"This book examines the presence of online communities centered around niche topics of interest and the impact of these virtual spaces on community members, offering perspectives from interdisciplinary fields such as sociology, psychology, and education"--Provided by publisher.

Many have argued that digital technologies such as smartphones and social media are addictive. We develop an economic model of digital addiction and estimate it using a randomized experiment. Temporary incentives to reduce social media use have persistent effects, suggesting social media are...

In this article, we suggest that human attitudes of conformity can be understood as a product of adaptation. While existing models of conformity invoke preference falsification in which individuals hide their true preferences, we posit an adaptive mechanism for conformity. Specifically, because...