Thursday, April 21, 2022

Library tech access study

 The American Library Association released a report last week underlining the role of libraries in expanding digital equity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Libraries have played an increasingly central role in expanding access to emerging technology, as well as in digital literacy programming efforts with local partnership. This role was made even more important during the pandemic, when patrons were forced to adapt to jarring new realities. The report explores the efforts of libraries to understand and combat the digital divide. (from report abstract).

Bryne, A., & Visser, M. (2021). Keeping communities connected: Library broadband services during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2021). American Library Association.
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/telecom/broadband/Keeping_Communities_Connected_030722.pdf

Monday, April 4, 2022

Teen Social Media Use Study

 A cross-sectional study in the United Kingdom has revealed an association between social media use and lower life satisfaction among children and adolescents aged 10-21 years. "Cross-sectional relationship between self-reported estimates of social media use and life satisfaction ratings is most negative in younger adolescents. Furthermore, sex differences in this relationship are only present during this time. Longitudinal analyses of 17,409 participants (10–21 years old) suggest distinct developmental windows of sensitivity to social media in adolescence, when higher estimated social media use predicts a decrease in life satisfaction ratings one year later (and vice-versa: lower estimated social media use predicts an increase in life satisfaction ratings). These windows occur at different ages for males (14–15 and 19 years old) and females (11–13 and 19 years old). Decreases in life satisfaction ratings also predicted subsequent increases in estimated social media use, however, these were not associated with age or sex." (Abstract).

Orben, A., Przybylski, A.K., Blakemore, SJ. et al. Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media. Nat Commun 13, 1649 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29296-3