PhD Candidate: Brian Douwenga

Dutch adolescents spend an average of almost five hours a day on their smartphones. Yet, little is known about how the apps they use influence the way they think about politics. In this PhD project, I focus on the role of app characteristics in the development of political worldviews among youth. First, I conduct interviews with adolescents to understand how they experience political influence of apps themselves. Second, I study cross-sectionally how distinct app diets may relate to different political outcomes. Third, I design a field experiment to investigate the potential causal relation between app usage and political worldviews.