Michelle Drouin is an American researcher who focuses on psychological issues dealing with

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

and communications technology. Drouin is associate professor of

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Research

Drouin has studied deception during

sexting Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or videos, primarily between mobile phones. It may also include the use of a computer or any digital device. The term was first popularized early in the 21st ...

, and how

texting Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...

and sexting affect attachment in relationships between college students, as well as between adult relationships. She found correlations between coercive

and

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

problems, as well as links between

Internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the int ...

ing and

sadism Sadism may refer to: * Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation * Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...

. She described how people sometimes use

to maintain ''back-burner relationships'' to keep alive connections to possible future romantic partners. Much of her research focuses on social media sites such as

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

; for example, she found that some people make new romantic connections by friending people on Facebook. She studied the issue of phantom vibrations experienced by many cell phone users in which a phone seems to vibrate but doesn't; a study she conducted found that 89% of students experienced a phantom vibration at least once every two weeks. She found that people were more likely to experience phantom vibrations if they expected to react emotionally to incoming communications. Her research found that young adults generally do not support the practice of employers using social media when making hiring decisions.

References

External links

Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drouin, Michelle American women psychologists American social psychologists American mass media scholars American women academics Living people 1974 births Cornell University alumni 21st-century American women