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• 10 February 2020

Scrutinizing the effects of digital technology on mental health

• Jonathan Haidt &

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The topic in brief

• There is an ongoing debate about whether social media and the use of digital devices are detrimental to mental health.

• Adolescents tend to be heavy users of these devices, and especially of social media.

• Rates of teenage depression began to rise around 2012, when adolescent use of social media became common (Fig. 1).

• Some evidence indicates that frequent users of social media have higher rates of depression and anxiety than do light users.

• But perhaps digital devices could provide a way of gathering data about mental health in a systematic way, and make interventions more timely.

Figure 1 | Depression on the rise. Rates of depression among teenagers in the United States have increased steadily since 2012. Rates are higher and are increasing more rapidly for girls than for boys. Some researchers think that social media is the cause of this increase, whereas others see social media as a way of tackling it. (Data taken from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Table 11.2b; go.nature.com/3ayjaww )

JONATHAN HAIDT: A guilty verdict

A sudden increase in the rates of depression, anxiety and self-harm was seen in adolescents — particularly girls — in the United States and the United Kingdom around 2012 or 2013 (see go.nature.com/2up38hw ). Only one suspect was in the right place at the right time to account for this sudden change: social media. Its use by teenagers increased most quickly between 2009 and 2011, by which point two-thirds of 15–17-year-olds were using it on a daily basis 1 . Some researchers defend social media, arguing that there is only circumstantial evidence for its role in mental-health problems 2 , 3 . And, indeed, several studies 2 , 3 show that there is only a small correlation between time spent on screens and bad mental-health outcomes. However, I present three arguments against this defence.

First, the papers that report small or null effects usually focus on ‘screen time’, but it is not films or video chats with friends that damage mental health. When research papers allow us to zoom in on social media, rather than looking at screen time as a whole, the correlations with depression are larger, and they are larger still when we look specifically at girls ( go.nature.com/2u74der ). The sex difference is robust, and there are several likely causes for it. Girls use social media much more than do boys (who, in turn, spend more of their time gaming). And, for girls more than boys, social life and status tend to revolve around intimacy and inclusion versus exclusion 4 , making them more vulnerable to both the ‘fear of missing out’ and the relational aggression that social media facilitates.

Second, although correlational studies can provide only circumstantial evidence, most of the experiments published in recent years have found evidence of causation ( go.nature.com/2u74der ). In these studies, people are randomly assigned to groups that are asked to continue using social media or to reduce their use substantially. After a few weeks, people who reduce their use generally report an improvement in mood or a reduction in loneliness or symptoms of depression.

The best way forward

Third, many researchers seem to be thinking about social media as if it were sugar: safe in small to moderate quantities, and harmful only if teenagers consume large quantities. But, unlike sugar, social media does not act just on those who consume it. It has radically transformed the nature of peer relationships, family relationships and daily activities 5 . When most of the 11-year-olds in a class are on Instagram (as was the case in my son’s school), there can be pervasive effects on everyone. Children who opt out can find themselves isolated. A simple dose–response model cannot capture the full effects of social media, yet nearly all of the debate among researchers so far has been over the size of the dose–response effect. To cite just one suggestive finding of what lies beyond that model: network effects for depression and anxiety are large, and bad mental health spreads more contagiously between women than between men 6 .

In conclusion, digital media in general undoubtedly has many beneficial uses, including the treatment of mental illness. But if you focus on social media, you’ll find stronger evidence of harm, and less exculpatory evidence, especially for its millions of under-age users.

What should we do while researchers hash out the meaning of these conflicting findings? I would urge a focus on middle schools (roughly 11–13-year-olds in the United States), both for researchers and policymakers. Any US state could quickly conduct an informative experiment beginning this September: randomly assign a portion of school districts to ban smartphone access for students in middle school, while strongly encouraging parents to prevent their children from opening social-media accounts until they begin high school (at around 14). Within 2 years, we would know whether the policy reversed the otherwise steady rise of mental-health problems among middle-school students, and whether it also improved classroom dynamics (as rated by teachers) and test scores. Such system-wide and cross-school interventions would be an excellent way to study the emergent effects of social media on the social lives and mental health of today’s adolescents.

NICK ALLEN: Use digital technology to our advantage

It is appealing to condemn social media out of hand on the basis of the — generally rather poor-quality and inconsistent — evidence suggesting that its use is associated with mental-health problems 7 . But focusing only on its potential harmful effects is comparable to proposing that the only question to ask about cars is whether people can die driving them. The harmful effects might be real, but they don’t tell the full story. The task of research should be to understand what patterns of digital-device and social-media use can lead to beneficial versus harmful effects 7 , and to inform evidence-based approaches to policy, education and regulation.

Long-standing problems have hampered our efforts to improve access to, and the quality of, mental-health services and support. Digital technology has the potential to address some of these challenges. For instance, consider the challenges associated with collecting data on human behaviour. Assessment in mental-health care and research relies almost exclusively on self-reporting, but the resulting data are subjective and burdensome to collect. As a result, assessments are conducted so infrequently that they do not provide insights into the temporal dynamics of symptoms, which can be crucial for both diagnosis and treatment planning.

By contrast, mobile phones and other Internet-connected devices provide an opportunity to continuously collect objective information on behaviour in the context of people’s real lives, generating a rich data set that can provide insight into the extent and timing of mental-health needs in individuals 8 , 9 . By building apps that can track our digital exhaust (the data generated by our everyday digital lives, including our social-media use), we can gain insights into aspects of behaviour that are well-established building blocks of mental health and illness, such as mood, social communication, sleep and physical activity.

Stress and the city

These data can, in turn, be used to empower individuals, by giving them actionable insights into patterns of behaviour that might otherwise have remained unseen. For example, subtle shifts in patterns of sleep or social communication can provide early warning signs of deteriorating mental health. Data on these patterns can be used to alert people to the need for self-management before the patterns — and the associated symptoms — become more severe. Individuals can also choose to share these data with health professionals or researchers. For instance, in the Our Data Helps initiative, individuals who have experienced a suicidal crisis, or the relatives of those who have died by suicide, can donate their digital data to research into suicide risk.

Because mobile devices are ever-present in people’s lives, they offer an opportunity to provide interventions that are timely, personalized and scalable. Currently, mental-health services are mainly provided through a century-old model in which they are made available at times chosen by the mental-health practitioner, rather than at the person’s time of greatest need. But Internet-connected devices are facilitating the development of a wave of ‘just-in-time’ interventions 10 for mental-health care and support.

A compelling example of these interventions involves short-term risk for suicide 9 , 11 — for which early detection could save many lives. Most of the effective approaches to suicide prevention work by interrupting suicidal actions and supporting alternative methods of coping at the moment of greatest risk. If these moments can be detected in an individual’s digital exhaust, a wide range of intervention options become available, from providing information about coping skills and social support, to the initiation of crisis responses. So far, just-in-time approaches have been applied mainly to behaviours such as eating or substance abuse 8 . But with the development of an appropriate research base, these approaches have the potential to provide a major advance in our ability to respond to, and prevent, mental-health crises.

These advantages are particularly relevant to teenagers. Because of their extensive use of digital devices, adolescents are especially vulnerable to the devices’ risks and burdens. And, given the increases in mental-health problems in this age group, teens would also benefit most from improvements in mental-health prevention and treatment. If we use the social and data-gathering functions of Internet-connected devices in the right ways, we might achieve breakthroughs in our ability to improve mental health and well-being.

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Competing Interests

N.A. has an equity interest in Ksana Health, a company he co-founded and which has the sole commercial licence for certain versions of the Effortless Assessment of Risk States (EARS) mobile-phone application and some related EARS tools. This intellectual property was developed as part of his research at the University of Oregon’s Center for Digital Mental Health (CDMH).

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• The Internet and the Pandemic

90% of Americans say the internet has been essential or important to them, many made video calls and 40% used technology in new ways. But while tech was a lifeline for some, others faced struggles

Table of contents.

• 1. How the internet and technology shaped Americans’ personal experiences amid COVID-19
• 2. Parents, their children and school during the pandemic
• 3. Navigating technological challenges
• 4. The role of technology in COVID-19 vaccine registration
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

Pew Research Center has a long history of studying technology adoption trends and the impact of digital technology on society. This report focuses on American adults’ experiences with and attitudes about their internet and technology use during the COVID-19 outbreak. For this analysis, we surveyed 4,623 U.S. adults from April 12-18, 2021. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the  ATP’s methodology .

Chapter 1 of this report includes responses to an open-ended question and the overall report includes a number of quotations to help illustrate themes and add nuance to the survey findings. Quotations may have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity. The first three themes mentioned in each open-ended response, according to a researcher-developed codebook, were coded into categories for analysis. 

Here are the questions used for this report , along with responses, and its methodology .

The  coronavirus  has transformed many aspects of Americans’ lives. It  shut down  schools, businesses and workplaces and forced millions to  stay at home  for extended lengths of time. Public health authorities recommended  limits on social contact  to try to contain the spread of the virus, and these profoundly altered the way many worked, learned, connected with loved ones, carried out basic daily tasks, celebrated and mourned. For some, technology played a role in this transformation.  

Results from a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted April 12-18, 2021, reveal the extent to which people’s use of the internet has changed, their views about how helpful technology has been for them and the struggles some have faced. 

The vast majority of adults (90%) say the internet has been at least important to them personally during the pandemic, the survey finds. The share who say it has been  essential  – 58% – is up slightly from 53% in April 2020. There have also been upticks in the shares who say the internet has been essential in the past year among those with a bachelor’s degree or more formal education, adults under 30, and those 65 and older. 

A large majority of Americans (81%) also say they talked with others via video calls at some point since the pandemic’s onset. And for 40% of Americans, digital tools have taken on new relevance: They report they used technology or the internet in ways that were new or different to them. Some also sought upgrades to their service as the pandemic unfolded: 29% of broadband users did something to improve the speed, reliability or quality of their high-speed internet connection at home since the beginning of the outbreak.

Still, tech use has not been an unmitigated boon for everyone. “ Zoom fatigue ” was widely speculated to be a problem in the pandemic, and some Americans report related experiences in the new survey: 40% of those who have ever talked with others via video calls since the beginning of the pandemic say they have felt worn out or fatigued often or sometimes by the time they spend on them. Moreover,  changes in screen time  occurred for  Americans generally  and for  parents of young children . The survey finds that a third of all adults say they tried to cut back on time spent on their smartphone or the internet at some point during the pandemic. In addition, 72% of parents of children in grades K-12 say their kids are spending more time on screens compared with before the outbreak. 1

For many, digital interactions could only do so much as a stand-in for in-person communication. About two-thirds of Americans (68%) say the interactions they would have had in person, but instead had online or over the phone, have generally been useful – but not a replacement for in-person contact. Another 15% say these tools haven’t been of much use in their interactions. Still, 17% report that these digital interactions have been just as good as in-person contact.

Some types of technology have been more helpful than others for Americans. For example, 44% say text messages or group messaging apps have helped them a lot to stay connected with family and friends, 38% say the same about voice calls and 30% say this about video calls. Smaller shares say social media sites (20%) and email (19%) have helped them in this way.

The survey offers a snapshot of Americans’ lives just over one year into the pandemic as they reflected back on what had happened. It is important to note the findings were gathered in April 2021, just before  all U.S. adults became eligible for coronavirus vaccine s. At the time, some states were  beginning to loosen restrictions  on businesses and social encounters. This survey also was fielded before the delta variant  became prominent  in the United States,  raising concerns  about new and  evolving variants . 

Here are some of the key takeaways from the survey.

Americans’ tech experiences in the pandemic are linked to digital divides, tech readiness 

Some Americans’ experiences with technology haven’t been smooth or easy during the pandemic. The digital divides related to  internet use  and  affordability  were highlighted by the pandemic and also emerged in new ways as life moved online.

For all Americans relying on screens during the pandemic,  connection quality  has been important for school assignments, meetings and virtual social encounters alike. The new survey highlights difficulties for some: Roughly half of those who have a high-speed internet connection at home (48%) say they have problems with the speed, reliability or quality of their home connection often or sometimes. 2

Beyond that, affordability  remained a persistent concern  for a portion of digital tech users as the pandemic continued – about a quarter of home broadband users (26%) and smartphone owners (24%) said in the April 2021 survey that they worried a lot or some about paying their internet and cellphone bills over the next few months. 

From parents of children facing the “ homework gap ” to Americans struggling to  afford home internet , those with lower incomes have been particularly likely to struggle. At the same time, some of those with higher incomes have been affected as well.

Affordability and connection problems have hit broadband users with lower incomes especially hard. Nearly half of broadband users with lower incomes, and about a quarter of those with midrange incomes, say that as of April they were at least somewhat worried about paying their internet bill over the next few months. 3 And home broadband users with lower incomes are roughly 20 points more likely to say they often or sometimes experience problems with their connection than those with relatively high incomes. Still, 55% of those with lower incomes say the internet has been essential to them personally in the pandemic.

At the same time, Americans’ levels of formal education are associated with their experiences turning to tech during the pandemic. 

Those with a bachelor’s or advanced degree are about twice as likely as those with a high school diploma or less formal education to have used tech in new or different ways during the pandemic. There is also roughly a 20 percentage point gap between these two groups in the shares who have made video calls about once a day or more often and who say these calls have helped at least a little to stay connected with family and friends. And 71% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more education say the internet has been essential, compared with 45% of those with a high school diploma or less.

More broadly, not all Americans believe they have key tech skills. In this survey, about a quarter of adults (26%) say they usually need someone else’s help to set up or show them how to use a new computer, smartphone or other electronic device. And one-in-ten report they have little to no confidence in their ability to use these types of devices to do the things they need to do online. This report refers to those who say they experience either or both of these issues as having “lower tech readiness.” Some 30% of adults fall in this category. (A full description of how this group was identified can be found in  Chapter 3. )

These struggles are particularly acute for older adults, some of whom have had to  learn new tech skills  over the course of the pandemic. Roughly two-thirds of adults 75 and older fall into the group having lower tech readiness – that is, they either have little or no confidence in their ability to use their devices, or generally need help setting up and learning how to use new devices. Some 54% of Americans ages 65 to 74 are also in this group. 

