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    University - Student Department: Communication Position: Graduate

All Publications

  • Beyond apps: a method to model full distributions of screen content over time to study media effects COMMUNICATION METHODS AND MEASURES Chi, Y., Cho, M., Molaib, K. M., Sun, X., Robinson, T. N., Ram, N., Reeves, B. 2026

    View details for DOI 10.1080/19312458.2026.2697199

    View details for Web of Science ID 001816460000001

  • Risk Communication in Real Time: Examining Individuals' Smartphone Use During the 2021 Texas Winter Disaster With Mobile Sensing. Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis Ng, M., Chi, Y., Cho, M. J., Eichstaedt, J., Reeves, B., Robinson, T. N., Ram, N. 2026; 46 (4): e70235

    Abstract

    Risk communication can support people in making timely, well-informed behavioral decisions during extreme weather events. Today's information environment has revolutionized how individuals engage with risk communication, as they see and share more information than ever before. It is not yet known how much risk communication any specific individual encounters, where it comes from, what messages it contains, and when it is received over the course of evolving extreme weather events. In this study, we provide a detailed description of how individuals encounter risk communication during extreme weather events by analyzing comprehensive records of all the content that 11 adults viewed on their smartphones (n = 162,418 screenshots collected via mobile sensing) over 5 days of the winter disaster that struck Texas in February 2021. Participants viewed substantial amounts of risk communication, which comprised, on average, 21% of their total smartphone use during the winter disaster. Most risk communication was accessed through participants' social networks, primarily through personal messaging apps (M = 33%) and social media apps (M = 22%). Risk messages contained updates, actionable advice, social support, sense-making, and recreation and humor, the specifics of which evolved over the course of the winter disaster. Taken together, our results demonstrate how individuals engage with risk communication in dynamic, heterogeneous, and socially embedded ways during extreme weather events-opening new possibilities for risk communication theory and practice.

    View details for DOI 10.1111/risa.70235

    View details for PubMedID 41918291

  • Physical nature associated with affective well-being, but technological nature falls short: Insights from an intensive longitudinal field study in the United States JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Ng, M., Chi, Y., Ram, N., Harari, G. 2025; 104

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102611

    View details for Web of Science ID 001490322600001

  • Social media use is predictable from app sequences: Using LSTM and transformer neural networks to model habitual behavior COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR Peters, H., Bayer, J. B., Matz, S. C., Chi, Y., Vaid, S. S., Harari, G. M. 2024; 161

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.chb.2024.108381

    View details for Web of Science ID 001295410200001