Professor Andrew Przybylski
About
Andrew K. Przybylski is the Professor of Human Behaviour and Technology at the University of Oxford. Professor Przybylski investigates how online social media and video games platforms shape human motivation and influence the health and well-being of their users.
Professor Przybylski has published more than 100 peer reviewed academic and conference papers which have been cited more than 20,000 times in the past decade. He is a frequent commentator on the effects of internet-based technology on our lives and works closely with national and global policymakers to empower users and independent scientists to address the most pressing questions of health and human development in the digital age.
Professor Przybylski’s research, commentary, and contributions are regularly featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, Wired magazine, The Washington Post, the Financial Times, The Week, and international outlets including the BBC World Service and PRI’s The World.
In acknowledgment of his scientific and policy achievements he was recently appointed as an Honorary Professor at The Education University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Psychosocial Health where he is working to build mutually beneficial relationships between the students and faculty of both institutions.
His undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral degrees were earned at the University of Rochester in the United States.
Profile: Andy Przybylski - Uncovering the impact of technology on mental health.
Further viewing: 2023 European Forum: Burnout to Balance Wellbeing in a New Digital Era (youtube.com)
Expertise
- Children, adolescents, and the internet
- Evidence of online harms
- Predictors of digital wellbeing
- Online and offline mental health
- Evidence of technology effects
- Video games and online games
- Social media and smartphones
- Children, adolescents and artificial intelligence (AI)
Selected publications
- Global Well-Being and Mental Health in the Internet Age (2023)
- Impact of digital screen media activity on functional brain organization in late childhood: Evidence from the ABCD study (2023)
- Estimating the association between Facebook adoption and well-being in 72 countries (2023)
- Time spent playing video games is unlikely to impact well-being (2022)
- Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media (2022)
- There Is No Evidence That Associations Between Adolescents’ Digital Technology Engagement and Mental Health Problems Have Increased (2021)
- The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use (2019)
- A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis: Quantifying the Relations Between Digital-Screen Use and the Mental Well-Being of Adolescents (2017)
Media experience
Dr Andrew Przybylski has extensive experience of working with the media including print, television and radio.
Recent media work
- Internet use does not appear to harm mental health, study finds (Financial Times, 2023)
- PowerWash Simulator and the rise of wholesome video games (The Times, 2023)
- Facebook's growth not linked to psychological harm, study finds (BBC News, 2023)
- Scientists release findings from major study into internet and mental health – with surprising conclusion (Independent, 2023)
- BBC News interview - Online Safety Bill (2022)
- Gaming and well-being (BBC World News, 2022)
- Better research into Instagram, WhatsApp effects on young users needed, academics say (USA Today, 2021)
- Chinese government puts further restrictions on gaming hours (CNN, 2021)
- The Children’s Code protecting kids online (BBC News World Service, 2021)
- Gaming and Me: Connections, Identity and Support (BBC3, 2021)