Dr. Jason Daniels, Faculty of Arts, Receives Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Edmonton, AB — Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) is excited to announce that Dr. Jason Daniels, Interim Dean of Arts, has received an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Valued at $99,084 over two years, Dr. Daniels will research digital media use in children, adolescents, and young adults — a subject that is constantly in the spotlight as the digital world impacts our daily lives.
“Digital media is now part of how young people learn, socialize, relax, and understand themselves,” says Dr. Daniels. “I am interested in understanding why the same technology can be manageable and beneficial for one person but disruptive for another.”
Moving Beyond Simple Conversations
Dr. Daniels notes that much of his current work focuses on problematic digital media use, a pattern defined less by the number of hours someone spends online and more by behaviours of the individual such as compulsive checking, difficulty logging off, relying on digital media to manage uncomfortable emotions, or continuing to use technology despite negative consequences.
His broader theory holds that this problematic use develops from the interaction of personal characteristics, emotional and cognitive processes, social experiences, and the design features of digital platforms themselves, rather than any one cause.
Parents and teachers are often told conflicting information; that digital media is either dangerous or that the worries about it are overexaggerated.
Dr. Daniels hopes his research offers something more useful than either extreme: evidence to help distinguish ordinary, manageable digital engagement versus patterns that may be interfering with healthy development. He hopes to help shift the conversation from “how much screen time is too much?” to “what is this pattern of use replacing, supporting, or disrupting?”
Early findings point to how varied that picture can be, with sleep disruption emerging as a particularly important thread in the team’s adolescent findings, given its ties to attention, emotional regulation, and everyday coping.
The SSHRC funding will allow Dr. Daniels’ team to move beyond traditional surveys and move toward studying young people’s experiences as they navigate day to day. The grant will also fund undergraduate and graduate research assistant positions and the translation of findings into resources for schools and families.
Building the Next Generation of Researchers
At CUE, Dr. Daniels says undergraduate involvement isn’t an add-on to the research, it’s part of how the research gets done. Students on his team take part across the full arc of a project, from literature reviews and ethics applications through data analysis and conference presentations; all of which are real world, immersive experiences that have resulted in several publish research and pursue graduate school.
“My goal is to conduct meaningful research while also giving students authentic opportunities to develop confidence, contribute intellectually, and begin seeing themselves as researchers,” said Dr. Jason Daniels.
Acknowledgments
Concordia University of Edmonton and Dr. Jason Daniels acknowledge the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), as well as the earlier SSHRC Institutional Grant (SIG) Explore grant that supported the preliminary research underlying this project.
Concordia University of Edmonton et Dr. Jason Daniels remercie le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada (CRSH) de son généreux soutien.