Americans with lower tech readiness have had different experiences with technology during the pandemic. While 82% of the Americans with lower tech readiness say the internet has been at least important to them personally during the pandemic, they are less likely than those with higher tech readiness to say the internet has been essential (39% vs. 66%). Some 21% of those with lower tech readiness say digital interactions haven’t been of much use in standing in for in-person contact, compared with 12% of those with higher tech readiness. 

46% of parents with lower incomes whose children faced school closures say their children had at least one problem related to the ‘homework gap’

As school moved online for many families, parents and their children experienced profound changes. Fully 93% of parents with K-12 children at home say these children had some online instruction during the pandemic. Among these parents, 62% report that online learning has gone very or somewhat well, and 70% say it has been very or somewhat easy for them to help their children use technology for online instruction.

Still, 30% of the parents whose children have had online instruction during the pandemic say it has been very or somewhat difficult for them to help their children use technology or the internet for this. 

The survey also shows that children from households with lower incomes who faced school closures in the pandemic have been especially likely to encounter tech-related obstacles in completing their schoolwork – a phenomenon contributing to the “ homework gap .”

Overall, about a third (34%) of all parents whose children’s schools closed at some point say their children have encountered at least one of the tech-related issues we asked about amid COVID-19: having to do schoolwork on a cellphone, being unable to complete schoolwork because of lack of computer access at home, or having to use public Wi-Fi to finish schoolwork because there was no reliable connection at home. 

This share is higher among parents with lower incomes whose children’s schools closed. Nearly half (46%) say their children have faced at least one of these issues. Some with higher incomes were affected as well – about three-in-ten (31%) of these parents with midrange incomes say their children faced one or more of these issues, as do about one-in-five of these parents with higher household incomes.

Prior Center work has documented this “ homework gap ” in other contexts – both  before the coronavirus outbreak  and  near the beginning of the pandemic . In April 2020, for example, parents with lower incomes were particularly likely to think their children would face these struggles amid the outbreak.

Besides issues related to remote schooling, other changes were afoot in families as the pandemic forced many families to shelter in place. For instance, parents’ estimates of their children’s screen time – and family rules around this – changed in some homes. About seven-in-ten parents with children in kindergarten through 12th grade (72%) say their children were spending more time on screens as of the April survey compared with before the outbreak. Some 39% of parents with school-age children say they have become less strict about screen time rules during the outbreak. About one-in-five (18%) say they have become more strict, while 43% have kept screen time rules about the same. 

More adults now favor the idea that schools should provide digital technology to all students during the pandemic than did in April 2020

Americans’ tech struggles related to digital divides gained attention from policymakers and news organizations as the pandemic progressed.

On some policy issues, public attitudes changed over the course of the outbreak – for example, views on what K-12 schools should provide to students shifted. Some 49% now say K-12 schools have a responsibility to provide all students with laptop or tablet computers in order to help them complete their schoolwork during the pandemic, up 12 percentage points from a year ago.

The shares of those who say so have increased for both major political parties over the past year: This view shifted 15 points for Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP, and there was a 9-point increase for Democrats and Democratic leaners.

However, when it comes to views of policy solutions for internet access more generally, not much has changed. Some 37% of Americans say that the government has a responsibility to ensure all Americans have high-speed internet access during the outbreak, and the overall share is unchanged from April 2020 – the first time Americans were asked this specific question about the government’s pandemic responsibility to provide internet access. 4

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the government has this responsibility, and within the Republican Party, those with lower incomes are more likely to say this than their counterparts earning more money. 

Video calls and conferencing have been part of everyday life

Americans’ own words provide insight into exactly how their lives changed amid COVID-19. When asked to describe the new or different ways they had used technology, some Americans mention video calls and conferencing facilitating a variety of virtual interactions – including attending events like weddings, family holidays and funerals or transforming where and how they worked. 5 From family calls, shopping for groceries and placing takeout orders online to having telehealth visits with medical professionals or participating in online learning activities, some aspects of life have been virtually transformed: 

“I’ve gone from not even knowing remote programs like Zoom even existed, to using them nearly every day.” – Man, 54

“[I’ve been] h andling … deaths of family and friends remotely, attending and sharing classical music concerts and recitals with other professionals, viewing [my] own church services and Bible classes, shopping. … Basically, [the internet has been] a lifeline.”  – Woman, 69

“I … use Zoom for church youth activities. [I] use Zoom for meetings. I order groceries and takeout food online. We arranged for a ‘digital reception’ for my daughter’s wedding as well as live streaming the event.” – Woman, 44

When asked about video calls specifically, half of Americans report they have talked with others in this way at least once a week since the beginning of the outbreak; one-in-five have used these platforms daily. But how often people have experienced this type of digital connectedness varies by age. For example, about a quarter of adults ages 18 to 49 (27%) say they have connected with others on video calls about once a day or more often, compared with 16% of those 50 to 64 and just 7% of those 65 and older. 

Even as video technology became a part of life for users, many  accounts of burnout  surfaced and some speculated that “Zoom fatigue” was setting in as Americans grew weary of this type of screen time. The survey finds that some 40% of those who participated in video calls since the beginning of the pandemic – a third of all Americans – say they feel worn out or fatigued often or sometimes from the time they spend on video calls. About three-quarters of those who have been on these calls several times a day in the pandemic say this.

Fatigue is not limited to frequent users, however: For example, about a third (34%) of those who have made video calls about once a week say they feel worn out at least sometimes.

These are among the main findings from the survey. Other key results include:

Some Americans’ personal lives and social relationships have changed during the pandemic:  Some 36% of Americans say their own personal lives changed in a major way as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Another 47% say their personal lives changed, but only a little bit.   About half (52%) of those who say major change has occurred in their personal lives due to the pandemic also say they have used tech in new ways, compared with about four-in-ten (38%) of those whose personal lives changed a little bit and roughly one-in-five (19%) of those who say their personal lives stayed about the same.

Even as tech helped some to stay connected, a quarter of Americans say they feel less close to close family members now compared with before the pandemic, and about four-in-ten (38%) say the same about friends they know well. Roughly half (53%) say this about casual acquaintances.

The majority of those who tried to sign up for vaccine appointments in the first part of the year went online to do so:  Despite early problems with  vaccine rollout  and  online registration systems , in the April survey tech problems did  not  appear to be major struggles for most adults who had tried to sign up online for COVID-19 vaccines. The survey explored Americans’ experiences getting these vaccine appointments and reveals that in April 57% of adults had tried to sign themselves up and 25% had tried to sign someone else up. Fully 78% of those who tried to sign themselves up and 87% of those who tried to sign others up were online registrants. 

When it comes to difficulties with the online vaccine signup process, 29% of those who had tried to sign up online – 13% of all Americans – say it was very or somewhat difficult to sign themselves up for vaccines at that time. Among five reasons for this that the survey asked about, the most common  major  reason was lack of available appointments, rather than tech-related problems. Adults 65 and older who tried to sign themselves up for the vaccine online were the most likely age group to experience at least some difficulty when they tried to get a vaccine appointment.

Tech struggles and usefulness alike vary by race and ethnicity.  Americans’ experiences also have varied across racial and ethnic groups. For example, Black Americans are more likely than White or Hispanic adults to meet the criteria for having “lower tech readiness.” 6 Among broadband users, Black and Hispanic adults were also more likely than White adults to be worried about paying their bills for their high-speed internet access at home as of April, though the share of Hispanic Americans who say this declined sharply since April 2020. And a majority of Black and Hispanic broadband users say they at least sometimes have experienced problems with their internet connection. 

Still, Black adults and Hispanic adults are more likely than White adults to say various technologies – text messages, voice calls, video calls, social media sites and email – have helped them a lot to stay connected with family and friends amid the pandemic.

Tech has helped some adults under 30 to connect with friends, but tech fatigue also set in for some.  Only about one-in-five adults ages 18 to 29 say they feel closer to friends they know well compared with before the pandemic. This share is twice as high as that among adults 50 and older. Adults under 30 are also more likely than any other age group to say social media sites have helped a lot in staying connected with family and friends (30% say so), and about four-in-ten of those ages 18 to 29 say this about video calls. 

Screen time affected some negatively, however. About six-in-ten adults under 30 (57%) who have ever made video calls in the pandemic say they at least sometimes feel worn out or fatigued from spending time on video calls, and about half (49%) of young adults say they have tried to cut back on time spent on the internet or their smartphone.

• Throughout this report, “parents” refers to those who said they were the parent or guardian of any children who were enrolled in elementary, middle or high school and who lived in their household at the time of the survey. ↩
• People with a high-speed internet connection at home also are referred to as “home broadband users” or “broadband users” throughout this report. ↩
• Family incomes are based on 2019 earnings and adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and for household sizes. Middle income is defined here as two-thirds to double the median annual family income for all panelists on the American Trends Panel. Lower income falls below that range; upper income falls above it. ↩
• A separate  Center study  also fielded in April 2021 asked Americans what the government is responsible for on a number of topics, but did not mention the coronavirus outbreak. Some 43% of Americans said in that survey that the federal government has a responsibility to provide high-speed internet for all Americans. This was a significant increase from 2019, the last time the Center had asked that more general question, when 28% said the same. ↩
• Quotations in this report may have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity. ↩
• There were not enough Asian American respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate analysis. As always, their responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout this report. ↩

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From Science to Arts, an Inevitable Decision?

The wonderful world of fungi, openmind books, scientific anniversaries, simultaneous translation technology – ever closer to reality, featured author, latest book, the impact of the internet on society: a global perspective, introduction.

The Internet is the decisive technology of the Information Age, as the electrical engine was the vector of technological transformation of the Industrial Age. This global network of computer networks, largely based nowadays on platforms of wireless communication, provides ubiquitous capacity of multimodal, interactive communication in chosen time, transcending space. The Internet is not really a new technology: its ancestor, the Arpanet, was first deployed in 1969 (Abbate 1999). But it was in the 1990s when it was privatized and released from the control of the U.S. Department of Commerce that it diffused around the world at extraordinary speed: in 1996 the first survey of Internet users counted about 40 million; in 2013 they are over 2.5 billion, with China accounting for the largest number of Internet users. Furthermore, for some time the spread of the Internet was limited by the difficulty to lay out land-based telecommunications infrastructure in the emerging countries. This has changed with the explosion of wireless communication in the early twenty-first century. Indeed, in 1991, there were about 16 million subscribers of wireless devices in the world, in 2013 they are close to 7 billion (in a planet of 7.7 billion human beings). Counting on the family and village uses of mobile phones, and taking into consideration the limited use of these devices among children under five years of age, we can say that humankind is now almost entirely connected, albeit with great levels of inequality in the bandwidth as well as in the efficiency and price of the service.

At the heart of these communication networks the Internet ensures the production, distribution, and use of digitized information in all formats. According to the study published by Martin Hilbert in Science (Hilbert and López 2011), 95 percent of all information existing in the planet is digitized and most of it is accessible on the Internet and other computer networks.

The speed and scope of the transformation of our communication environment by Internet and wireless communication has triggered all kind of utopian and dystopian perceptions around the world.

As in all moments of major technological change, people, companies, and institutions feel the depth of the change, but they are often overwhelmed by it, out of sheer ignorance of its effects.

The media aggravate the distorted perception by dwelling into scary reports on the basis of anecdotal observation and biased commentary. If there is a topic in which social sciences, in their diversity, should contribute to the full understanding of the world in which we live, it is precisely the area that has come to be named in academia as Internet Studies. Because, in fact, academic research knows a great deal on the interaction between Internet and society, on the basis of methodologically rigorous empirical research conducted in a plurality of cultural and institutional contexts. Any process of major technological change generates its own mythology. In part because it comes into practice before scientists can assess its effects and implications, so there is always a gap between social change and its understanding. For instance, media often report that intense use of the Internet increases the risk of alienation, isolation, depression, and withdrawal from society. In fact, available evidence shows that there is either no relationship or a positive cumulative relationship between the Internet use and the intensity of sociability. We observe that, overall, the more sociable people are, the more they use the Internet. And the more they use the Internet, the more they increase their sociability online and offline, their civic engagement, and the intensity of family and friendship relationships, in all cultures—with the exception of a couple of early studies of the Internet in the 1990s, corrected by their authors later (Castells 2001; Castells et al. 2007; Rainie and Wellman 2012; Center for the Digital Future 2012 et al.).

Thus, the purpose of this chapter will be to summarize some of the key research findings on the social effects of the Internet relying on the evidence provided by some of the major institutions specialized in the social study of the Internet. More specifically, I will be using the data from the world at large: the World Internet Survey conducted by the Center for the Digital Future, University of Southern California; the reports of the British Computer Society (BCS), using data from the World Values Survey of the University of Michigan; the Nielsen reports for a variety of countries; and the annual reports from the International Telecommunications Union. For data on the United States, I have used the Pew American Life and Internet Project of the Pew Institute. For the United Kingdom, the Oxford Internet Survey from the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, as well as the Virtual Society Project from the Economic and Social Science Research Council. For Spain, the Project Internet Catalonia of the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC); the various reports on the information society from Telefónica; and from the Orange Foundation. For Portugal, the Observatório de Sociedade da Informação e do Conhecimento (OSIC) in Lisbon. I would like to emphasize that most of the data in these reports converge toward similar trends. Thus I have selected for my analysis the findings that complement and reinforce each other, offering a consistent picture of the human experience on the Internet in spite of the human diversity.

Given the aim of this publication to reach a broad audience, I will not present in this text the data supporting the analysis presented here. Instead, I am referring the interested reader to the web sources of the research organizations mentioned above, as well as to selected bibliographic references discussing the empirical foundation of the social trends reported here.

Technologies of Freedom, the Network Society, and the Culture of Autonomy

In order to fully understand the effects of the Internet on society, we should remember that technology is material culture. It is produced in a social process in a given institutional environment on the basis of the ideas, values, interests, and knowledge of their producers, both their early producers and their subsequent producers. In this process we must include the users of the technology, who appropriate and adapt the technology rather than adopting it, and by so doing they modify it and produce it in an endless process of interaction between technological production and social use. So, to assess the relevance of Internet in society we must recall the specific characteristics of Internet as a technology. Then we must place it in the context of the transformation of the overall social structure, as well as in relationship to the culture characteristic of this social structure. Indeed, we live in a new social structure, the global network society, characterized by the rise of a new culture, the culture of autonomy.

