Social media can empower people, for instance through increasing our motivation to engage in healthy behaviors or through creating supportive communities, but these platforms also raise significant concerns. Think about misinformation, information overload, heavy marketing of unhealthy products, and the promotion of extreme health challenges.

In this honours module, we explore these topics through a lens of communication science and social/health psychology. Students will deepen their understanding of the various positive and negative influences of social media use on our physical and mental health, and of the theories explaining these influences. Students will also learn about potential interventions to counter undesired health consequences of social media use.

In the first part of the course, students will gain first-hand experience in social media effects as they will temporarily immerse themselves into social media content about a health-related topic of their choice. In the second part of the course, students will develop creative interventions (e.g., videos, podcasts, cartoons) to empower healthy decision making in a social media-driven world. Tutorial classes will include discussions of social media examples and connecting them to the academic literature, (guest)lectures, interactive exercises, and teamwork.

Coordinator

Dr. Edith Smit

Timetable

All lectures will take place on-campus and we assume you can be physically present during the scheduled hours. You can find the timetable on Datanose.

Registration

Registration is possible for students participating in an Honours program. The registration period for the Honours courses will be from Friday, November 28, 10:00 am to Tuesday, December 2, 11:59 pm. You can register through the online registration form that will appear on Honoursmodules IIS. (registration is NOT through SIS)

Please note: Placement is not guaranteed if you register after December 2, so make sure you register on time. You will hear which course(s) you are registered for before December 31. 

For questions about registration, please contact us at: Honours-iis@uva.nl