Webinare "Education for the Future"
Webinar-Sessions Spring Semester 2026
Webinar 28. April 2026- Prof. Dr. Roland Imhoff
April 28, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Zoom
Gastsprecher: Prof. Dr. Roland Imhoff
Universität: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Themen: Beyond crazy- Tackling the epistemic challenge of conspiracy narratives
Anmeldung: https://umfragenup.uni-potsdam.de/educationforthefuture_webinar/
Recent years have witnessed an upsurge in public and scholarly interest in conspiracy theories and their adherents, often against the backdrop of concerns that such beliefs are false and contribute to problematic behaviors ranging from climate change denial and harmful health practices to extremist violence. In this talk, I provide an overview of psychological research on conspiracy beliefs and provocatively question whether this predominantly one-sided perspective—treating them as inherently unwarranted and necessarily costly—adequately captures the phenomenon. I further discuss the contested role of social media and the effects of conspiracy narratives on epistemic trust, in order to reflect on challenges for media literacy.
Webinar 26. Mai 2026- Prof. Dr. Philippe Verduyn
26. Mai 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Zoom
Gastsprecher: Philippe Verduyn
Universität: Maastricht University
Themen: The impact of social media on mental health: the role of usage types, user characteristics and platform features
Anmeldung: https://umfragenup.uni-potsdam.de/educationforthefuture_webinar/
Social media have become deeply embedded in everyday life within today’s digital society. At the same time, growing public concern suggests that their use may adversely affect mental health, prompting policy debates about potential restrictions or bans. This presentation begins with a critical review of empirical evidence on the association between time spent on social media and mental health outcomes. It then examines recent research demonstrating that the effects of social media use are not uniform, but depend on patterns of use, individual user characteristics, platform features, and the underlying psychological mechanisms activated by social media engagement. The presentation concludes by outlining key implications of these findings for future research and for the development of evidence-based social media policies.
Webinar 30. Juni 2026- Prof. Dr. Julia Brailovskaia
30. Juni 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Zoom
Gastsprecherin: Prof. Dr. Julia Brailovskaia
Universität: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Themen: „Von der Mediennutzung zur Mediensucht und Wege hinaus: Soziale Medien und Auswirkungen auf die psychische Gesundheit“
Anmeldung: https://umfragenup.uni-potsdam.de/educationforthefuture_webinar/
Talk will be in German
Die Nutzung von sozialen Medien gehört zum heutigen Alltag. Trotz offensichtlicher Vorteile kann sie längerfristig negative Konsequenzen für die psychische Gesundheit haben. So kann die Erfahrung von Freude, Selbstbestätigung und sozialer Unterstützung durch das Eintauchen in die Online-Welt die Entwicklung einer suchtartigen Bindung an diese begünstigen. Die suchtartige Nutzung beeinträchtigt die psychische Gesundheit. Sie fördert unter anderem einen Anstieg von Schlafstörungen, Depressions-, Angst- und Stresssymptomen. Positive Faktoren der psychischen Gesundheit, wie Lebenszufriedenheit und Glücksempfinden, sinken. Im Rahmen des Vortrags werden aufbauend auf dem neusten Forschungsstand die Konsequenzen der sozialen Mediennutzung für die psychische Gesundheit und Risikofaktoren, die diese begünstigen, vorgestellt. Anschließend werden Faktoren und Interventionen aufgeführt, die einen kompetenten Umgang mit sozialen Medien ermöglichen, und die psychische Gesundheit im digitalen Zeitalter schützen können.
Webinar 22. Juli 2026- Luisa Fassi
21. Juli 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Zoom
Gastsprecherin: Luisa Fassi
Universität: University of Cambridge
Themen: Social media use, adolescent mental health in clinical and non-clinical populations
Anmeldung: https://umfragenup.uni-potsdam.de/educationforthefuture_webinar/
Mental health conditions affect approximately one in seven young people worldwide, while social media has become embedded in adolescents` everyday lives.
Understanding how these intersect- particularly fort he growing number of xoung people with mental health conditions- is therefore of clinical and societal importance. Yet, existing evidence remains fragmented and inconclusive. In this talk, I will present findings from three complementary studies that address key gaps in the literature. First, I will report results from a systematic review and metaanalysis synthesising 15 years of research on the association between social media use and internalising symptoms across community and clinical samples, highlighting limitations in study populations, measuremen, and design.
Second, I will present findings from registered report using a nationally representative UK survey to examine differences in social media use between adolescents with and without mental health conditions, drawing on diagnoses derived from multi-informant clinical interviews rather than questionnaires.
Finally, I will introduce a novel outpatient-clinical study linking adolescents`real-world TikTok and Instagram data with mental health and cognitive assessments, outlining the study protocol and sharing early results. Together, these studies illustrate how integrating evidence synthesis, clinical diagnosticdata and real-world digital trace data can advance understanding and inform more effective responses.