Internet is a technology of freedom, in the terms coined by Ithiel de Sola Pool in 1973, coming from a libertarian culture, paradoxically financed by the Pentagon for the benefit of scientists, engineers, and their students, with no direct military application in mind (Castells 2001). The expansion of the Internet from the mid-1990s onward resulted from the combination of three main factors:

• The technological discovery of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee and his willingness to distribute the source code to improve it by the open-source contribution of a global community of users, in continuity with the openness of the TCP/IP Internet protocols. The web keeps running under the same principle of open source. And two-thirds of web servers are operated by Apache, an open-source server program.
• Institutional change in the management of the Internet, keeping it under the loose management of the global Internet community, privatizing it, and allowing both commercial uses and cooperative uses.
• Major changes in social structure, culture, and social behavior: networking as a prevalent organizational form; individuation as the main orientation of social behavior; and the culture of autonomy as the culture of the network society.

I will elaborate on these major trends.

Our society is a network society; that is, a society constructed around personal and organizational networks powered by digital networks and communicated by the Internet. And because networks are global and know no boundaries, the network society is a global network society. This historically specific social structure resulted from the interaction between the emerging technological paradigm based on the digital revolution and some major sociocultural changes. A primary dimension of these changes is what has been labeled the rise of the Me-centered society, or, in sociological terms, the process of individuation, the decline of community understood in terms of space, work, family, and ascription in general. This is not the end of community, and not the end of place-based interaction, but there is a shift toward the reconstruction of social relationships, including strong cultural and personal ties that could be considered a form of community, on the basis of individual interests, values, and projects.

The process of individuation is not just a matter of cultural evolution, it is materially produced by the new forms of organizing economic activities, and social and political life, as I analyzed in my trilogy on the Information Age (Castells 1996–2003). It is based on the transformation of space (metropolitan life), work and economic activity (rise of the networked enterprise and networked work processes), culture and communication (shift from mass communication based on mass media to mass self-communication based on the Internet); on the crisis of the patriarchal family, with increasing autonomy of its individual members; the substitution of media politics for mass party politics; and globalization as the selective networking of places and processes throughout the planet.

But individuation does not mean isolation, or even less the end of community. Sociability is reconstructed as networked individualism and community through a quest for like-minded individuals in a process that combines online interaction with offline interaction, cyberspace and the local space. Individuation is the key process in constituting subjects (individual or collective), networking is the organizational form constructed by these subjects; this is the network society, and the form of sociability is what Rainie and Wellman (2012) conceptualized as networked individualism. Network technologies are of course the medium for this new social structure and this new culture (Papacharissi 2010).

As stated above, academic research has established that the Internet does not isolate people, nor does it reduce their sociability; it actually increases sociability, as shown by myself in my studies in Catalonia (Castells 2007), Rainie and Wellman in the United States (2012), Cardoso in Portugal (2010), and the World Internet Survey for the world at large (Center for the Digital Future 2012 et al.). Furthermore, a major study by Michael Willmott for the British Computer Society (Trajectory Partnership 2010) has shown a positive correlation, for individuals and for countries, between the frequency and intensity of the use of the Internet and the psychological indicators of personal happiness. He used global data for 35,000 people obtained from the World Wide Survey of the University of Michigan from 2005 to 2007. Controlling for other factors, the study showed that Internet use empowers people by increasing their feelings of security, personal freedom, and influence, all feelings that have a positive effect on happiness and personal well-being. The effect is particularly positive for people with lower income and who are less qualified, for people in the developing world, and for women. Age does not affect the positive relationship; it is significant for all ages. Why women? Because they are at the center of the network of their families, Internet helps them to organize their lives. Also, it helps them to overcome their isolation, particularly in patriarchal societies. The Internet also contributes to the rise of the culture of autonomy.

The key for the process of individuation is the construction of autonomy by social actors, who become subjects in the process. They do so by defining their specific projects in interaction with, but not submission to, the institutions of society. This is the case for a minority of individuals, but because of their capacity to lead and mobilize they introduce a new culture in every domain of social life: in work (entrepreneurship), in the media (the active audience), in the Internet (the creative user), in the market (the informed and proactive consumer), in education (students as informed critical thinkers, making possible the new frontier of e-learning and m-learning pedagogy), in health (the patient-centered health management system) in e-government (the informed, participatory citizen), in social movements (cultural change from the grassroots, as in feminism or environmentalism), and in politics (the independent-minded citizen able to participate in self-generated political networks).

There is increasing evidence of the direct relationship between the Internet and the rise of social autonomy. From 2002 to 2007 I directed in Catalonia one of the largest studies ever conducted in Europe on the Internet and society, based on 55,000 interviews, one-third of them face to face (IN3 2002–07). As part of this study, my collaborators and I compared the behavior of Internet users to non-Internet users in a sample of 3,000 people, representative of the population of Catalonia. Because in 2003 only about 40 percent of people were Internet users we could really compare the differences in social behavior for users and non-users, something that nowadays would be more difficult given the 79 percent penetration rate of the Internet in Catalonia. Although the data are relatively old, the findings are not, as more recent studies in other countries (particularly in Portugal) appear to confirm the observed trends. We constructed scales of autonomy in different dimensions. Only between 10 and 20 percent of the population, depending on dimensions, were in the high level of autonomy. But we focused on this active segment of the population to explore the role of the Internet in the construction of autonomy. Using factor analysis we identified six major types of autonomy based on projects of individuals according to their practices:

a) professional development b) communicative autonomy c) entrepreneurship d) autonomy of the body e) sociopolitical participation f) personal, individual autonomy

These six types of autonomous practices were statistically independent among themselves. But each one of them correlated positively with Internet use in statistically significant terms, in a self-reinforcing loop (time sequence): the more one person was autonomous, the more she/he used the web, and the more she/he used the web, the more autonomous she/he became (Castells et al. 2007). This is a major empirical finding. Because if the dominant cultural trend in our society is the search for autonomy, and if the Internet powers this search, then we are moving toward a society of assertive individuals and cultural freedom, regardless of the barriers of rigid social organizations inherited from the Industrial Age. From this Internet-based culture of autonomy have emerged a new kind of sociability, networked sociability, and a new kind of sociopolitical practice, networked social movements and networked democracy. I will now turn to the analysis of these two fundamental trends at the source of current processes of social change worldwide.

The Rise of Social Network Sites on the Internet

Since 2002 (creation of Friendster, prior to Facebook) a new socio-technical revolution has taken place on the Internet: the rise of social network sites where now all human activities are present, from personal interaction to business, to work, to culture, to communication, to social movements, and to politics.

Social Network Sites are web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.

(Boyd and Ellison 2007, 2)

Social networking uses, in time globally spent, surpassed e-mail in November 2007. It surpassed e-mail in number of users in July 2009. In terms of users it reached 1 billion by September 2010, with Facebook accounting for about half of it. In 2013 it has almost doubled, particularly because of increasing use in China, India, and Latin America. There is indeed a great diversity of social networking sites (SNS) by countries and cultures. Facebook, started for Harvard-only members in 2004, is present in most of the world, but QQ, Cyworld, and Baidu dominate in China; Orkut in Brazil; Mixi in Japan; etc. In terms of demographics, age is the main differential factor in the use of SNS, with a drop of frequency of use after 50 years of age, and particularly 65. But this is not just a teenager’s activity. The main Facebook U.S. category is in the age group 35–44, whose frequency of use of the site is higher than for younger people. Nearly 60 percent of adults in the U.S. have at least one SNS profile, 30 percent two, and 15 percent three or more. Females are as present as males, except when in a society there is a general gender gap. We observe no differences in education and class, but there is some class specialization of SNS, such as Myspace being lower than FB; LinkedIn is for professionals.

Thus, the most important activity on the Internet at this point in time goes through social networking, and SNS have become the chosen platforms for all kind of activities, not just personal friendships or chatting, but for marketing, e-commerce, education, cultural creativity, media and entertainment distribution, health applications, and sociopolitical activism. This is a significant trend for society at large. Let me explore the meaning of this trend on the basis of the still scant evidence.

Social networking sites are constructed by users themselves building on specific criteria of grouping. There is entrepreneurship in the process of creating sites, then people choose according to their interests and projects. Networks are tailored by people themselves with different levels of profiling and privacy. The key to success is not anonymity, but on the contrary, self-presentation of a real person connecting to real people (in some cases people are excluded from the SNS when they fake their identity). So, it is a self-constructed society by networking connecting to other networks. But this is not a virtual society. There is a close connection between virtual networks and networks in life at large. This is a hybrid world, a real world, not a virtual world or a segregated world.

People build networks to be with others, and to be with others they want to be with on the basis of criteria that include those people who they already know (a selected sub-segment). Most users go on the site every day. It is permanent connectivity. If we needed an answer to what happened to sociability in the Internet world, here it is:

There is a dramatic increase in sociability, but a different kind of sociability, facilitated and dynamized by permanent connectivity and social networking on the web.

Based on the time when Facebook was still releasing data (this time is now gone) we know that in 2009 users spent 500 billion minutes per month. This is not just about friendship or interpersonal communication. People do things together, share, act, exactly as in society, although the personal dimension is always there. Thus, in the U.S. 38 percent of adults share content, 21 percent remix, 14 percent blog, and this is growing exponentially, with development of technology, software, and SNS entrepreneurial initiatives. On Facebook, in 2009 the average user was connected to 60 pages, groups, and events, people interacted per month to 160 million objects (pages, groups, events), the average user created 70 pieces of content per month, and there were 25 billion pieces of content shared per month (web links, news stories, blogs posts, notes, photos). SNS are living spaces connecting all dimensions of people’s experience. This transforms culture because people share experience with a low emotional cost, while saving energy and effort. They transcend time and space, yet they produce content, set up links, and connect practices. It is a constantly networked world in every dimension of human experience. They co-evolve in permanent, multiple interaction. But they choose the terms of their co-evolution.

Thus, people live their physical lives but increasingly connect on multiple dimensions in SNS.

Paradoxically, the virtual life is more social than the physical life, now individualized by the organization of work and urban living.

But people do not live a virtual reality, indeed it is a real virtuality, since social practices, sharing, mixing, and living in society is facilitated in the virtuality, in what I called time ago the “space of flows” (Castells 1996).

Because people are increasingly at ease in the multi-textuality and multidimensionality of the web, marketers, work organizations, service agencies, government, and civil society are migrating massively to the Internet, less and less setting up alternative sites, more and more being present in the networks that people construct by themselves and for themselves, with the help of Internet social networking entrepreneurs, some of whom become billionaires in the process, actually selling freedom and the possibility of the autonomous construction of lives. This is the liberating potential of the Internet made material practice by these social networking sites. The largest of these social networking sites are usually bounded social spaces managed by a company. However, if the company tries to impede free communication it may lose many of its users, because the entry barriers in this industry are very low. A couple of technologically savvy youngsters with little capital can set up a site on the Internet and attract escapees from a more restricted Internet space, as happened to AOL and other networking sites of the first generation, and as could happen to Facebook or any other SNS if they are tempted to tinker with the rules of openness (Facebook tried to make users pay and retracted within days). So, SNS are often a business, but they are in the business of selling freedom, free expression, chosen sociability. When they tinker with this promise they risk their hollowing by net citizens migrating with their friends to more friendly virtual lands.

Perhaps the most telling expression of this new freedom is the transformation of sociopolitical practices on the Internet.

Communication Power: Mass-Self Communication and the Transformation of Politics

Power and counterpower, the foundational relationships of society, are constructed in the human mind, through the construction of meaning and the processing of information according to certain sets of values and interests (Castells 2009).

Ideological apparatuses and the mass media have been key tools of mediating communication and asserting power, and still are. But the rise of a new culture, the culture of autonomy, has found in Internet and mobile communication networks a major medium of mass self-communication and self-organization.

The key source for the social production of meaning is the process of socialized communication. I define communication as the process of sharing meaning through the exchange of information. Socialized communication is the one that exists in the public realm, that has the potential of reaching society at large. Therefore, the battle over the human mind is largely played out in the process of socialized communication. And this is particularly so in the network society, the social structure of the Information Age, which is characterized by the pervasiveness of communication networks in a multimodal hypertext.

The ongoing transformation of communication technology in the digital age extends the reach of communication media to all domains of social life in a network that is at the same time global and local, generic and customized, in an ever-changing pattern.

As a result, power relations, that is the relations that constitute the foundation of all societies, as well as the processes challenging institutionalized power relations, are increasingly shaped and decided in the communication field. Meaningful, conscious communication is what makes humans human. Thus, any major transformation in the technology and organization of communication is of utmost relevance for social change. Over the last four decades the advent of the Internet and of wireless communication has shifted the communication process in society at large from mass communication to mass self-communication. This is from a message sent from one to many with little interactivity to a system based on messages from many to many, multimodal, in chosen time, and with interactivity, so that senders are receivers and receivers are senders. And both have access to a multimodal hypertext in the web that constitutes the endlessly changing backbone of communication processes.

The transformation of communication from mass communication to mass self-communication has contributed decisively to alter the process of social change. As power relationships have always been based on the control of communication and information that feed the neural networks constitutive of the human mind, the rise of horizontal networks of communication has created a new landscape of social and political change by the process of disintermediation of the government and corporate controls over communication. This is the power of the network, as social actors build their own networks on the basis of their projects, values, and interests. The outcome of these processes is open ended and dependent on specific contexts. Freedom, in this case freedom of communicate, does not say anything on the uses of freedom in society. This is to be established by scholarly research. But we need to start from this major historical phenomenon: the building of a global communication network based on the Internet, a technology that embodies the culture of freedom that was at its source.

In the first decade of the twenty-first century there have been multiple social movements around the world that have used the Internet as their space of formation and permanent connectivity, among the movements and with society at large. These networked social movements, formed in the social networking sites on the Internet, have mobilized in the urban space and in the institutional space, inducing new forms of social movements that are the main actors of social change in the network society. Networked social movements have been particularly active since 2010, and especially in the Arab revolutions against dictatorships; in Europe and the U.S. as forms of protest against the management of the financial crisis; in Brazil; in Turkey; in Mexico; and in highly diverse institutional contexts and economic conditions. It is precisely the similarity of the movements in extremely different contexts that allows the formulation of the hypothesis that this is the pattern of social movements characteristic of the global network society. In all cases we observe the capacity of these movements for self-organization, without a central leadership, on the basis of a spontaneous emotional movement. In all cases there is a connection between Internet-based communication, mobile networks, and the mass media in different forms, feeding into each other and amplifying the movement locally and globally.

