settings that use multiple sensory modalities. Importantly, we present a strategy of for this and potential future emergencies. This approach describes how the social distancing measures currently in effect can be used to re-think higher education based on a reasonable use of technology. Taken together, the COVID-19 crisis can be a time of major reform in higher education that will accelerate the process of digitalization in an unprecedented way.
Political polarization drives online conversations about COVID-19 in the United States
Jiang J, Chen E, Yan S, Lerman K and Ferrara E
Since the outbreak in China in late 2019, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread around the world and has come to dominate online conversations. By linking 2.3 million Twitter users to locations within the United States, we study in aggregate how political characteristics of the locations affect the evolution of online discussions about COVID-19. We show that COVID-19 chatter in the United States is largely shaped by political polarization. Partisanship correlates with sentiment toward government measures and the tendency to share health and prevention messaging. Cross-ideological interactions are modulated by user segregation and polarized network structure. We also observe a correlation between user engagement with topics related to public health and the varying impact of the disease outbreak in different U.S. states. These findings may help inform policies both online and offline. Decision-makers may calibrate their use of online platforms to measure the effectiveness of public health campaigns, and to monitor the reception of national and state-level policies, by tracking in real-time discussions in a highly polarized social media ecosystem.
Unprecedented pandemic, unprecedented shift, and unprecedented opportunity
Yan Z
COVID-19 and online teaching in higher education: A case study of Peking University
Bao W
Starting from the spring of 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 caused Chinese universities to close the campuses and forced them to initiate online teaching. This paper focuses on a case of Peking University's online education. Six specific instructional strategies are presented to summarize current online teaching experiences for university instructors who might conduct online education in similar circumstances. The study concludes with five high-impact principles for online education: (a) high relevance between online instructional design and student learning, (b) effective delivery on online instructional information, (c) adequate support provided by faculty and teaching assistants to students; (d) high-quality participation to improve the breadth and depth of student's learning, and (e) contingency plan to deal with unexpected incidents of online education platforms.
A latent class analysis of adolescents' technology and interactive social media use: Associations with academics and substance use
Tang S and Patrick ME
Latent class analysis was used to identify patterns of technology and social media use among adolescents in a national study ( = 26,348). Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between latent classes and academics and substance use. Results demonstrated four classes: (55%), (21%), (14%), and (10%). Compared to , and had lower grades and higher alcohol and marijuana use. had lower grades and participated in fewer extracurricular activities compared to , but there were no differences on substance use. Results show that adolescents with the most media-intensive profiles were also at greater risk for poor academic outcomes and substance use.
Human enhancement through the lens of experimental and speculative neurotechnologies
Teunisse W, Youssef S and Schmidt M
Human enhancement deals with improving on and overcoming limitations of the human body and mind. Pharmaceutical compounds that alter consciousness and cognitive performance have been used and discussed for a long time. The prospect of neurotechnological applications such as brain-steered devices or using invasive and noninvasive electromagnetic stimulations of the human brain, however, has received less attention-especially outside of therapeutic practices-and remains relatively unexplored. Reflection and debates about neurotechnology for human enhancement are limited and remain predominantly with neurotech engineers, science-fiction enthusiasts and a small circle of academics in the field of neuroethics. It is well known, and described as the Collingridge dilemma, that at an early stage of development, changes can easily be enacted, but the need for changes can hardly be foreseen. Once the technology is entrenched, opportunities and risks start to materialize, and the need to adapt and change is clearly visible. However, carrying out these changes at such a late stage, in turn, becomes very difficult, tremendously expensive, and sometimes practically impossible. In this manuscript, we compile and categorize an overview of existing experimental and speculative applications of neurotechnologies, with the aim to find out, if these real or diegetic prototypes could be used to better understand the paths these applications are forging. In particular, we will investigate what kind of tools, motivations, and normative goals underpin experimental implementations by neurohackers, speculative designers and artists.
Impact of adolescent media multitasking on cognition and driving safety
Stavrinos D, McManus B, Underhill AT and Lechtreck MT
Adolescence is a critical period in brain development particularly in regions related to attention and executive function (EF). As the use of electronics and media in daily activities increases, one essential question is how adolescent attention development and related executive and speed processes are impacted by media multitasking (MM), or the simultaneous use of media (e.g., text messaging while watching television). This review examines current literature concerning (a) the prevalence of MM during adolescence; (b) relations between MM and adolescent cognitive development, specifically attention, speed of processing, and EF; and (c) real-world implications of MM including adolescents and driver distraction. Finally, future challenges and opportunities in MM research are explored with special attention given to overcoming the limitations of current research in this area and the critical need to advance our understanding of the impact of MM on adolescent driver safety.
How Differing Audiences Were Associated with User Emotional Expression on a Well-Being App
Topitzer M, Kou Y, Kasumba R and Kreniske P
In the last five years there has been an explosion of mobile apps that aim to impact emotional well-being, yet limited research has examined the ways that users interact, and specifically write to develop a therapeutic alliance within these apps. Writing is a developmental practice in which a narrator transforms amorphous thoughts and emotions into expressions, and according to narrative theory, the linguistic characteristics of writing can be understood as a physical manifestation of a narrator's affect. Informed by literacy theorists who have argued convincingly that narrators address different audiences in different ways, we used IBM Watson's Natural Language Processing software (IBM Watson NLP) to examine how users' expression of emotion on a well-being app differed depending on the audience. Our findings demonstrate that audience was strongly associated with the way users' expressed emotions in writing. When writing to an explicit audience users wrote longer narratives, with less sadness, less anger, less disgust, less fear and more joy. These findings have direct relevance for researchers and well-being app design.