News | Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society

July 2025

How Do Teens Feel After Sexting? Findings from a Study of 2,500 Czech Adolescents

Sending and receiving sexually explicit messages is more common among teenagers than many might think. A new nationally representative study of Czech adolescents reveals not only how many of them engage in sexting, but also how they feel about it – and why girls often report more negative emotions than boys.

11 Feb

How Do Digital Technologies Affect Adolescents? Insights from 15 Studies on the Impact of Digital Technology on W

As part of Safer Internet Day 2025, the Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society (IRTIS), a member of the EU Kids Online network, presents a new report with key findings from 15 comprehensive studies examining the impact of digital technology use on adolescent wellbeing.

26 Dec 2024

Report: Plus-size hate

A second research report from the project CYBERPLUS has been published: “Plus-size hate: Exploring young Czech people's reactions to cyberhate targeting overweight people”. Read more in the article.

December 2024

Research workshop: New trends in experimental design

With December here and the semester wrapping up, we closed out 2024 by hosting an engaging research workshop on new trends in experimental design. It was a perfect opportunity to dive into cutting-edge methods, spark fresh ideas, and reflect on how innovation continues to drive research forward.

17 Dec 2024

Report: Cyberhate targeting the body

We published a new research report, "Cyberhate targeting the body: Young Czech people’s perceptions of cyberhate that targets weight and physical disability". Read more in the article.

12 Nov 2024

Blog: Body positivity online, body positivity offline? A study on adolescents’ engagement with positive social media content and prosocial behavior

When adolescents engage with social media content promoting body positivity, does it impact their body-positive behavior offline? This question was the focus of our latest published study.

October 2024

Blog: 10th European Communication Conference ECREA

The 10th European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) took place at the end of September in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Many of our team members attended and presented their research. See this page for their full presentations and profiles!

September 2024

Blog: Bias-based cyberaggression related to origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and weight

Bias-based cyberaggression, which includes hateful and prejudiced content shared through digital platforms, is a common experience for young internet users. This kind of online behaviour can have harmful effects on both individuals and society as a whole. We conducted a systematic review of research dealing with young people's experiences, risk and protective factors and consequences of bias-based cyberaggression.

30 May 2024

Cyberspace 2024: Call for papers

Cyberspace 2024 conference held in Brno on the 29th and 30th of November is now open for paper submission. You can send your abstracts by July 31st.

16 May 2024

Do smartphones really cause mental illness among adolescents? Ten problems with Jonathan Haidt’s book

“The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness”, a new book by Jonathan Haidt, quickly found an audience. For www.parenting.digital, Michaela Lebedíková, Michal Tkaczyk, Vojtěch Mýlek and David Smahel share 10 ways in which they disagree with the way Haidt builds his argument based on their own studies of the impact of technology on adolescents’ wellbeing.

21 Mar 2024

Open position: Postdoc in Psychology / Communication Studies / Media Studies

We are currently looking for a new colleague for the "DigiWELL - Excellence in Research on Digital Technologies and Wellbeing" project (project duration: 2024 - 2028). Within the project, we are responsible for the work package focused on short- and long-term impacts of the use of digital technologies on the wellbeing (social, psychological and physical) of the general population. This is a fulltime position starting June 2024 (negotiable). Application deadline: March 31, 2024

6 Feb 2024

Safer Internet Day: Adolescent Vulnerability in the Digital World

We celebrate Safer Internet Day on the 6th of February. This event is held every year to raise awareness about a safer and better internet for everyone, and especially for children and young people. Read our blog on navigating adolescents’ online vulnerabilities!

2 Feb 2024

Report: Artificial Intelligence and Health - How Czech Adults Use AI?

Researchers from the IRTIS team looked at Czech adults' willingness to use AI to find health-related information and their trust in the health information AI provides. Read more in the article!

5 Jan 2024

Mariek van den Abeele, ERC holder, joins our team for DigiWELL project

We are thrilled to announce that Mariek van den Abeele, Associate Professor at the Ghent University and recipient of the 2020 ERC Starting Grant on Digital well-being, will be joining our research team for the DigiWELL project. We are excited about this collaboration, as Mariek is the leading expert on digital well-being!

14 Dec 2023

Lenka Dědková received the MUNI SCIENTIST 2023 award

Each year, Masaryk University rewards its excellent scientists and research teams. One of the 37 awarded people was Lenka Dědková!

12 Dec 2023

Cyberspace 2023: Wrapping up our project and looking ahead with a keynote by Ine Beyens

At the end of November, we co-hosted the annual Cyberspace conference – this time with a keynote from Ine Beyens from the University of Amsterdam. Apart from meeting with our friends and colleagues, we presented a panel about our project, Modeling the FUTURE, which we will finish at the end of this year. Continue reading for more information and lovely photos!