These movements take place in the context of exploitation and oppression, social tensions and social struggles; but struggles that were not able to successfully challenge the state in other instances of revolt are now powered by the tools of mass self-communication. It is not the technology that induces the movements, but without the technology (Internet and wireless communication) social movements would not take the present form of being a challenge to state power. The fact is that technology is material culture (ideas brought into the design) and the Internet materialized the culture of freedom that, as it has been documented, emerged on American campuses in the 1960s. This culture-made technology is at the source of the new wave of social movements that exemplify the depth of the global impact of the Internet in all spheres of social organization, affecting particularly power relationships, the foundation of the institutions of society. (See case studies and an analytical perspective on the interaction between Internet and networked social movements in Castells 2012.)

The Internet, as all technologies, does not produce effects by itself. Yet, it has specific effects in altering the capacity of the communication system to be organized around flows that are interactive, multimodal, asynchronous or synchronous, global or local, and from many to many, from people to people, from people to objects, and from objects to objects, increasingly relying on the semantic web. How these characteristics affect specific systems of social relationships has to be established by research, and this is what I tried to present in this text. What is clear is that without the Internet we would not have seen the large-scale development of networking as the fundamental mechanism of social structuring and social change in every domain of social life. The Internet, the World Wide Web, and a variety of networks increasingly based on wireless platforms constitute the technological infrastructure of the network society, as the electrical grid and the electrical engine were the support system for the form of social organization that we conceptualized as the industrial society. Thus, as a social construction, this technological system is open ended, as the network society is an open-ended form of social organization that conveys the best and the worse in humankind. Yet, the global network society is our society, and the understanding of its logic on the basis of the interaction between culture, organization, and technology in the formation and development of social and technological networks is a key field of research in the twenty-first century.

We can only make progress in our understanding through the cumulative effort of scholarly research. Only then we will be able to cut through the myths surrounding the key technology of our time. A digital communication technology that is already a second skin for young people, yet it continues to feed the fears and the fantasies of those who are still in charge of a society that they barely understand.

These references are in fact sources of more detailed references specific to each one of the topics analyzed in this text.

Abbate, Janet. A Social History of the Internet. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999.

Boyd, Danah M., and Nicole B. Ellison. “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13, no. 1 (2007).

Cardoso, Gustavo, Angus Cheong, and Jeffrey Cole (eds). World Wide Internet: Changing Societies, Economies and Cultures. Macau: University of Macau Press, 2009.

Castells, Manuel. The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. 3 vols. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996–2003.

———. The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

———. Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

———. Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2012.

Castells, Manuel, Imma Tubella, Teresa Sancho, and Meritxell Roca.

La transición a la sociedad red. Barcelona: Ariel, 2007.

Hilbert, Martin, and Priscilla López. “The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information.” Science 332, no. 6025 (April 1, 2011): pp. 60–65.

Papacharissi, Zizi, ed. The Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Networking Sites. Routledge, 2010.

Rainie. Lee, and Barry Wellman. Networked: The New Social Operating System. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.

Trajectory Partnership (Michael Willmott and Paul Flatters). The Information Dividend: Why IT Makes You “Happier.” Swindon: British Informatics Society Limited, 2010. http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/info-dividend-full-report.pdf

Selected Web References.   Used as sources for analysis in the chapter

Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento. “Observatório de Sociedade da Informação e do Conhecimento (OSIC).” http://www.umic.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3026&Itemid=167

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. “Features, Press and Policy.” http://www.bcs.org/category/7307

Center for the Digital Future. The World Internet Project International Report. 4th ed. Los Angeles: USC Annenberg School, Center for the Digital Future, 2012. http://www.worldinternetproject.net/_files/_Published/_oldis/770_2012wip_report4th_ed.pdf

ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council). “Papers and Reports.” Virtual Society. http://virtualsociety.sbs.ox.ac.uk/reports.htm

Fundación Orange. “Análisis y Prospectiva: Informe eEspaña.” Fundación Orange. http://fundacionorange.es/fundacionorange/analisisprospectiva.html

Fundación Telefónica. “Informes SI.” Fundación Telefónica. http://sociedadinformacion.fundacion.telefonica.com/DYC/SHI/InformesSI/seccion=1190&idioma=es_ES.do

IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute). UOC. “Project Internet Catalonia (PIC): An Overview.” Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, 2002–07. http://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic/eng/

International Telecommunication Union. “Annual Reports.” http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/sfo/annual_reports/index.html

Nielsen Company. “Reports.” 2013. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/reports/2013.html?tag=Category:Media+ and+Entertainment

Oxford Internet Surveys. “Publications.” http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/oxis/publications

Pew Internet & American Life Project. “Social Networking.” Pew Internet. http://www.pewinternet.org/Topics/Activities-and-Pursuits/Social-Networking.aspx?typeFilter=5

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Effect of Internet on Student's Academic Performance and Social Life

E S Soegoto 1 and S Tjokroadiponto 2

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering , Volume 407 , International Conference on Informatics, Engineering, Science and Technology (INCITEST) 9 May 2018, Bandung, Indonesia Citation E S Soegoto and S Tjokroadiponto 2018 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 407 012176 DOI 10.1088/1757-899X/407/1/012176

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1 Departement Management, Universitas Komputer Indonesia, Indonesia

2 Departement Teknik Dan Ilmu Komputer, Universitas Komputer Indonesia, Indonesia

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The use of the internet has a huge impact on student achievement. This study was conducted to determine the effect of internet use on academic achievement, social life, and student activities in Bandung. This research will be very helpful for students, researchers, and curriculum developers to know the relationship of internet usage and academic achievement. This research was made by collecting the respondents from 2 Universities in Bandung, University Computer Indonesia and Institute Harapan Bangsa Technology. Respondents were randomly selected by 50 respondents. The results of this study can prove that the students' social life is influenced by the internet. Graphical representation of internet usage and its impact on students' social life shows that the use of the internet is very high, will minimize student social activity. This study shows that the use of the Internet for study purposes and academic achievement is directly proportional to each other while inversely proportional to student social life.

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Expanding research impact through engaging the maker community and collaborating with digital content creators

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Compliant Mechanisms Research Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States of America

Roles Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Roles Formal analysis, Visualization

Roles Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

• Jacob L. Sheffield, 
• Bethany Parkinson, 
• Aliya Bascom, 
• Terri Bateman, 
• Spencer Magleby, 
• Larry L. Howell

• Published: May 8, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

This paper proposes a method for increasing the impact of academic research by providing materials for public use, thus engaging the maker community, and by collaborating with internet content creators to extend the reach. We propose a framework for engagement and report a multi-year study that evaluates short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes, with a second effort to demonstrate repeatability of the short-term outcomes. In the first study, we posted forty-one 3D printable compliant mechanisms on public repositories and collaborated with physicist and content creator Derek Muller (Veritasium YouTube channel). Outputs and outcomes from this interaction were measured over 3 years. The framework was exercised again with four new 3D printable mechanisms in collaboration with engineer and STEM influencer Mark Rober. The proposed methods aim to help researchers extend the reach of their work to broader audiences, including professional engineers, hardware designers, educators, students, researchers, and hobbyists. This work demonstrates promising impacts of the framework, including (1) extending public awareness of research findings to broader audiences by engaging the maker community and collaborating with content creators, (2) accelerating the pace of innovation and further hardware-based research through public application of research findings, (3) fostering a culture of open-source design and collaboration among other researchers, engineers, educators, and makers, and (4) increasing utilization of peer-reviewed published content. These outreach practices can be valuable tools for researchers to increase impact of and excitement for their research.

Citation: Sheffield JL, Parkinson B, Bascom A, Bateman T, Magleby S, Howell LL (2024) Expanding research impact through engaging the maker community and collaborating with digital content creators. PLoS ONE 19(5): e0302449. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449

Editor: Van Thanh Tien Nguyen, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, VIET NAM

Received: November 27, 2023; Accepted: March 29, 2024; Published: May 8, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Sheffield et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting information files.

Funding: This work was made possible by the National Science Foundation (NSF, https://www.nsf.gov/) through Award No. 1663345, "Mechanisms on Developable Surfaces", awarded to LLH. This award included as part of its Broader Impacts component a task to engage the maker community. The sponsors did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Engineering research is often directed to research peers. However, researchers and their sponsors often desire for their results to make an impact beyond their peers. To the general public, research papers can be inaccessible and difficult to understand. Disseminating research generally requires the research results to be translated into formats that are accessible to broader audiences. In this paper, we propose that engaging the maker community through online design-sharing platforms and collaborating with digital content creators such as STEM influencers can widen and accelerate the impact of engineering research. Outreach and education that employ multimedia to present engineering research findings and connect with the public in innovative ways, such as displaying dynamic and hands-on engineering research artifacts in museums [ 1 ] or offering immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences [ 2 ] facilitate knowledge transfer and expand research opportunities [ 3 , 4 ]. The evolving media landscape [ 5 ] offers opportunities to enhance dissemination of research beyond what can be done solely through traditional academic publications. Technology, digital media, and the maker movement are transforming education [ 6 ] and offer excellent opportunities for researchers to disseminate their work in new ways. In this paper, we propose a framework for disseminating research to larger audiences and evaluate its effectiveness by exercising it in a case study. We measure the short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes of this case study, then repeat it and show similar short-term outcomes in a second case study. The history and motivation of the study were described previously by Howell and Bateman [ 7 ].

Sharing research results through contemporary avenues in parallel to traditional dissemination approaches can seed societal impact. Publicly providing open-source hardware (OSH) designs that can be 3D printed contributes hands-on tools for demonstrating key mechanical principles [ 8 ] and is a straightforward means for individuals to appreciate key concepts [ 9 ]. Engaging the maker community has untapped potential to advance scientific research and improve collaboration potential among researchers and the public [ 6 , 10 ].

Furthermore, educational science videos on digital platforms are shown to facilitate learning by providing simplified explanations, visual demonstrations, and personalized content [ 11 ]. Individuals use platforms like YouTube to educate themselves about science-related topics [ 12 , 13 ]. Many educators are adapting curriculum and learning materials to fit an evolving digital media landscape [ 14 ]. Researchers and the engineering academic community must also adapt. An equal effort in the preparation and dissemination of research is imperative to making broader impacts and finding future success.

Like other STEM outreach efforts, this work aims to engage, inspire, and educate the upcoming generation of scientists, engineers, and inventors [ 15 ]. The endmost goal of this outreach effort is to help broader audiences understand new technologies, employ greater creativity, and recognize how a specific technology can be applied in and expand various industries.

The content of this outreach project centers around a mechanical engineering research group that focuses on compliant mechanisms [ 16 ] and origami-inspired engineering [ 17 ]: the Compliant Mechanisms Research Group at Brigham Young University. This research is uniquely suited to demonstrate the functionality of mechanisms using 3D printable models. However, the concepts in this paper can be applied to various research types with varying degrees of modification.

The maker movement

The maker community is emerging as an influential contributor to instructional content and product design to help accelerate the adoption of new technologies and fabrication practices [ 18 ]. Professional designers, engineers, hobbyists, educators, and students increasingly use OSH resources from design-sharing repositories [ 19 – 24 ] and rely on resources from content creators to supplement formal instruction such as textbooks and peer-reviewed publications. The maker movement is built on the collection of emerging technologies and practices [ 25 ], which enables users to collaborate and create new products [ 26 , 27 ]. The movement represents a revolution in the product development process [ 28 ], with some referring to it as the third industrial revolution [ 29 , 30 ].

The participation of both ‘amateurs’ and ‘professionals’ in the design process to produce OSH was exemplified during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Hundreds of designers participated in the rush to create critical open-source personal protective equipment (PPE) [ 31 , 32 ]. The nature of open-source design-sharing platforms allowed for improved collaboration, continuous development, and design dissemination of PPE [ 33 – 36 ]. This trend in open-source hardware mirrors that of the open-source software (OSS) movement, which proved that a network of volunteers can write software code just as well as professional developers [ 37 ]. The OSH movement is similarly breaking down barriers between ‘amateurs’ and ‘professionals’—and thus enabling a growing group of citizen scientists—as design software and rapid prototyping technology become more accessible [ 38 ].

Lindtner et al. contend that “we have to take seriously these maker practices, not just as a hobbyist or leisure practice, but as a professionalizing field functioning in parallel to research and industry labs” [ 26 ]. Members of the maker community apply their experience to work on pursuits ranging from recreational DIY (do-it-yourself) projects to sophisticated engineering undertakings and product design [ 39 ].

Makerspaces are public, shared-access collaborative workspaces found inside schools, public libraries, or private facilities to make, learn, explore, and share [ 40 , 41 ]. They provide hands-on learning experiences through access to high-end manufacturing equipment and physical or digital prototyping resources. The scope and objectives of makerspace activities complement those of traditional education channels, such as schools [ 42 ], focusing on maker education and the notion of ‘making’ as a framework for learning [ 43 ]. The rapid growth of Makerspaces [ 44 ] and maker resources has been fueled by the availability and affordability of 3D printers, CNC machines, laser cutters, and other prototyping tools [ 45 , 46 ]. Online design-sharing repositories, like Thingiverse or Printables, provide online easy-to-access models that help support makers and makerspaces.

Design-sharing repositories vary in content type and the community demographics they attract. Platforms may provide 3D printable models and instructions for DIY projects for makers or technical models for engineers, designers, and animators. Some platforms engage the maker community and foster open collaboration by hosting industry-sponsored design competitions [ 47 ]. With over 2.5 million 3D models, Thingiverse (Ultimaker) [ 48 ] has the most extensive online 3D model repository and 3D printing community at the time of writing [ 49 ]. Printables (Prusa Research) is also a popular repository, with over half a million models. Users share open-source designs under a Creative Commons license which grants copyright permissions for creative and academic work [ 50 , 51 ].

Thingiverse was selected as the best option at the time of the first study to host the 3D printable models produced for this outreach experiment. Printables was added for the second study. Instructables, another popular online DIY design-sharing platform, hosts a wider variety of projects ranging from standalone 3D printable designs to complex instructional DIY projects. Instructables was used to host non-3D printable models, such as paper origami tutorials.

