In today's technology industry race, led by major tech companies, speed and market competition are prioritized over ethical considerations and genuine user orientation. This pressure results in rushed product rollouts, a lack of focus on real-world application issues, and increasing alienation and burnout among engineers. Companies neglect critical aspects such as user safety and long-term sustainability to satisfy investors in the short term. Additionally, developers of these tools report unimaginable pressure and work under catastrophic conditions.
Welcome to the
Center for
Media Psychology
and Behavioral Research.
ZeMV is officially indexed as a scientific institution in Google Scholar.
Ongoing Study:
Clip Thinking – Fragmentation of Thinking
Connections between Changes in Cognitive Processing and Digital Media
Description
Purpose of the ZeMV
The Center for Media Psychology and Behavioral Research serves the interdisciplinary exploration of the effects of the modern media landscape, the collection and dissemination of scientific findings, and the processing of acquired knowledge about the social, psychological, and economic dimensions of social media.
General information
Our scientific functions
As an interdisciplinary research center, our institution investigates the socio-psychological impacts of media and modern media economics, as well as their mechanisms of operation. In light of the ever-growing influence that media have on individuals and society as a whole, empirical research provides insights into the social, psychological, and economic responsibilities of modern media.
Database
Our institute maintains a database of relevant scientific works and findings. We regularly provide updates on important topics based on the collected research. Upon request, you can access our database. Click here for access.
Collaboration
We are committed to exchanging insights with other institutes and scholars, working collaboratively towards ethical and humane technology and media design.
Synthesis
The systematic evaluation and synthesis of various insights from interdisciplinary research areas are prerequisites for the positions that the ZeMV adopts on various topics in media psychology, and serve as the interface for collaboration with other institutions.
What does ZeMV stand for?
ZeMV research center: benefitting the public instead of gaining profit, and knowledge in humanity's service.
Specialized knowledge
We are a specialized institution dedicated to the intensive exploration of the psychological and behavioral impacts of modern media and technologies. We publish information, guidance, and research reports aimed at promoting responsible technology use, with the well-being of society at large in mind, as we operate on a non-profit basis.
Investigation of the manipulative use of human attention by media and its effects on individual and social behavior.
Our research questions how major technology companies influence human behavior for commercial purposes through the use of algorithms.
Our primary goal is to promote informed media literacy through education, enabling individuals to critically and consciously engage with media content.
Analysis of digitally induced behavioral addictions, specifically how digital media promote addictive behaviors through feedback loops.
Collecting scientific facts that illuminate how constant exposure to digital media causes or exacerbates psychological stress and disorders.
We are committed to combating the loss of critical thinking and profound processes of understanding, such as through reduced attention.
How we are composed
Transparent.
As a subsidiary and specialized research center of the International Council of Academics for Progressive Education, we utilize existing infrastructures within the academic community to actively stimulate discourse and advocate for our cause in the right forums. This allows for rigorous peer review of our work and a wide-ranging scientific expertise.
Leadership & Mission
Leadership & Mission
Our mission is directly aligned with that of the International Council of Academics for Progressive Education and its partner organizations:
to create a better future through collaborative efforts and bringing together scholars from diverse fields for a common goal.The ZeMV is an independent scientific research institution without profit motive (NPO), dedicated
to behavioral research related to media and technology use.The scientific leadership is currently overseen by the I.C.A.P.E.
Disclaimer: While some of the sources linked here explicitly advocate refraining from using certain services or social networks in general, their publication here serves the purpose of collecting information and scientific facts. If our institute issues its own recommendation, it will be clearly marked as such. All information provided on this website, especially links to external sources, is thoroughly checked with the utmost care. Potentially influential statements made publicly by our institute correspond to the current state of research at the time of publication and are always accompanied by one or more source references. The ZeMV operates with the highest empirical diligence, ensuring that statements and syntheses of our research are always based on scientifically substantiated facts and transparently verifiable.
