In conversation with host Rasmus Cloes, Louisa Kulke, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Bremen, explained how digital technologies influence our perception, learning, and the development of social skills—from babies in front of tablets to adults in the AI era.

Louisa Kulke explains that even babies can tell the difference between the real and virtual worlds. In experiments, her team showed that even three-month-old children notice that people interact differently with people on screen than with real people. Babies show interest but follow social rules; for example, they don't stare at strangers in real life, even though they might be curious.

Young children do not learn from screens – not even with “Peppa Pig” in English. Only real social interaction enables language acquisition and learning. This “media deficit” decreases with age. At the same time, Kulke warns that digital media can be addictive, especially when the brain – still in development – has not yet fully mastered self-control.

In her research, Louisa compares real social interactions with video calls and virtual scenarios. The result: even video calls or virtual reality do not achieve the emotional depth of real encounters. The brain reacts differently, and social rules such as mutual eye contact or nonverbal signals hardly work digitally.

Louisa Kulke describes how the brain adapts to digital stimuli. When children or adults constantly watch 30-second videos, the brain gets used to short attention cycles – the “endurance run” of long texts becomes more difficult. Nevertheless, she warns against alarmism: every new technology – from printing to television – was initially demonized. The key is to critically examine what is true, whether on TikTok, ChatGPT, or Aunt Erna.

Children should only use digital media under supervision. She advocates early media education: children should learn to question digital content and use it creatively themselves. Her outlook: in the future, she wants to investigate how social interactions with robots work and whether machines will ever really be able to understand human rules.

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You're at a house party, someone hands you a shot – but it's all happening in your VR headset. Host Rasmus Cloes spoke with Robert Hrynyschyn from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin about a research project on VR in alcohol prevention. The core question is: Can a digital simulation really change how young people make decisions in real life?

A new, comprehensive handbook shows how digital technologies influence our health—and what new questions this raises. Edited by Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb and colleagues from Bremen, the work “Digital Public Health—Interdisciplinary Perspectives” brings together perspectives from health, information, and social sciences. It has now been published by Springer in the “Series on Epidemiology and Public Health.”

“I am very happy that this book is now available. It brings together the diverse insights and discussions that we have developed together at the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health over the past few years,” says Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb, spokesperson for the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen and head of department at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS.

Whether apps, smartwatches, or social media – digital technologies have become an integral part of everyday life. They are also having an impact in the field of public health: with their help, information can be disseminated in a more targeted manner, gaps in care can be closed, and the early detection of diseases can be supported. At the same time, they challenge existing concepts: How do we protect personal data? Which groups are reached—and which are left out? And what ethical, legal, or social consequences does digitization entail?

The handbook contains over 30 contributions from experts in medicine, epidemiology, psychology, philosophy, law, computer science, and other disciplines. The articles highlight both the potential and the risks of digital applications – from questions of digital health literacy and the ethical dilemmas of new technologies to concrete implementation in healthcare practice. One thing is clear: digitization is not an end in itself. It must be geared toward the actual needs of the population. This requires interdisciplinary cooperation, well-thought-out technological development, and consistent scientific monitoring.

“The special value of this book lies in its combination of theory, practice, and technology. It shows how important it is that digitization does not happen over people's heads, but on the basis of evidence, participation, and reflection,” says Zeeb.

The book is intended not only as a reference work for researchers, but also as a practical guide for professionals in administration, politics, and healthcare. It offers insights into current developments – such as the regulation of digital health applications, the handling of health data, and the design of digital prevention strategies. The central finding: only when different disciplines work together can digitization contribute to strengthening the health of the population in the long term. In order to make these findings accessible to a broad public, the book is being published as an open-access publication and is available online free of charge here. In order to reach an international audience, the book was written in English.

Funding information
The work was carried out as part of the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen (www.digital-public-health.de). The campus is jointly funded by the Leibniz Association, the state of Bremen, and the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS. The publication was also partially supported by the Leibniz Association's publication fund.

Original publication
Zeeb H, Maaß L, Schultz T, Haug U, Pigeot I, Schüz B (Eds.). Digital Public Health – Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Cham: Springer; 2025. (Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health). doi:10.1007/978-3-031-90154-6

How can children and young people learn to evaluate health information on the internet correctly? And what responsibility do systems such as YouTube or TikTok have? Host Rasmus Cloes discusses this with Kevin Dadaczynski, Professor of Health Education at the University of Potsdam.

Digitalization is changing how we talk about, learn about, and act on health. But in a world full of information, how can we keep track of everything and make the right decisions?

Kevin Dadaczynski has been researching how health literacy develops in digital environments for many years. In conversation with Rasmus, they discuss the opportunities and risks that children and young people in particular experience in this context.

Whether social media, generative AI, or gaming: new technologies create opportunities, but they also harbour dangers. How can we prevent false information from dominating – and instead promote safe digital spaces?

Special attention is paid to the role of schools, teachers, and parents: they can all help young people learn to deal with health information in a reflective manner.

Finally, the discussion turns to new creative approaches – from gamification to social listening – that show how public health research is taking on new forms in the digital age.

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