Social Connections & Technology LAB

Social Connection and Technology LAB focuses on the impact that offline and online social connections (or lack thereof) have on people's well-being.

[Marco Marinucci @Marc0Marinucci]

📣 #EASP2026 Pre-Conference “Navigating Social (Dis)Connection: New Perspectives on Exclusion, Stigma, and Solitude” in Strasbourg 🇫🇷 (June 30)!

🎤 Share your research on exclusion, stigma, loneliness, solitude, or belonging!

🗓 Jan 5, 2026
info: https://t.co/fTXoi2DGp9

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

✨ The new ConnectLab website is live!

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new site with a fresh look, updated content, and everything you need to explore our projects and services.


 👉 Check it out here: https://t.co/SQGmBHI2xY

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

🎓✨ Day 5
The morning opened with the group project presentations, masterfully guided by Ilja Van Beest.
The day continued with a session featuring Alessandra Sciutti and Emily Cross, both recipients of the prestigious ERC grants.

Our week comes to a close. See you next time

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

🧠💻 DAY 4 | Designing Interventions for Digital Well-being

Today we welcomed Maria Teresa Graffeo,
Claudia Marino, Elisa Wegmann, Gianluca Esposito.

The day focused on how to understand and address problematic social media use and emerging forms of technological addiction.

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Day 3 | @dongning_ren helped us reflect on the importance of framing research questions clearly before even looking at data.
Marco Ciapparelli and Davide Marengo explored the promises and limits of using generative AI tools for tasks such as idea generation and item construction.

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Day 2 – What makes a robot feel social? Can machines spark empathy, trust—or even discomfort—through looks & movement?
Today we explored anthropomorphism in social robotics with brilliant talks from Alessandra Sciutti, Nathan Caruana & Emily S. Cross.

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

📣 The Summer School has officially started! ☀️🎓
The first day was dedicated to “Connecting and Disconnecting through Digital Technologies”.

A special thanks to our speakers: Ilja van Beest, Sarah Lutz, Marco Marinucci, and Francesca Cocchella.

[Alessia Telari @AlessiaTelari]

🚨New Paper🚨

Together with Paolo Riva and Luca Pancani, we introduced a new experimental paradigm to study the impact of #Ghosting compared to direct #Rejection over time.

Turns out rejection stings, but ghosting haunts!
🧵

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

On Monday we had the pleasure of hosting a well-attended and thought-provoking seminar by Adam Waytz (Northwestern University) at the Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca.
Many thanks to everyone who attended his talk 'Humans and Machines', in person and online.

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Adam Waytz’s seminar Humans & Machines will also be streamed live. Join us to hear how automation shapes human life.
📅 Mon, May 12, 2025
⏰ 2:30 PM (CEST)
🔗 Link: https://t.co/ezS0C4lfpz

#SocialPsychology #HumanMachineInteraction #DigitalLife

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Adam Waytz, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA – Humans and Machines

📅 Monday, May 12 at 2:30 PM

📍Sala Lauree, Department of Psychology – U6/Agorà – @unimib

If you're in Milan and interested in these topics, we look forward to seeing you!

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Last call for the Summer School “Social Connections and Well-being in the Digital era”.

📝 The deadline for applications is April 27, 2025. To apply, fill out the online form available here:
https://t.co/acjCzDdeFB

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Great pleasure to host Ilja van Beest from Tilburg University at our department, with the talk "20 Years of Ball Tossing: What to Manipulate and What to Learn in Cyberball"! A fascinating talk and a great opportunity for our students and lab members to connect and exchange ideas!

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

We are pleased to welcome Ilja van Beest, Professor of Social Psychology at Tilburg University, for a seminar titled:
"20 Years of Ball Tossing: What to Manipulate and What to Learn in Cyberball"

📅 Monday, April 7th
🕝 2:30 PM
📍 Room U6-01C – University of Milano-Bicocca

[Teresa Traversa @tere_trave]

New paper alert! 🚨

How does prison impact well-being and behavior? How do social connections shape the prison experience?

With @Marc0Marinucci, Paolo Riva & Luca Pancani from @ConnectLab16, we explore these questions in our new paper 📰

🔗 https://t.co/bsthzzXvNX

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

📍 We are pleased to announce the third edition of the summer school on Social Connections and Well-Being in the Digital Era.

📌 For more details on the program, the list of speakers, and logistics, visit the school’s homepage: https://t.co/sPDJdUmhSi

Registration is now open!

[Alessia Telari @AlessiaTelari]

#Ghosting has become a popular buzzword, but what exactly is it? 💔👻
In our newly published paper, @JMSchokkenbroek, Luca Pancani, Paolo Riva, and I (@ConnectLab16) offer a theoretical analysis to clarify what ghosting is (and isn’t).
Full-text #OA 👉 https://t.co/OxXiJhNpzP

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Our lab members @AlessiaTelari, @tere_trave, and Ilenia Gasparini traveled to Denver for @SPSPnews to present some of the work we've done over the past years! Talked about #AI, #technology, and #imprisonment in the context of social connection and social exclusion ❤️

[Alessia Telari @AlessiaTelari]

Amazing experience at #SPSP2025 in #DenverColorado last week!
Grateful for the chance to reconnect with old friends, meet incredible new people, and hear so much inspiring research. Huge thanks to everyone who attended my talk or poster and shared their insights! ❤️

[Marco Marinucci @Marc0Marinucci]

Do you care if a robot is left aside? Apparently yes. In our latest @ConnectLab16 research on @GPIR_SAGE with @PagliaroStefano Manuel Teresi & Chiara Ballone, three preregistered studies show that people experience negative emotions when observing a robot being excluded

[Social Connections & Technology LAB @ConnectLab16]

Check out our new paper on resisting #phubbing! 📱👫
#openaccess

[Alessia Telari @AlessiaTelari]

🚀 New paper out!
We've all been tempted to check our phones mid-conversation—but what if we could turn that into a positive social connection experience? Meet 'resisting phubbing'! 📱✨ https://t.co/BY5nWxs1KC

w/ Luca Pancani, Paolo Riva (@ConnectLab16), and Marco Perugini