![Dr Michael Smyth](https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/306782342/Profile_image.jpg)
Dr Michael Smyth
BSc (Hons), MRes, PhD
Current positions
Lecturer
School of Psychological Science
Contact
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Research interests
My broad research interests lie within social psychology, cyberpsychology and students’ experience at university through quantitative and qualitative research approaches.
My PhD research explored the relationship between mobile phone practices and mental health, social connectedness, social wellbeing, emotion regulation, identity and the effects of media consumption in the neoliberal digital age. The thesis challenged notions of mobile phone addiction by contextualising the deep meaningful connection people have with the continual lifestyle, identity and knowledge development that they experience through the connections that their mobile phone enables. Mobile phone practices were shown to be a symptom of a progressive neoliberal digital culture involving enterprising people rather than a problematic symptom of the mobile phone user.
The disruptive impact of the recent pandemic on social connections, educational processes and workplace environment has re-emphasised that current society has evolved into a digital era in which continually evolving digital communication technologies and cyber behaviour have become an integral part of contemporary living. Technology practices affect many aspects of our personal, educational and professional lives such as maintaining meaningful social connections, identity, development, productivity and wellbeing. My current research interests focus on the influence that social and education technologies have on shaping social interactions, group processes, identity, learning, productivity, satisfaction and mental health in the university environment. For example, understanding students’ social, emotional, academic development and digital technology experiences within the post-pandemic blended (in-person and online) learning environment at university can help to guide the trajectory of the evolving digital culture at university in educationally beneficial and healthy directions to optimise students’ development experience, education related mental health and satisfaction.