Digital content creators

Educational content creators produce digital media to facilitate the transfer of knowledge [ 13 ]. While an academic research group may be familiar with effective distribution channels to disseminate technical research results to the academic community, they traditionally have had limited channels or resources to reach broader audiences. To disseminate research results and knowledge more effectively, a university research group can collaborate with educational content creators with a substantial audience on social platforms. While in this case the CMR lab does not have a large following of its own, it is possible to create your own following and thus not have to rely on popular content creators to disseminate information.

Proposed framework

Fig 1 outlines a suggested structure for sharing research results through modern distribution platforms. This process complements traditional publication goals and includes: (1) conducting technical research, (2) publishing a conference or journal article, (3) publishing summarized key-findings to an online blog associated with the lab website, (4) uploading modified engineering models and resources, such as 3D printable models, to online design-sharing repositories, (5) distributing quality media on social media platforms, (6) collaborating with appropriate digital content creators, and (7) continually engaging with the community through online interactions when possible. Following this framework can lead to more effective dissemination, increasing awareness among broader audiences and creating lasting long-term societal and economic impacts.

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g001

Monitoring engagement success and tailoring future outreach efforts to align with preferred channels and materials that resonate with broader audiences can optimize this process.

Project activities that contributed to producing direct outputs are outlined in this section. See Fig A in S1 File for a summarized Project Logic Model. The impact of the project outputs was gauged by evaluating short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes. Short-term outcomes included traffic and engagement data from internal analytic tools on Thingiverse, Printables, and Instructables, CMR website traffic via Google Analytics, YouTube analytics of videos that are embedded on each of the maker repositories, and survey responses from Thingiverse visitors. Brigham Young University’s IRB has approved the research study and survey as exempt level, category 4. The survey did not request any identifying information, and the data were analyzed anonymously. The need for a consent form was waived by the IRB. Consent was implied through the non-obligatory nature of the survey.

Intermediate outcomes were evaluated with organic searching on social media and internet appearances with key search terms, Google Alerts, textbook distribution, and other internally evaluated metrics. Long-term outcomes were inferred with a secondary survey conducted two and a half years later to the same individuals who completed the initial survey.

Creating content

To create content that demonstrates this lab’s research, we modified engineering 3D models from previous and ongoing research to allow for ease of 3D printing and demonstration. We then uploaded the models to design-sharing platforms periodically both before and after collaborating with each influencer. The models were selected to exemplify novel engineering principles, teach specific skills, or promote innovative thinking to solve engineering problems.

Candidates for upload were evaluated against the following criteria:

• Does not infringe on prior intellectual property or contractual agreements with third-party sponsors
• Can be simplified for 3D printing or ease of replication
• Inspires creative problem-solving
• Demonstrates or teaches a specific engineering or design principle

Other considerations which may increase the likelihood of broader reach and positive reception include:

• Follows current trends or themes (e.g., holiday applications or connections to current events)
• Is tailored towards a specific content creator who can help promote the work
• Has a practical application

For future studies, it would be beneficial to measure which of these considerations made a model more attractive to the maker community.

We optimized the designs to allow makers to intuitively replicate the models with only basic equipment, materials, and fabrication processes. This required factoring in material limitations of common user-friendly filaments, particularly PLA (polylactic acid), and resolution constraints of entry-level FDM 3D printers. Although in an actual implementation, a model may require advanced materials, manufacturing methods, and hardware to achieve performance consistent with the design intent, the simplified outreach models still have comparable overall function and provide a hands-on experience.

An example of modifying a complex design for 3D printing is a model for a constant-force mechanism shown in Fig 2 . The original prototype was created to validate the initial research required various materials, hardware, and manufacturing methods. The modified design is one unique part that can be 3D printed with PLA on an entry-level 3D printer without the need for printed supports. The part is duplicated four times and assembled with compliant snap joints. Not including the print time, the active time it takes someone from downloading the part to assembling it is less than five minutes.

Comparison of (a) a constant-force mechanism model created for technical validation and inclusion in research publications, (b) a modified 3D printable and easy-to-assemble design for the maker community with (c) only one unique part replicated four times. The modified constant-force mechanism design requires less than five minutes of active attention from download to assembly.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g002

Models uploaded to design-sharing repositories were strengthened through the addition of quality media content such as high quality photos, animations, and videos. Generally, posts also included instructions for home printing, a description of the device, and learning opportunities. Linked references were also made to research articles showcasing applications, corresponding intellectual property, and supplementary reading material to encourage additional learning.

Revised lab website content

The technical content that was uploaded to the online design-sharing repositories was simplified to a form that is more accessible to the general public. Resources were also provided through the posts on maker repositories and through the research lab’s website ( https://compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/maker-resources ) to expand visitors’ knowledge. These included technical publications, videos, and examples.

Tutorials to facilitate sustainability

Since turnover of students in a typical university research lab is fairly high, tutorials and templates describing the process for prototyping and posting material onto maker spaces were created for the purpose of outlining a repeatable and sustainable process to help the next generation of students continue supporting the ongoing outreach strategy. They have been used extensively and to great benefit. The creation of such templates is recommended to create a cost-efficient and sustainable effort and to enable posted research to remain visually professional and cohesive to a general theme.

Collaboration with content creators

Many educational content creators are well-recognized and actively engage with broader audiences. Science and maker content creators with any number of followers on social media platforms routinely produce content inspired by past or ongoing engineering research. Many who interact with the work of content creators will never see a peer-reviewed journal article on the topic but rely on content creators and influencers for information and creative inspiration. For our outreach, we identified and collaborated with content creators who studied and were familiar with science and engineering, engaged with and were well received by the maker community, had a relatively large following that reflected the target audience demographics, and which have a reputation that aligned with that of the research group. For collaboration with content creators we have found that interacting with creators that have one or multiple of these attributes, respective to the research area pursued, creates a large impact on the outreach of content. We first collaborated with Derek Muller to discuss compliant mechanisms and his YouTube video was posted March 12, 2019. Later we collaborated with Mark Rober in creating the world’s smallest nerf gun; his video was posted September 30, 2023. With both content creators in this work, a mutually beneficial relationship was formed that resulted in the dissemination of accurate and ongoing research findings promoting broader impacts.

Maker resources.

At the time of writing, we have uploaded fifty-six 3D printable designs to maker repositories (Thingiverse and Printables) and nine projects to Instructables. Six examples of these 3D printable models are shown in Fig 3 . To support the model, we also uploaded lesson plans, descriptions, and short YouTube videos which complement the uploaded content.

(a) Bistable Compliant Mechanism. (b) Compliant Overrunning Clutch. (c) Oriceps: Origami-Inspired Forceps. (d) Linear-Motion Compliant Mechanism. (e) Compliant Centrifugal Clutch. (f) Bistable Compliant Switch.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g003

Video content creation.

In 2019, we identified and contacted several content creators with potential for collaboration. Derek Muller from the YouTube channel Veritasium (14.3M subscribers and 375 videos at the time of writing) agreed to the collaboration. The video “Why Machines That Bend Are Better” was released on March 12, 2019 [ 52 ]. The video featured an introduction to compliant mechanisms terminology, simplified explanations of the engineering principles involved, and demonstrations of compliant mechanisms. The CMR lab’s Thingiverse profile was referenced in the video, and a link to resources was included in the video description. This made it possible for viewers to download and print their own models as seen in the video. The primary data in this study are associated with this video because enough time has transpired to evaluate short, intermediate, and long-term impacts.

Four years later, the CMR lab was able to collaborate with YouTuber Mark Rober (26.6M subscribers and 126 videos at the time of writing). The work created over the course of this collaboration is posted in the video “World’s Smallest Nerf Gun Shoots an Ant” on his YouTube channel [ 58 ]. The increased publicity again drove considerable traffic to the maker resources (which had at this point expanded to include both Thingiverse and Printables), lab website, and published research. Only the short-term outcomes of this video are available at the time of writing this paper, and are included to demonstrate repeatability.

Short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes were measured to provide valuable insights into the overall impact of this outreach. First, the short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes are reported for the Veritasium collaboration. Then, short-term outcomes are also reported for the Mark Rober collaboration.

Short-term outcomes

The short-term outcomes of this outreach are the immediate results that followed the project activities and outputs. They include measured data such as total reach, views, and downloads. Short-term outcomes represent the number of people that saw or took immediate action from the outputs.

Content creation data.

Derek Muller published the video ‘Why Machines That Bend Are Better’ [ 52 ] on his YouTube channel, Veritasium, which accumulated over 11 million views in the first two years following the release. The increased publicity drove considerable traffic to the maker resources, lab website, and published research. Frequent spikes in traffic continue as more content creators, influencers, and individuals refer their followers to the outreach content across various platforms (see Fig 6c). The average number of new users, views, and downloads from organic traffic remain noticeably higher than before the outreach began.

Traffic and audience demographics.

Spread between the forty-one Thingiverse models posted before or in conjunction with the Veritasium video, nearly 600,000 views and 136,000 downloads were measured before September 2023. Additionally, over 35,000 views were counted between the eight models uploaded to Instructables. The number of downloads could not be measured internally on this platform. See 2 in 3 for a detailed view of the data pertaining to each uploaded model on Thingiverse and Instructables respectively.

Survey data revealed that 46% of visitors to the Thingiverse content described themselves as “hobbyists,” 37% as “students,” 12% as “professional engineers or designers”, and 5% as “educators” (see Fig 4a ). The hobbyist community is diverse, encompasses a wide range of interests and skill sets, and includes amateur engineers, small business owners, and DIY individuals.

(a) Demographics of maker repository users that viewed and downloaded models. (b) Distribution of education level of those who declared themselves as students. (c) Distribution of education level of those who declared themselves as educators. (d) Spread of educators who plan on using the maker resources in the classroom. (e) Age distribution of website users.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g004

The education level of students ranged from 70% in undergraduate or graduate school, 25% in high school, and 6% in middle or elementary school (see Fig 4b ). However, this and other dependent statistics may be biased by younger students being less likely to participate in a survey.

Educators represented 5% of all visitors. Educators are described as anyone involved with academics or facilitating the learning of others, including teachers, professors, librarians, school district directors, lab managers, and makerspace administrators. Fig 4c distinguishes the academic teaching level of participating educators and shows that 46% are undergraduate or graduate school professors, 36% are high school teachers, and 17% are middle or elementary school teachers. When asked if they intend to use the maker resources in the classroom, a reverse trend manifested with 83% of elementary school teachers, 44% of graduate school professors, and 20% of university undergraduate professors responding “yes” (see Fig 4d ).

An age distribution (see Fig 4e ) was obtained by using Google Analytics to track user traffic data from the research lab’s website, which serves as a landing page for the outreach resources and additional research information. Most website users were between the ages of 18 and 34, with the number of users decreasing with age. A gender distribution of respondents is also shown in Fig 5 . While there is a clear disparity, the gender breakdown is not unlike the current proportion typical of engineering. Current methods in use for decreasing the gender gap in STEM would also likely contribute to decreasing the gender gap in participants here.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g005

CMR website traffic escalated as a result of the outreach activities and outputs. The source of new users shifted from primarily direct and organic searches to referrals (see Fig 6a ). Site referrals originated from YouTube (88%), Thingiverse pages, and other social media platforms including Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, Reddit, and online blogs and forums. Visitors navigated the website for additional outreach resources, supplemental research information, and citations to published content. This pattern carries over to Thingiverse users as shown in Fig 6b with 75% of new visitors referred to the maker resources through social media, 15% from browsing Thingiverse, 3.9% from organic google searches, 3.6% from the CMR lab website, 1.5% from word of mouth, and 1.1% from published research articles.

(a) Website user referral sources. (b) Maker repository user referral sources. (c) Maker repository download statistics overlaid with CMR website traffic from July 2018 to Dec 2021. Data is shown on a logarithmic scale.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g006

Intermediate outcomes

The intermediate outcomes represent the secondary impacts that are triggered by short-term outcomes such as views and exposure.

Intentions to act.

Respondents answered questions about their intended purpose of downloading the compliant mechanisms maker resources. Fig 7a groups the responses. The vast majority (79%) downloaded the models to satisfy their curiosity. This curiosity, combined with the hands-on, engaging element, makes this dissemination method unique from traditional methods such as published journal articles. Other intended uses include using the models for experimentation (63%), personal use (24%), as a teaching tool (8%), and implementing compliant mechanisms for professional use (7%).

(a) The intended use of the compliant mechanisms outreach resources of those who downloaded models from Thingiverse. (b) Relative book distribution for Compliant Mechanisms . Book sales reported by the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. between 2001 and 2020. (c) Google search trends for “compliant mechanisms” between 2016 and 2022.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g007

Social media branching.

Other secondary online content creators and influencers rapidly began to reference the content found on Thingiverse and the Veritasium video. While Veritasium’s video was the result of direct interaction with the CMR lab, all secondary videos were created and uploaded without any direct interaction. Numerous secondary videos uploaded to YouTube by other channels featured components of the outreach work (models provided on maker repositories or other resources), resulting in at least another 4 million accumulated YouTube views within 2 years. Additional video topics ranged from design integration of uploaded 3D models, personal experiences printing the models, review videos, and recorded class presentations.

Online blogs, forums, news sources, social media accounts, and other digital content creators also referenced resources on Thingiverse, sparking discussions on online forums and in the comments sections. Examples include the Smithsonian Magazine referencing the Oriceps model on Thingiverse in an online article titled “How Origami Is Revolutionizing Industrial Design” [ 53 ]. A significant spike of downloads occurred on the Oriceps model following the post. As more secondary and tertiary outcomes materialize, additional spikes continue to occur, as shown in Fig 6c .

More important than the rapid increase of traffic following newly published content from creators is how the updated rolling average of new users, views, and downloads is higher each time after the initial excitement has settled. Rather than a one-time boost, awareness and search engine optimization (SEO) increase permanently, branching to new possibilities of distribution across the internet, social media platforms, professional organizations, and unique audiences. Continually adding to the supply of new content on these channels initiates growth by providing resources for educational content creators.