Spotlight
Informative content on our core topics
The topics addressed by the ZeMV concern everyone who is part of modern society. Therefore, you will find highlighted information here that we consider particularly noteworthy.
APA Warnings
The American Psychological Association warns that tech giants continue to do far too little to protect children and adolescents from the enduring psychological and neurological impacts of their products. The APA highlights the inadequacies of current safeguards and offers specific, scientifically substantiated suggestions, which, however, are largely ignored by commercially oriented social networks.
L.A. TIMES EDITORIAL
Here is current reporting (April 22, 2024) on the topic of implementing protective measures in social media. The focus of the debate is particularly on the urgent appeal to social networks to, among other measures, disable curated algorithms for users under 18 years of age, and to show users the content they are actually searching for or content from people they interact with - instead of algorithmically selected content designed to manipulate and increase the usage duration of children and adolescents. Additionally, there are a number of other proposals aimed at protecting the health of particularly young users.
The companies behind social networks have so far refused to implement these measures. For this reason, legislative regulation is now being pursued.
Diligence: According to www.allsides.com, the so-called "media bias" of the Los Angeles Times is rated as lean left; this means that the newspaper's political orientation is moderately liberal.
A Wall Street Journal experiment, in which over 100 TikTok accounts were opened to determine how long it takes for the app's algorithms to create a detailed personality profile of the user, found that it now takes an average of only 36 minutes for users to be driven into so-called "rabbit holes" through algorithms and curated feeds.
In this comprehensible experiment, this phenomenon affected an average of 93% of the entire content feed, and it became clear that general political interests were quickly directed towards conspiracy theories. Moreover, various content violating the platform's usage policies was also fed into the feed.
Ledger of Harms
In the Ledger of Harms section, the Center for Humane Technology gathers scientific insights into the effects of social media and related technologies on societal groups, human cognition, and social structures.
Conceived as a work in progress, this collection serves as a direct synthesis of scientific endeavors that offer critical reflections on data practices and attention economy.
Intersections with our research
THE METHODOLOGY
The systematic, integrative synthesis of insights from various disciplines of science allows us to obtain a nuanced understanding of the topics we address. This approach provides us with the opportunity to comprehend the impacts of the phenomena of new technologies on multiple psychological and societal domains.
The synthesis and integration contribute to developing a deep understanding of connections on multiple levels. This enables us to examine and verify existing theories from various perspectives and, ultimately, make well-founded decisions.
The complexity of the causal relationships within our research fields necessitates a great openness to diverse perspectives, allowing us to draw multifaceted conclusions from numerous observations.
Psychology and behavioral science's stance on...
...the myth of multitasking?
The commonly held assumption that generations who have grown up immersed in digital media possess particularly well-developed multitasking skills is not scientifically valid. It is well established that the human brain is not capable of "true" multitasking. Instead, modern digital media promote continuous switching between different content and tasks, creating the illusion of simultaneity. However, it is neurologically demonstrable that the brain cannot focus on two disparate activities simultaneously. Therefore, it is incorrect to speak of "multitasking" in this context; rather, it involves rapid and brief sequences in which the focus repeatedly shifts back and forth. This not only leads to increased cognitive load and faster fatigue but also demonstrably impairs the quality of individual tasks.
...the psychological impact of social media?
It is important to understand that social media "per se" do not inherently have positive or negative effects on the human psyche. The effects our center investigates are always associated with specific usage patterns. However, a major issue is that many social networks influence user behavior through targeted mechanisms. The goal of this influence is to maximize usage time to generate profit. Therefore, it is not possible to attribute a specific socio-psychological effect to social media or their general usage. However, what can be scientifically proven is that the behavioral patterns of many users, which have a sustained negative impact on various cognitive and emotional domains, are actively supported and promoted by these social platforms.
...addictive potential?
Digital media and social networks can develop addictive potential similar to gambling addiction or other behavioral addictions. Since the boundaries between compulsive behavior and behavioral addiction are often fluid, the classification of characteristics plays a special role here. The use of digital media becomes problematic when users lose self-determined control over their usage behavior.
