News & Updates

Engagement, Exposure, Exploitation: Algorithmic Persuasion and Explicit Content

The rapid evolution of algorithmic content curation on user-upload platforms has transformed social media into an ecosystem where exposure to graphic and explicit content is not just an unintended byproduct, but a monetized feature of platform economies...In this honors thesis, I leveraged longitudinal survey and screenome data from the Human Screenome Project (HSP) in a mixed methods analysis of user behavior and cognitive-affective states related to viewing and engaging with unmoderated graphic explicit content and qualitative case studies of two participants' screenshot sequences.

Goal-Directed or Algorithmically Captured? Analyzing Attention in the Smartphone Era

While researchers are studying the relationship between smartphone and media use and attention, existing studies are limited by reliance on cross-sectional surveys, self-reports, and experimental designs that fail to capture naturalistic, moment-to-moment behavior or the qualitative nature of digital content. In this paper, I address these gaps using a mixed-methods approach using Screenome data from the Human Screenome Project to study smartphone use and attention...

Wellness Behavior On and Off Screen: Affective Impacts of Engagement with Wellness Behavior and Media

Although less is known about the impact of digital behaviors, they could be another accessible avenue for promoting well-being. This study fills this gap in research by leveraging intensive longitudinal survey data collected fortnightly from adults over 52 weeks and passive screenome data collected through screenshots over the course of a year from the Human Screenome Project...

Time-Related Considerations for Modeling Event-Based Data Collected via Ecological Momentary Assessment

In this article, we provide an overview of survival analysis, describe several time-based considerations for modeling event-based EMA data using survival analysis, and provide several illustrative examples of the different time-based considerations...

Smartphone use among adolescents during school hours: High-intensity objective observations across different instructional contexts

Adolescent smartphone use in school and how it shapes learning and development have attracted substantial attention. Yet, objective data on digital behavior during school hours are limited. This study uses high-intensity smartphone observations from 139 13–17-year-olds (Mage=15.52; 47.2% female)...

Honors Posters at Symposium of Undergraduate Research and Public Service [April 25, 2026]

Destiny Tran Saucedo-Martinez and Manasi Garg presented their respective honors theses "Engagement, Exploitation, Exposure: Algorithmic Persuasion and Explicit Content in the Screenome" and "Addiction or Agency? Examining Attention in the Smartphone Age"

The Screenome: Unlocking the New Science of Everyday Life

"Health science has mapped our genome, microbiome, and environment; but everyday behavior has remained largely invisible. This post explores the "Screenome," a new frontier that captures the digital traces of daily life and opens a powerful lens on how behavior shapes health."

An open-source platform for multimodal digital trace data collection from smartphones

We developed an open-source platform that enables in situ capture of multimodal digital traces from smartphones (for example, moment-by-moment capture of screenshots, application usage logs, interaction histories and phone sensor readings)...

What Your Phone Knows Could Help Scientists Understand Your Health

"Stanford scientists have released an open-source platform that lets health researchers study the “screenome” – the digital traces of our daily lives – while protecting participants’ privacy."

The Democracy of Sound

[Performance 2026-02-27] This event - an 89-minute “happening” - explores the democratic possibilities that emerge when we create and improvise together.