It is not feasible to track all branches and measure how they have made impacts, but identifiable ones indicate that the scale of impact is much larger than what can be directly linked. It only takes one maker (engineer, designer, educator, or student) to see a post to receive the inspiration to make a meaningful impact in our society. Posting content to online design-sharing platforms and working with content creators opens the door to increasing possibilities and impact.

Inspire new applications.

Under a creative commons license, supplied 3D models are remixed and re-uploaded by members of the maker community which further innovation and research [ 54 ]. Beyond downloading models and adapting them for unique applications, makers and researchers also find inspiration to create their own compliant mechanism designs. For example, one YouTuber uploaded a video of his design for a complex compliant mechanism flexure joystick and throttle and shared the open-source design files on Thingiverse [ 55 ]. The video outlined his design, provided others with tutorials to recreate the innovation, and garnered over 40,000 views. The creator shared with us privately that his inspiration came from the maker resources that the CMR lab provided.

Outreach resources also prompted academic researchers to further the research. One example of this is a group of researchers who reverse-engineered and analyzed the compliant pliers uploaded to Thingiverse to determine reliability and functionality when using common polymers for 3D printer filaments such as ABS, PLA, and TPU [ 56 ].

Increased textbook distribution.

Increased Compliant Mechanisms book distribution is correlated to the outreach efforts, which strengthens the claim that the maker community is an audience that is receptive and eager to utilize more advanced supplementary information. As seen in Fig 7b , book distribution jumped more than 700% relative to the previous fifteen years, rivaling sales at the book’s release, and corresponds to the release of material from content creators and engaging with the maker community.

Consistent terminology usage.

This outreach effort helped improve consistent accepted terminology among various communities. While select members of the academic community knew the technical term “compliant mechanism”, some of the engineering community, makers and the general public may describe a compliant mechanism using ad hoc terminology, making it difficult to cross-reference other applicable material, including peer-reviewed publications. One way to track the adoption of this terminology is through the change in usage over time using search data. We analyzed Google search trends and found that searches using key terms, such as “compliant mechanisms”, had increased from before the maker outreach was executed (see Fig 7c ).

Social media platforms like Instagram that use hashtags have become a platform for makers to share their work and ideas on compliant mechanisms in centralized areas. The hashtag #compliantmechanisms was nearly obsolete before this outreach. Now there are hundreds of posts from users sharing their own pictures and videos of compliant mechanisms, many of which are direct prints from models the CMR lab uploaded to maker repositories.

Opportunities for research funding.

The breadth of influence of the outreach meant that people in many areas saw potential benefits for the research in their fields. While most will use the work to influence their products directly, others reach out for help; a small subset of the outreach audience is potential research sponsors. New projects and applications for our research thus arise from outreach, which accelerates the work to have a greater impact.

Contributions by the maker community.

Depending on the nature of the technology, a research group may have technical expertise but need more practical experience possessed by members of the maker community and industry. Makers and industry experts may have experience and perspectives that surpass that in the research lab when finding practical applications, prototyping, and manufacturing methods. The potential integration of online communities with new product development and platforms like Thingiverse generates an innovation community that provides “rapid-response and instantaneous feedback concerning different innovation projects throughout the entire innovation process” [ 57 ].

On several of our models posted on maker repositories, makers have commented, produced videos, posted ideas about how to improve the designs, shared their attempts at economical prototyping, and contributed other valuable insights.

Long-term outcomes

Long-term outcomes consist of lasting impacts on broader communities due to the original outreach outputs and activities. The initial survey reported earlier indicated intentions to act, while a second follow-up survey helped determine if and how the individuals followed through two to three years following the initial exposure. This follow-up data indicates if any systematic behavior change has occurred. Of the 2,050 visitors who filled out the initial survey, 1,183 (58%) provided their email addresses to learn about compliant mechanisms or provide additional feedback. Of the provided contact information, 96% were valid emails; 48% of email recipients opened the follow-up message, and roughly 12% proceeded to fill out the brief survey.

Sustained familiarity with technical topic.

Similar to the first survey, responses to this second survey included students, educators, professional engineers and designers, and hobbyists. The survey questioned Thingiverse visitors how their familiarity with compliant mechanisms has changed since they were first exposed to the outreach content more than two years earlier. As shown in Fig 8a , over half of the respondents (51%) answered that they were “not at all familiar” with compliant mechanisms prior to discovering the outreach content. Meanwhile, two years later, a significant shift towards familiarity has been maintained, with the majority (95%), declaring that they are currently “somewhat” or “very familiar” with compliant mechanisms. The remaining (5%) stated they are only “slightly familiar”. This data suggests that the outreach efforts did more than bring temporary exposure but made a lasting impression with retained knowledge years later to broader audiences.

(a) Familiarity with the technical topic, compliant mechanisms, before discovering the outreach content on Thingiverse and now. (b) Thingiverse users agreement with the following statement: “The compliant mechanisms models and resources influenced you to act or think in new ways.” (c) Responses from Thingiverse users indicating what they have done differently as a result of finding the compliant mechanisms outreach resources.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g008

Influenced to act or think in new ways.

The outreach triggered audiences to act or think in new ways. Respondents proactively sought additional sources to increase their familiarity and confidence in employing compliant mechanism design principles for practical applications. Sixty-three percent of respondents agreed, and 29% strongly agreed that the models and resources influenced them to act or think in new ways ( Fig 8b ). Fig 8c categorizes and ranks “how” and “what” they have done. Eighty-four percent of respondents downloaded at least one of the compliant mechanism models on Thingiverse with 38% noting that they also created original designs, including ideas for personal DIY projects and commercialized products.

Referring others.

Three out of four survey respondents indicated that they introduced someone to compliant mechanisms. Methods of sharing, teaching, or making an impression on someone using compliant mechanisms included word-of-mouth discussions with colleagues, friends, and family (84%), posting on social media or an online blog (19%), student presentations (14%), work presentations (12%), and class lectures (9%) (see Fig 9a ). Evidence of primary visitors referring others to the outreach resources or compliant mechanism information became apparent through repeated spikes in visitor and model download traffic and prolonged increase of search trends.

(a) Referral methods carried out by Thingiverse users. (b) Estimate of how many people have seen or heard something respondents have said, posted, or shared about compliant mechanisms. (e.g., talked to, taught, saw a social media post, watched a YouTube video, listened to a presentation, read a blog post, etc.). The data is plotted on a logarithmic scale on the x-axis for the number of referrals.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g009

Respondents shared estimates of how many people have seen or heard something they have said, posted, or shared about compliant mechanisms. Fig 9b plots the data on a logarithmic scale showing the relationship between the percentage of Thingiverse visitors with the number of referrals they provided. The average number of referrals reported was 48.5 per person with a median and mode of 10.

Fig 10a displays the teaching level of educators who used compliant mechanisms outreach material for class lectures, student design projects, or as a teaching or demonstration tool. High school-level educators used the material the most often, with makerspace or lab advisors coming in second. Fig 10b breaks down the distribution of the various education levels of students that used compliant mechanisms for student presentations. Seventy-five percent of student presentations from survey respondents were from university undergraduate or graduate students, and the remaining twenty-five percent were from high school students.

(a) Distribution of the various teaching levels of educators who used the compliant mechanism outreach material for class lectures, student design projects, or a teaching/demonstration tool. (b) Distribution of the various education levels of students who used the compliant mechanism outreach material for student presentations.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g010

Other materials referenced.

Fig 11 categorizes the most common resources respondents reported referencing to seek supplemental knowledge about compliant mechanisms within the two years after seeing the outreach materials. Seventy percent of respondents searched for compliant mechanisms on social media sites, 50% discovered online articles and blogs, 15% obtained published journal or conference articles, 11% searched for online lectures, 10% bought or referenced the Handbook of Compliant Mechanisms , 6% bought or referenced the textbook Compliant Mechanisms , and 2% took a compliant mechanisms course. This data highlights that engaging broader audiences is an effective way to drive traffic and utilize published content. It also indicates that social media is a prevailing method that broader audiences rely on for discovering additional resources about an unfamiliar technical subject.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g011

Repeated study

The process of creating maker materials and collaborating with an internet content creator was repeated with engineering and STEM internet influencer Mark Rober. The Mark Rober YouTube channel had over 26 million subscribers and over 125 videos at the time of writing. The video “World’s Smallest Nerf Gun Shoots an Ant” was released September 30, 2023 [ 58 ]. The video featured a novel compliant mechanism design and provided an overview of the general technology. A reference to the CMR lab’s available maker resources was made in the video, and a link to the resources was included in the video description. The 3D printable models made previously were still available, but four new models were introduced specifically related to this video, as shown in Fig 12 . One of these, the compliant blaster ( Fig 12a , is the device that is a focus of the video (a one-piece compliant mechanism that can be built at multiple size scales). Second ( Fig 12b ) was a micromanipulator used in the project but not mentioned, and third ( Fig 12c ) was a Lego-compatible compliant mechanism not used on the project but mentioned in the video. Last, the compliant disk launcher ( Fig 12d ) uses the same basic components as the blaster, but could be more useful for educators because it looks less like a weapon. This device was not mentioned in the video but was available on the repositories.

(a) One-Piece Compliant Mechanism Blaster. (b) Micromanipulator. (c) Lego-Compatible Bistable Mechanism. (d) One-Piece Compliant Mechanism Disk Launcher.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g012

Each of these four models were posted immediately after the video. Table 1 shows the number of views and downloads for each model, compared to whether it was mentioned in the video and used in the project. The differences in these numbers allows us to isolate the impact of a model being mentioned in the video, used in the project, or simply being posted on the repository at the time of increased traffic. It is likely that the model which was neither used in the project nor mentioned in the video (the compliant disk launcher) received comparatively such a high number of views and downloads because of its similarity to the compliant blaster.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.t001

The Mark Rober video received 24 million views in the first month after its release. It was translated into 10 languages and views spanned dozens of countries. The four 3D printable models received a total of 363,378 views and 96,973 downloads on public repositories (Thingiverse and Printables) measured 25 days after video release. Table A in S1 File shows the number of downloads for each.

The 52 models available previous to this video had received a total of 511,738 views and 147,108 downloads since the maker space profiles were created and received an additional 37,423 views and 1,773 downloads during the 25 days following the release of the second video.

The CMR lab website saw an increase in viewership, with over 5,000 visits in the day the video was posted and an additional 15,000 in the following three weeks. Social media branching also occurred with other online content creators and influencers referencing the video and maker content. Among other topics, secondary videos included modifications and critiques of the maker resources provided. The terminology of compliant mechanisms also continued to spread to broader audiences. Google search trends were again analyzed and are seen in Fig 13a . “Compliant mechanisms” and related search terms increased after the video by 375%.

(a) Google searches from 2016 to Oct 2023. (b) Maker repository download statistics overlaid with CMR website traffic from Aug 2023 to Oct 2023. Data is shown on a logarithmic scale.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.g013

Book distribution is another measure of extending technical knowledge to larger audiences. Although official sales data on the related book were not yet available at the time of this writing (Oct 2023), there are indications that more people are learning from that resource also, such as being ranked in the top ten selling books on Amazon.com for the Mechanical Engineering topic area and the more general class of Engineering.

These short-term outcomes (maker resource views and downloads, Google searches, and lab website visits) mirror those experienced in the first instance, and suggest that similar intermediate and long-term outcomes will also emerge with time. It is also important to note that COVID-19, which began to initiate international lockdowns in early 2020, significantly increased the activity of people looking for content, including makers looking for models to create. This trend towards making has continued through the ensuing four years. This may be a factor influencing the greater numbers seen following the second video.

This case study demonstrates extending the impact of engineering research to broader communities by engaging the maker community and collaborating with digital content creators. Principal findings from this study include:

• Broader communities are receptive to research findings when communicated through contemporary dissemination channels. They are able to apply their new knowledge to make a difference.
• The maker community is a professionalizing field of collaborative individuals, including engineers and designers, students, educators, researchers, and skilled hobbyists.
• Collaboration with content creators catalyzes the dissemination of research results to interest individuals.
• Online design-sharing platforms are effective channels to reach the maker community.
• Leveraging contemporary distribution channels (e.g., social media, collaborating with content creators, online model repositories, and blogs) complements traditional academic distribution channels (e.g., academic papers, textbooks).
• Improving general public awareness of terminology promotes increased organic traffic to existing and new content on a subject.
• Academic research groups, citizen scientists, and industry professionals can benefit from insights from the maker community, such as prototyping methods and design applications.
• Engaging broader audiences with hands-on learning experiences, such as downloading and 3D printing an engineering model, is a strong driver to retain new knowledge and inspire individuals to think and act in new ways.
• The maker community is proactively referring others to technical resources.

Results from the first case study include measured short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes. Short-term outcomes, measurable across both case studies, showed that social media was the most effective referral method to maker resources and lab website landing pages. Intermediate outcomes for the first case study revealed the organic behavior of other individuals and content creators disseminating the outreach content to their network of followers resulting in a sustained increase in traffic. Secondary outcomes also suggest the complementary nature of mixing contemporary and traditional distribution channels. Increased engagement with the broader communities increased textbook dissemination and readership of peer-reviewed published content. A sustained shift in public awareness and search behavior using established terminology was also shown by analyzing Google Search trends over the past seven years. Long-term outcomes for the first case study were measured two and a half years after the outreach initiatives began, and displayed a sustained knowledge base among outreach recipients. Though not discussed in detail here, secondary long-term outcomes also suggest that increased exposure among broader audiences can lead to additional research sponsors.

Numerous examples show how the maker community uses the newly-found research knowledge from the outreach initiative for innovative applications and educational purposes. These makers then share their ideas on social platforms resulting in a perpetual growth cycle of hundreds, thousands, or millions of impressions among diverse communities. This readily available content curated for a wide range of demographics helps the next generation of students, educators, engineers, designers, and hobbyists to be more informed, share ideas, and implement novel applications in creative and timely ways. As academic research-inspired work grows on social platforms, the credibility and public awareness of the research group also can increase.

These outreach case studies have important implications for the academic and engineering research communities. The data suggests that the preferences of relevant audiences to quickly find new knowledge prioritizes contemporary dissemination channels (e.g., social media) over traditional methods (e.g., peer-reviewed publications). Research labs can adopt these distribution channels into their standard practices to ensure the continued distribution of high-quality, accurate, and relevant research findings. The concepts presented here are easily applicable to other areas of STEM. Biologists might make available models of cross-sections of a cell of interest, or paleontologists fossils relevant to their research, or mathematicians geometric representations of the theorems they research. Additionally, while this framework was developed using a US-based research lab, it is expected that similar strategies would be successful in other countries.

