Detrimental to Our Well-Being:
Digital Technologies and Campus Sexual Misconduct in Singapore

Principal Investigator: Michelle Ho
Co-Investigators and Collaborators: Shivani Gupta, Jungup Lee, Bimlesh Wadhwa

In this study, we seek to understand the digital well-being of students in light of sexual assault and harassment occurring at universities that come about as a result of using digital technologies like social media, online platforms, and mobile applications. Digital well-being refers to “the impact that digital technologies […] have had on our well-being and our self-understanding of what it means to live a life that is good for us in an increasingly digital society (emphasis in original, Burr & Floridi, 2020). 

To be clear, we are not advocating that technologies only generate negative outcomes. Rather, we are arguing for the need to look into the use of technologies, whether individuals employ them to seek romantic partners, share images of themselves consensually, or exploit them to render women sexually vulnerable, and how technology use influences digital well-being in beneficial or detrimental ways. This is a multi-methodological project that will involve interviews, blogging, online surveys, web scraping, and online participant observation. This pilot study is generously funded by the NUS Centre for Trusted Internet and Community (CTIC).

References:
Burr, C., & Floridi, L. (Eds.) (2020). Ethics of Digital Well-Being: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Springer.

Our pilot study has concluded. You can view our publications below.

Publications:

Gupta, Shivani, Francis Luis Medado Torres, Sharon Yvette Xiomara Rosamor ’n Doen, Jungup Lee, Bimlesh Wadhwa, and Michelle Ho. 2024. “Mapping Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence in Singapore.” In Research Handbook on Social Media and Society, edited by Marko M. Skoric and Natalie Pang, 42-57. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Ho, M. H. S., Gupta, S., Lee, J., Wadhwa, B., & Fu, X. (2024). Detrimental to Our Digital Well-Being: Campus Sexual Misconduct and Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence Among University Students in Singapore. Violence Against Women, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241283498