Amy Orben

Research Focus

Digitalization and AI have the potential to transform global education by moving beyond one-size-fits-all and offering adaptive technologies that cater to learner variability. Many researchers and educators recognise this. However, concerns about screens’ impact on children’s mental health and attention are growing in high-income countries, often due to a misunderstanding that all screen time is harmful. If unchecked, these concerns could undermine the use of valuable educational technologies backed by research. My planned research aims to address this issue using both fundamental and applied approaches: 1) I will build on cognitive models like Reinforcement Learning to explore how ‘addictive’ design features in tech can be both used for education and distraction. 2) Using innovative methods like ‘data donation,’ I will study how educational and ‘harmful’ apps coexist on children’s devices, tracking their transitions between these activities. 3) I will apply social psychological approaches to explore parental concerns about screen use in schools, collaborating with educators and PR experts to create an informational campaign that differentiates beneficial from harmful screen time.