In a university research environment, this type of outreach work has additional benefit: it presents a way for newer students to be involved in making an immediate impact, while helping them gain a more in-depth understanding of the research area. This prepares them for more advanced work.

Limitations to this outreach initiative include the limited research labs that precisely match the niche characteristics to follow this framework. The Compliant Mechanisms Research Group at Brigham Young University produces mechanical hardware conducive to this framework. However, the general principles of engaging the maker community and content creators with hands-on learning opportunities are widely applicable with comparable impact potential. Additional limitations of the case studies include potentially biased results from a survey sample size that only partially represents the entire population of maker repository visitors. It is assumed that the observed sample size inherently includes a higher percentage of individuals more passionate about compliant mechanisms.

An evolving media landscape and growing public reliance on social and collaborative platforms to spread and discover knowledge offer researchers an opportunity to take advantage of contemporary dissemination strategies to broaden the impact of their research. The methods presented in this case study demonstrate the potential to accelerate engineering research distribution with scientific and broader communities. Collaborating with STEM-oriented digital content creators and using online design-sharing platforms to upload 3D models and educational resources such as instructional videos, lesson plans, and tutorials can supplement traditional publication methods by allowing broader audiences to access, learn, and replicate the work. While limitations exist, these outreach practices can be valuable tools for engineering researchers to extend the impact of their research by providing novel and engaging resources for education and outreach.

Supporting information

S1 file. fig a and tables a-b..

Figure A . Outcomes-focused project logic model which includes 1) Rationale/Needs : Our desired vision and what we hope our actions will result in, 2) Inputs : People, time, funds, and other resources dedicated to the success of the project, 3) Activities : The actions that are taken to achieve desired results, 4) Outputs : tangible direct products of project activities, and 5) Outcomes : Impacts and changes expected as a result of the project. Table A . Total downloads and views statistics for the fifty-seven 3D-printable models provided by maker repository analytics, retrieved the week of October 22, 2023. Table B . Total views statistics for the eight “Instructables” provided by Instructables analytics.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.s001

S1 Dataset. Raw data from survey results.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302449.s002

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Dennis Eggett from the Brigham Young University Department of Statistics Consulting Center for providing direction to accurately represent the data from this case study. We also thank Derek Muller and Mark Rober and his team for their collaboration and support as excellent STEM influencers and digital content creators. Various undergraduates from the CMR lab also contributed to the outreach materials, included Davis Wing, Trevor Carter, Audrey Christiansen, Lydia Beazer, and Amanda Lytle Bartschi.

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Man or bear? Hypothetical question sparks conversation about women's safety

Women explain why they would feel safer encountering a bear in the forest than a man they didn't know. the hypothetical has sparked a broader discussion about why women fear men..

If you were alone in the woods, would you rather encounter a bear or a man? Answers to that hypothetical question have sparked a debate about why the vast majority say they would feel more comfortable choosing a bear.

The topic has been hotly discussed for weeks as men and women chimed in with their thoughts all over social media.

Screenshot HQ , a TikTok account, started the conversation, asking a group of women whether they would rather run into a man they didn't know or a bear in the forest. Out of the seven women interviewed for the piece, only one picked a man.

"Bear. Man is scary," one of the women responds.

A number of women echoed the responses given in the original video, writing in the comments that they, too, would pick a bear over a man. The hypothetical has people split, with some expressing their sadness over the state of the world and others cracking jokes. Some men were flabbergasted.

Here's what we know.

A bear is the safer choice, no doubt about it, many say

There were a lot of responses, more than 65,000, under the original post. Many wrote that they understood why the women would choose a bear.

"No one’s gonna ask me if I led the bear on or give me a pamphlet on bear attack prevention tips," @celestiallystunning wrote.

@Brennduhh wrote: "When I die leave my body in the woods, the wolves will be gentler than any man."

"I know a bear's intentions," another woman wrote. "I don't know a man's intentions. no matter how nice they are."

Other TikTok users took it one step further, posing the hypothetical question to loved ones. Meredith Steele, who goes by @babiesofsteele , asked her husband last week whether he would rather have their daughter encounter a bear or a man in the woods. Her husband said he "didn't like either option" but said he was leaning toward the bear.

"Maybe it's a friendly bear," he says.

Diana, another TikTok user , asked her sister-in-law what she would choose and was left speechless.

"I asked her the question, you know, just for giggles. She was like, 'You know, I would rather it be a bear because if the bear attacks me, and I make it out of the woods, everybody’s gonna believe me and have sympathy for me," she said. "But if a man attacks me and I make it out, I’m gonna spend my whole life trying to get people to believe me and have sympathy for me.'"

Bear vs. man debate stirs the pot, woman and some men at odds

The hypothetical has caused some tension, with some women arguing that men will never truly understand what it's like to be a woman or the inherent dangers at play.

Social media users answered this question for themselves, producing memes, spoken word poetry and skits in the days and weeks since.

So, what would you choose?

This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Published on 8.5.2024 in Vol 26 (2024)

Characteristic Changes of the Stance-Phase Plantar Pressure Curve When Walking Uphill and Downhill: Cross-Sectional Study

Authors of this article:

Original Paper

• Christian Wolff 1 , MSc   ; 
• Patrick Steinheimer 2 , MSc   ; 
• Elke Warmerdam 3 , MSc, PhD   ; 
• Tim Dahmen 1 , MSc, PhD   ; 
• Philipp Slusallek 1 , MSc, PhD   ; 
• Christian Schlinkmann 1 , MSc   ; 
• Fei Chen 1 , MSc   ; 
• Marcel Orth 2 , MD, PhD   ; 
• Tim Pohlemann 2 , MD, PhD   ; 
• Bergita Ganse 2, 3 , MD, PhD  

1 German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Saarbrücken, Germany

2 Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, Departments and Institutes of Surgery, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany

3 Innovative Implant Development (Fracture Healing), Departments and Institutes of Surgery, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar, Germany

Corresponding Author:

Bergita Ganse, MD, PhD

Innovative Implant Development (Fracture Healing)

Departments and Institutes of Surgery

Saarland University

Kirrberger Straße 1

Building 57

Homburg/Saar, 66421

Phone: 49 684116 ext 31570

Email: [email protected]

Background: Monitoring of gait patterns by insoles is popular to study behavior and activity in the daily life of people and throughout the rehabilitation process of patients. Live data analyses may improve personalized prevention and treatment regimens, as well as rehabilitation. The M-shaped plantar pressure curve during the stance phase is mainly defined by the loading and unloading slope, 2 maxima, 1 minimum, as well as the force during defined periods. When monitoring gait continuously, walking uphill or downhill could affect this curve in characteristic ways.

Objective: For walking on a slope, typical changes in the stance phase curve measured by insoles were hypothesized.

Methods: In total, 40 healthy participants of both sexes were fitted with individually calibrated insoles with 16 pressure sensors each and a recording frequency of 100 Hz. Participants walked on a treadmill at 4 km/h for 1 minute in each of the following slopes: −20%, −15%, −10%, −5%, 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. Raw data were exported for analyses. A custom-developed data platform was used for data processing and parameter calculation, including step detection, data transformation, and normalization for time by natural cubic spline interpolation and force (proportion of body weight). To identify the time-axis positions of the desired maxima and minimum among the available extremum candidates in each step, a Gaussian filter was applied (σ=3, kernel size 7). Inconclusive extremum candidates were further processed by screening for time plausibility, maximum or minimum pool filtering, and monotony. Several parameters that describe the curve trajectory were computed for each step. The normal distribution of data was tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests.

Results: Data were normally distributed. An analysis of variance with the gait parameters as dependent and slope as independent variables revealed significant changes related to the slope for the following parameters of the stance phase curve: the mean force during loading and unloading, the 2 maxima and the minimum, as well as the loading and unloading slope (all P <.001). A simultaneous increase in the loading slope, the first maximum and the mean loading force combined with a decrease in the mean unloading force, the second maximum, and the unloading slope is characteristic for downhill walking. The opposite represents uphill walking. The minimum had its peak at horizontal walking and values dropped when walking uphill and downhill alike. It is therefore not a suitable parameter to distinguish between uphill and downhill walking.

Conclusions: While patient-related factors, such as anthropometrics, injury, or disease shape the stance phase curve on a longer-term scale, walking on slopes leads to temporary and characteristic short-term changes in the curve trajectory.

Introduction

Long-term monitoring of gait patterns and plantar-pressure distributions via insoles are increasingly popular ways to study behavior and activity in the field and in the everyday lives of people and patients, including healing, personalized prevention, and treatment or disease progression [ 1 - 3 ]. In recent years, the usability of instrumented insoles for gait analyses has increased. Several technical issues could be resolved, including calibration, hysteresis and drift, durability, usability, limited energy supply and battery life, data storage capacity, and the restriction to low sample frequencies associated with higher error rates, that is, when force peaks are missed [ 3 - 5 ]. The usability of instrumented insoles is currently still limited by difficulties in data analysis. Advanced algorithms and tools are needed and currently developed to be able to draw meaningful conclusions from such insole gait data [ 6 , 7 ]. When analyzing long-term field data and developing smart health care innovations, automated data annotation is desirable to determine and quantify the activities a person has conducted. Ideally, the activity type can be determined algorithmically from the plantar pressure data alone.

Characteristic gait changes have been reported for walking on slopes, such as changes in the contribution of the ankle joint to leg work [ 8 ]. In addition, uphill walking on a treadmill increases hip and knee flexion angles during the stance phase, as well as the forward tilt of the thorax [ 9 ]. Furthermore, a decrease in dorsiflexion was observed during downhill walking at initial contact, in midstance, and during the second half of the swing phase [ 9 ]. During uphill walking with increasing inclination, more positive joint work was identified for the ankle and hip joint, while negative joint work increased during downhill walking [ 10 ]. Older individuals were shown to have a disproportionate recruitment of hip muscles and smaller increases in activity of the medial gastrocnemius muscle with steeper uphill slopes than younger adults, resulting in difficulty walking on steep slopes [ 11 ].

The M-shaped curve of ground reaction forces or plantar pressure during the stance phase is mainly defined by the loading and unloading slope, 2 maxima, 1 minimum, as well as the force during defined periods [ 12 ]. When monitoring gait continuously via insoles, walking uphill or downhill on a slope could affect the gait cycle curve in characteristic ways. If these typical changes were known, one could correct for such confounders when analyzing insole data. We hypothesized that walking on a slope generates typical changes in the plantar pressure stance phase curve that vary between uphill and downhill walking.

Study Design

This study is part of the project Smart Implants 2.0—Weight-bearing and Gait Observation for Early Monitoring of Fracture Healing and Individualized Therapy after Trauma, funded by the Werner Siemens Foundation. It was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00025108).

Ethical Considerations

Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of Saarland Medical Board (Ärztekammer des Saarlandes, 30/21).

Data Collection

Inclusion criteria were the ability to walk on a treadmill, and aged 18 years and older. Exclusion criteria were aged under 18 years, use of walking aids, inability to give consent, pregnancy, immobility, and previous injury of the lower legs or pelvis. The aim was to collect data from healthy volunteers.

The healthy participants of both sexes (none of them identified as diverse) were fitted with individually calibrated OpenGO insoles (Moticon GmbH) with 16 pressure sensors in each insole to be used in regular running shoes. Calibration to the individual body weight was conducted using the Moticon OpenGO app by letting the participants walk and shift their body weight in a standardized way. The insole size was selected to fit the individual participant’s shoe size. Measurements were conducted with a recording frequency of 100 Hz in the record mode of the device. Raw data were exported for analyses. The participants walked on a treadmill at 4 km/h (Mercury, HP Cosmos) for 1 minute while insole data were collected with 3-minute breaks for recovery. Recordings were obtained for slopes of −20%, −15%, −10%, −5%, 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. The participants were asked to walk for 1 minute straight, and recording was only commenced when the walking was already in progress to avoid bias by including altered steps upon gait initiation.

Data Processing

The pressure readings of the force sensors in the insole device yield a weighted sum as a total vertical ground reaction force reading. To compute the force, every summand is weighted by its sensor area and a respective scaling factor accounting for the sensor’s surrounding area, as well as gaps between sensors that depend on the insole size. This process is conducted by the Moticon software as an automated processing step before file export. Insole data were exported as described previously [ 13 , 14 ]. A custom-developed data platform was then used for further processing and parameter calculation, in which step detection was conducted as follows. The stance phases were identified and extracted from the time series data by considering any activity with consecutive force readings above 30 N. A tolerance of up to 3 missing values was implemented to account for possible recording issues. Any activity with a duration of less than 300 milliseconds or more than 2000 milliseconds was discarded. Both the force and time axes were normalized. Force readings were transformed from Newton to a proportion of the body weight of the respective participant. Of note, as plantar pressure was measured instead of weight, due to acceleration, values regularly exceeded the body weight for peak load-bearing instances. Normalizing the time axis was more complex, as the lack of a fixed cadence resulted in varying step lengths and thus differing numbers of true measurement points for each step. Therefore, a natural cubic spline interpolation was conducted on the original raw data. Based on the resulting curve for each stance phase, 100 equidistant samples were taken, resulting in an interpolated force measurement point for every 1% of the overall stance phase length. This approach accounted for the lower recording frequency and higher sensor noise inherent to the insoles when compared with other gait measuring devices, such as sensor-equipped treadmills or force plates. Parameters that describe the trajectory of the stance phase curve are usually based on or derived from the characteristic local extrema, that is, the first and second force peak and the local minimum in-between force peaks. These maxima and the minimum are used as parameters themselves to describe the curve trajectory [ 13 ]. Sensor jitter may lead to the existence of multiple ambiguous candidates for the named extrema. As a solution to this, a Gaussian filter was applied to the original raw data in a repetition of the normalization process. The applied filtering strategy (σ=3, kernel size 7) was chosen to prioritize the elimination of extrema ambiguity at the expense of signal precision. This can result in overcorrection in areas with higher signal volatility, mostly at the start and end of the stance phase. Hence, to avoid loss of high-frequency detail, the filtered and normalized curve was not used for parameter analysis, but only to determine unambiguous time-axis positions (indices) for the extremum candidates. These indices were then reapplied to the nonfiltered, normalized data to identify the corresponding plantar pressure measurement closest to the original raw data. In case the use of the filtered data still led to inconclusive extremum candidates, the following additional detection strategies were applied in the named order: (1) time plausibility: extremum candidates occurring within the first or last 10 indices (first/last 10% of overall time span) were eliminated; (2) maximum or minimum-pool filtering: should multiple extremum candidates occur within a pool size of 5 indices (equals to 5% of overall time span), the candidate with the highest or lowest force value was chosen; (3) monotony-check: in case of multiple remaining extremum candidates, candidates where the curve did not display a strict monotonous decrease or increase in both directions within 5 indices each were eliminated; and (4) monotony grace: in case the monotony check had eliminated too many candidates (less than 2 maximum candidates or less than 1 minimum candidate remaining), the eliminated candidates were reinstated in descending order of their highest achieved monotony distance until the target number of candidates was reached.

