Psychological Health in the Digital Age across Global Communities

As digital innovations continue to evolve, discussions on how various aspects of online platforms (e.g., content, policy, design) may impact psychological health have also increased. Specifically, there has been growing attention on the fact that technology predominantly developed in North America and Western Europe is being used by many users in the majority world. The disparity in research and understanding of how these online platforms may be used or perceived in different cultures has at times caused disproportionate harm to these communities. As such, this special topic calls for papers that examine how various aspects of online platforms may interact with psychological health, with a special emphasis on papers that are either relevant globally or focus on specific communities in the majority world.

The goal of this Research Topic is to curate a myriad of studies that may shed light on the relationships between online platforms and psychological health. We welcome foundational research and basic science studies that aim to understand how psychological symptoms develop and how these processes may bear implications for improving online platforms. We also welcome intervention research on therapeutic techniques, tools, designs, and policies that can be deployed online and may promote psychological health.

We are specifically looking for papers that either have a global representation or offer a deep dive into a topic important to the majority world. Papers may approach this topic with different user base in mind (e.g., platform users, adolescents, parents, content moderators).

Studies that address similar research questions as those listed below are encouraged to submit:

● Basic science research on psychological health:
○ What are the mechanisms of developing secondary traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, or other adverse psychological health outcomes?
○ How can we disrupt the mechanisms of developing negative mental health outcomes? What are the implications for online platforms?

● Intervention research to promote psychological health in an online context:
○ What interventions (e.g., timeout, nudge, age verification, parental supervision) can potentially be deployed online to promote psychological health? How effective are they?

● Research focusing on specific contexts in the majority world:
○ What features of online platforms may cause disproportionate harm in certain communities?
○ What interventions can be used to prevent such harm and promote health?
○ Given that many content moderators of North America- and Western Europe- based technology companies reside in the majority world, what are their specific psychological health needs?

Topic Editor Dr. Irene Huang is employed by TaskUs. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.

Keywords: Psychological Health, Trust and Safety, Content Moderation, Majority World, Global

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.