Teenagers all over the world use social media and messaging apps as part of their daily lives. This is accompanied by growing concerns about negative effects of social media on youth mental health – and ongoing debates around limiting screen time and access to digital devices. What’s frequently missing in these conversations, though, is what teenagers […] … learn more→

Debates about generative artificial intelligence on college campuses have largely centered on student cheating. But focusing on cheating overlooks a larger set of ethical concerns that higher education institutions face, from the use of copyrighted material in large language models to student privacy. As a sociologist who teaches about AI and studies the impact of this technology on work, […] … learn more→

On Christmas Day 2021, Jaswant Singh Chail scaled the walls of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow. When confronted by police, he stated: “I’m here to kill the queen.” In the preceding weeks, Chail had been confiding in Sarai, his AI chatbot on a service called Replika. He explained that he was a trained Sith assassin (a reference to […] … learn more→

An increasing number of Australian school students are applying for an early offer to university, before they have their exam results back. Last Thursday, nearly 16,000 students in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory got an early offer through the University Admissions Centre, after a 3% growth in applications from last year. This […] … learn more→

Over the past few years, social media has become a fundamental tool for socialization among young people. Who could have imagined, years ago, the relevance and role these digital platforms would play in people’s lives, perhaps even more so among children and teenagers? Mobile phones and their apps are being used at increasingly younger ages. Nine […] … learn more→

As the dangers of excessive digital usage become increasingly apparent, the ability to disconnect is becoming a luxury. Will disconnecting from the internet soon be reserved for only the very privileged few? According to Ouest France, nearly one in five French people said in 2025 that they wanted to reduce their digital usage , while Statista noted […] … learn more→

Work study works, doesn’t it? Federal work study is a government program that gives colleges and universities approximately US$1 billion in subsidies each year to help pay students who work part-time jobs on and off campus. This program supports nearly 700,000 college students per year and is often an essential way students pay their expenses and […] … learn more→

In the most talked-about film from the final year of the 20th century, “The Matrix,” a computer hacker named Neo finds that the world he lives and works in isn’t real. It’s a virtual reality, created by artificial intelligence. At the time, the idea seemed like science fiction. In the years since, however, that concept […] … learn more→

Booms and busts are a recurring feature of the modern economy , but when the value of an asset becomes excessively inflated, a boom quickly turns into a bubble. The two most recent episodes of this kind were the dot-com bubble in the United States (1996-2000) and the housing bubbles that emerged around 2006 in various countries. Both ended […] … learn more→

What if gestation, or at least part of the process, could be externalized using extrauterine devices, whether to continue the development of premature newborns or for more political purposes, such as combating declining birth rates? Such technology is still a long way from being feasible, but research is indeed being conducted in this area. Last […] … learn more→