After applying these strategies, every stance activity that remained with an irregular amount of unambiguous extremum candidates was removed from the data set. In total, 585 load-bearing events were excluded as not fitting the strict parameter definitions.

For each participant, across the minute of walking all stance phase curves were extracted. The parameters illustrated in Figure 1 were calculated for each stance phase and used to analyze changes in the trajectory of the stance phase curve. To do so, data from both feet were pooled. The curve is mainly described by 2 maxima and a minimum in between the maxima, Fz2 (the first maximum), Fz3 (the minimum), and Fz4 (the second maximum). The mean force over the entire stance phase is referred to as Fmean stance . The mean force between the start of the loading phase and Fz2 is Fmean load . The mean force between Fz2 and Fz4 is Fmean mid . The mean force between Fz4 and the end of the unloading phase is Fmean unload . All these parameters have the unit percent body weight. In addition, the loading and unloading slope have the units percent body weight or percent stance phase duration. The loading slope was computed as the slope of the line defined by the start of the loading phase and the first force reading equal to or higher than 80% of Fz2. The unloading slope was calculated as the slope of the line defined by the first force reading in the unloading phase below 80% of Fz4 and the end of the stance phase event.

Statistical Analyses

Statistical tests were executed with SPSS Statistics (version 29; IBM Corp). Significance was defined as P <.05. The normal distribution of data was tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests. A linear regression analysis of variance was conducted for each of the gait parameters as the dependent variable, with the slope (−20% to 20%) as the independent variable. Mean values and SD are reported. Linear regression slopes are reported for comparability and to allow for correction, even though for some of the parameters other but differing regression types yielded higher R 2 values. The sample size of 40 was an estimate based on what is common in the field, and taking into account the aim to measure a very diverse group of volunteers. An a priori sample size calculation was not conducted due to a lack of comparable data.

Measurements were taken from 40 healthy participants (19 women and 21 men) with an average age of 43.90 (SD 17.30, range 18-87) years. Participant characteristics are summarized in Table 1 . Data were successfully recorded for all of the participants and slope levels, resulting in a complete data set ( Multimedia Appendix 1 ).

Data were normally distributed. Figure 2 visualizes the differences between the analyzed slope values on the stance phase curve. Figure 3 shows the normalized changes in the analyzed parameters with the slope of the treadmill. The analysis of variance revealed significant changes with the slope for Fmean load , Fmean unload , Fz2, Fz3, Fz4, loading and unloading slope (all P <.001). There was no significant correlation of the slope with Fmean stance ( P =.98) and Fmean mid ( P =.13). Other than the other parameters with significant changes related to slope, Fz3 had its peak at horizontal walking and values dropped when walking uphill and downhill alike. Thus, a simultaneous and short-term increase in loading slope and Fmean load combined with a decrease in Fmean unload , Fz2, Fz4, and the unloading slope indicates downhill walking, while the opposite indicates uphill walking. Fz3 is not a suitable parameter to distinguish between uphill and downhill walking, as its value decreases both when walking uphill as well as downhill. Mean values and the SD of the analyzed parameters for each treadmill slope level in absolute values are displayed in Table 2 . Table 3 indicates the linear regression slopes and R 2 -values for each of the curves shown in Figure 3 .

a Fmean stance : the mean force over the entire stance phase.

b Fmean load : the mean force between the start of the loading phase and Fz2.

c Fmean mid : the mean force between Fz2 and Fz4.

d Fmean unload : the mean force between Fz4 and the end of the unloading phase.

e Fz2: the first maximum.

f Fz3: the minimum.

g Fz4: the second maximum.

Principal Results

This study identified characteristic changes when walking with an uphill or downhill slope in insole plantar pressure data of healthy participants. The most pronounced changes with treadmill slope were found in the loading slope of the curve. A typical combination of changes in several parameters was reported that defines uphill and downhill walking and may be used for annotation and correction when analyzing such data. These changes in the trajectory of the force curve with different surface slopes relative to the force vector of Earth’s gravity are related to changes in plantar load distribution. When walking downhill, Fz2 was found to be higher compared to when walking uphill, which is caused by the more pronounced force transfer through the heel of the foot, followed by a lower second maximum due to the even lower surface at push-off.

While patient-related factors, such as curve characteristics related to body size, muscle power, degenerative disease, etc, would remain constant throughout an insole measurement, fatigue-related changes [ 15 ] may increasingly appear and then stay toward the later stages of a recording of a walking bout. Additionally, age, body height, body weight, BMI, and handgrip strength were shown to cause characteristic changes in the plantar pressure force curve, that would usually only change on a long-term scale [ 16 ]. In contrast, as shown in the present data set, walking on slopes leads to temporary and characteristic changes in specific properties of the stance-phase curve. Changes over time in the identified parameters should thus be considered and correctly interpreted when studying long-term field gait data collected via insoles. To analyze the healing process, that is, after an injury, slow changes in parameters would be expected, and a trend toward what is considered normal over several weeks [ 17 ]. Short-term changes over minutes or hours would thus not be explainable by the healing progress and should have a different cause. In addition, the asymmetry between the legs should slowly decrease throughout healing [ 18 ]. When walking on a slope, asymmetry could also be affected, if the injury causes increasing problems such as pain when walking uphill or downhill. It is also recommendable to identify the characteristics of walking with walking aids, such as crutches, to be able to classify the nature of the observed changes and the treatment stage better.

Limitations

Effects of walking speed were not analyzed in this study, even though it is known that lower extremity joint loading is affected by varying step length and cadence during graded uphill and downhill walking [ 19 ]. These parameters, however, do not seem to be necessary to successfully annotate gait data obtained by insoles. For participant or patient convenience, it would be desirable if insoles did not need to be combined with further devices or wearables. The present data suggest that at least the identification of walking on slopes does not require further sensors. It is also known that kinematic, kinetic, and electromyographic parameters differ between treadmill walking and overground gait, while spatiotemporal, kinematic, kinetic, electromyographic, and energy consumption outcome measures are largely comparable [ 20 ]. Another limitation of this study is that the parameters analyzed here can only be used when a regular gait curve is present. If this is not the case, other methods need to be applied, that is, machine learning for step detection and segmentation or the analysis of further parameters, possibly slopes and averages, or differences between individual sensors [ 21 ]. Differences between the 16 sensors embedded in each insole were not analyzed in this study and could be assessed in the future, for example, to distinguish between ground types (gravel, sand, etc). Another limitation is that the present characteristic changes that were assessed in healthy participants may differ for patients with gait disorders, depending on their disease or injury type. It will therefore be important to collect longitudinal data on different slopes from patients with defined diseases and injuries throughout the healing process or throughout different disease stages. These studies would serve to identify if the reported findings are valid also for patients, and for which patient groups this is true.

Use of Wearables in Patients

The insole technology and present data may be valuable in real-world settings when investigating changes in mechanical properties during walking, that is, in occupational health research, sport and exercise science, for urban planning, and to plan inclusive architecture. For instance, the global average slope of urban areas is about 3.70° [ 22 ]. Wearables such as pressure insoles are increasingly used to study gait and movement, as well as for fall detection, fall classification, and fall risk assessment in the daily life of patients, and furthermore for lifestyle and health monitoring [ 1 , 3 , 23 - 27 ]. Long-term monitoring, especially if combined with additional sensors, may produce large amounts of data that require advanced strategies for analyses. Apart from regression statistics, among the options is the use of machine learning algorithms trained with annotated data for pattern recognition [ 24 , 26 ]. For longer-term monitoring of patients, it would be desirable if such algorithms were trained to identify various key activities of daily life that might indicate the level of healing progress. For example, when a patient with a tibial fracture is capable of cycling again, this is likely an indication for advances in the healing process. It would also be of interest to identify risky behavior, possibly leading to excessive forces, and to warn the patient by giving, for example, an audible or haptic warning signal. To guarantee meaningful data interpretation, machine learning may be combined with conventional regression-based analyses, such as the ones proposed in this paper to best tackle data complexity. Furthermore, prediction algorithms could be implemented for falls and diseases that enable more refined individual recommendations. Ideally, such interventions would be based on live data analyses. Limitations in the computing power of small wearable devices can increasingly be mitigated by both algorithmic optimization techniques in machine learning, such as dimensionality reduction, reservoir computing, and network pruning, as well as hardware innovations [ 27 , 28 ]. In the near future, such advances will likely allow real-time feedback based on data from various sources combined [ 29 , 30 ]. Alternatively, extracting decision-making systems (symbolic artificial intelligence), such as threshold-based methods, might offer an immediate route to real-time feedback.

Sensors in Orthoses and Implants

Apart from insoles, very similar data might be collected from mechanical sensors embedded in orthoses [ 31 ] or implants [ 32 ]. Potentially, walking on a slope in these recordings changes the data in similar ways as described here. It would be highly desirable if patients did not need to use separate wearables such as insoles anymore, but if orthoses and implants had sensors embedded, not only to monitor healing progress but also to identify healing problems or complications and the need for surgical revision [ 33 ]. If similar load data could be collected by sensors in artificial hip or knee joints, or potentially even by plates or nails that stabilize bone fractures, recovery regimen could be monitored continuously and advice given on time [ 34 ]. Alarms could go off if forces exceeded certain thresholds or if live pattern analyses revealed unfavorable patterns known to be associated with exceeding forces or problems. As these developments seem to have a high potential with regard to rehabilitation and postoperative treatment, data analyses of insole data should be further studied and ideally, details such as algorithms and characteristics should be published to enable for the further development and widespread application of the named interventions.

Conclusions

Characteristic changes in the plantar-pressure stance phase curve were identified, which reflect uphill and downhill walking. Automated annotation and continuous analyses of gait data via wearables could enable improved rehabilitation and feedback systems for prevention and treatment. A combination of traditional regression statistics embedded in heuristics combined with artificial intelligence methods may yield the best results.

Acknowledgments

The Werner Siemens Foundation (project Smart Implants 2.0) funded this work. The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Aynur Gökten and Jacqueline Orth during the measurements, as well as the help of Lisa-Marie Jost in designing Figure 1 .

Authors' Contributions

CW contributed to the data processing platform, data analysis, methods, and Figure 2 . P Steinheimer conducted the measurements. BG contributed to the idea; ran the statistical analyses; interpreted the data; made the tables; and drafted, submitted, and revised this paper. TD, CS, and FC took part in the data platform implementation. EW, TD, P Slusallek, CS, FC, MO, and TP helped with data interpretation. All authors have contributed to this paper’s drafting and revision, and read and approved the submitted version of this paper.

Conflicts of Interest

TP is President and Board Member of the AO-Foundation, Switzerland, and Extended Board Member of the German Society of Orthopedic Trauma Surgery (DGU), the German Society of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology (DGOU), and the German Society of Surgery (DGCH). TP is also the speaker of the Medical Advisory Board of the German Ministry of Defence. The other authors do not have a conflict of interest.

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Abbreviations

Edited by G Eysenbach, T Leung; submitted 24.01.23; peer-reviewed by M Kraus, S Okita; comments to author 21.12.23; revised version received 11.01.24; accepted 17.02.24; published 08.05.24.

©Christian Wolff, Patrick Steinheimer, Elke Warmerdam, Tim Dahmen, Philipp Slusallek, Christian Schlinkmann, Fei Chen, Marcel Orth, Tim Pohlemann, Bergita Ganse. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 08.05.2024.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

The time-varying dynamic impact of US renewable energy prices on agricultural prices in China: the case of fuel ethanol

• Research Article
• Published: 10 May 2024

Cite this article

• Lianlian Fu 1 ,
• Xinqi Tu   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0000-3443-7954 1 &
• Dongyu Yuan 1  

This paper intends to look into the time-varying dynamic impact of US fuel ethanol, one of the renewable energy sources, on the prices of agricultural products (specifically corn, soybeans, rice, and wheat) in China based on monthly price data from January 2000 to January 2023. To achieve this, a time-varying parameter vector autoregressive (TVP-VAR) model is employed, which takes into account structural changes in emergencies through time-varying parameters. The empirical results show that the equal-interval impulse responses of price fluctuations in agricultural commodities are primarily positive to variations in fuel ethanol prices and production. And the intensity and direction of the effects vary at distinct time lags. Additionally, the magnitude of these responses is most pronounced in the short term for all agricultural commodities except for corn, and the duration of the impulse responses at different time points is generally longer for corn prices compared to other commodities. The study also reveals that the influence of US fuel ethanol on Chinese agricultural commodity prices is not substantial on the whole. Therefore, there is a necessity to advance the growth of biofuels and provide policy support and financial subsidies for agricultural products earmarked for food production. These actions could shed insights into the progression of Chinese renewable energy and food policies, ensuring the stability of the market in the long run.

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The authors are grateful for the time and effort of the selected experts, whose decisions were crucial in achieving the objectives of this work.

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 72363019 & 71963019).

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See tables 3 , 4 , 5 , and Figs.  8 , 9 , and 10

Dynamic simulation path: soybean

Dynamic simulation path: rice

Dynamic simulation path: wheat

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Fu, L., Tu, X. & Yuan, D. The time-varying dynamic impact of US renewable energy prices on agricultural prices in China: the case of fuel ethanol. Environ Sci Pollut Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33480-x

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Received : 26 July 2023

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33480-x

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