Fields of research
Different questions concerning digital stress need an interdisciplinary approach. Said questions are structured in four areas (cluster A-D). Within the association, scientists from five disciplines are working together. In our association, the complementing subjects collaborate on questions reaching over boundaries of individual projects and topics. Different views of the disciplines and our individual projects are included to comprehend and address the phenomenon of digital stress holistically.
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Digitization is an extensive societal phenomenon, increasingly spreading itself into professional and private lives. This can cause stress. What is digital stress, and how is it perceived by different people? How does that change in different situations? Cluster A will conceptualize digital stress and find answers from the perspective of affected people, the media, and science.
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Among positive effects on human life and work, the risks on health are in focus of cluster B. That stress can cause biological mechanisms and bodily functions to have negative impacts on your health is well researched. However, whether these mechanisms are also in effect, when it comes to digital stress, is far less researched. This is why it is the central issue in cluster B.
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In this cluster, an interdisciplinary view examines the emotional-cognitive, social, and technological causes of stress. Furthermore, the coping of stress concerning children, adolescents, and adults at work and in their private lives is reviewed. The main question is, who is exposed to digital stress and how can they cope with it? The solutions we aim for include training programs for media literacy, interventions against the spreading of stress, and intelligent software assistants.
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To support mental health, cluster D focuses on humane design of technologies and media. Primarily, the question of how digital applications can be designed to cause less stress while still fulfilling their intended purpose will be investigated. Also, there will be an emphasis on methods of deep learning to create an app supporting the mental health of individuals.
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The research association ForDigitHealth is characterized by the fact that there is an intensive interdisciplinary exchange across the individual projects. The focus is on scientific theories and concepts of digital stress, different ways of measuring and recording factors of digital stress, the effects of digital stress on different groups of people as well as ethical and (privacy-related) legal issues.
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