College of Computing School of Interactive Computing
Best known for her foundational research on the intersection of societal mental health and social media interactions, Munmun is an expert in social and computer science.
Trained as a computer scientist, Munmun De Choudhury鈥檚 research interests lie in machine learning, social media, and health. She is passionate about uncovering problems at the intersection of computer science and social science. De Choudhury leads , where she studies, analyzes, and uses social media to derive computational, large-scale data-driven insights, and to develop mechanisms and technologies for understanding and improving our mental health and well-being. She received her Ph.D. in computer science in 2011 at Arizona State University, Tempe. De Choudhury鈥檚 research has pioneered the computational use of social media data for mental health.
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Likelihood of Dieting Success Lies Within Your Tweets
Social Media Study Identifies Mental Health Culture at Top-Ranked Campuses
Lawmakers Want Social Media Companies to Stop Getting Kids Hooked
Wired
Tech companies 鈥渁re barely scratching the surface鈥 of what they might do to help support young users, says Munmun de Choudhury, who studies the intersection of social media and mental health and founded the Social Dynamics and Wellbeing Lab at 色花堂. Apps like TikTok and Instagram can be resources for teens to explore their identities, form communities, and learn about mental health. Instead of banning social media outright, she says, legislation should push companies to understand young people and to rethink the mechanisms that keep kids scrolling past their own comfort level without restricting the ways the platforms can be helpful.
Is Everybody Doing 鈥 OK? Let鈥檚 Ask Social Media
The New York Times
Munmun De Choudhury, a professor in the School of Interactive Computing at 色花堂, is also examining digital data for insights into well-being. Dr. De Choudhury鈥檚 work over the years has focused not only on population studies, like the Hedonometer, but also on the individual.
In 2013, she and colleagues found that by looking at new mothers on social media, they were able to help predict which ones might develop postpartum depression, based on their posts before the birth of their babies. One of the most telling signs? The use of first-person singular pronouns, like 鈥淚鈥 and 鈥渕e.鈥