Research and news

    Our newest paper sets out four questions to ask of every measure of social media use.

    • Context

      Where does it happen?

      Your day, your phone, the app

    • Access

      How is it measured?

      Logged, asked, tested, nudged

    • Stratum

      What does it cover?

      What you see, what you do, your body, your mind

    • Timescale

      How often?

      A moment, a day, a week, years

    What Myranda adds

    In the paper's simulation of 120 people over 28 days, the researchers built in one effect: time on feeds lowers that evening's mood. How much of it can a study find?

    • Without knowing what was on screen

      47%
    • With Myranda's record of what was on screen

      77%
    Source: the CAST paper, section 5.6

    The Algorithmic Mirror study

    Early map of a participant's viewing history, a sparse cluster of videos

    Each mark is one of the 27 who took part.

    Their own historyOne map, every scaleWhat they sawWhy we built Myranda

    27 adolescents, aged 12 to 16, exported their own data from YouTube, TikTok and Netflix.

    See it in action

    A sample Algorithmic Mirror, on anonymised data.

    Try the demo

    Try it with this email and password:
    email: mirror@gmail.com
    pass: mirror

    News

    • Safe social media needs more than age limits

      Tagesspiegel Background, 22 October 2026

      Ralph Hertwig and David Grüning, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

      Read the article in German
    • We are already making social media safer - now it is time to give us safety!

      one sec, 9 September 2026

      Open letter to Ursula von der Leyen, signed by the makers of seven European apps, Myranda among them

      Read the article

    Papers

    1. 2026

      The CAST-framework: Measure and model social media use as a multi-level phenomenon through real-world applications

      Preprint

      arXiv, 2026

      Read the paper
    2. The Data Mirror: Helping Adolescents See and Shape Their Digital Selves on Social Media

      2026

      Read the paper
    3. Digital behaviourism: A functional approach to behaviour in digital environments

      Preprint

      2026

    4. 2025

      Algorithmic Mirror: Designing an Interactive Tool to Promote Self-Reflection for YouTube Recommendations

      2025

      Read the paper
    5. 2024

      Healing Privacy Wounds with SPLINT: A Psychological Framework to Preserve Human Well-Being during Information Privacy Trade-Offs

      Cambridge Journal of Artificial Intelligence, 2024, 1(2), pp. 76-86

      Read the paper
    6. A Longitudinal In-the-Wild Investigation of Design Frictions to Prevent Smartphone Overuse

      CHI, 2024

    7. 2023

      Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec

      PNAS, 2023, 120(8), e2213114120

      Read the paper
    8. A framework for promoting online prosocial behavior via digital interventions

      Communications Psychology, 2023

      Read the paper