#1207 Alberto Acerbi: Digital Media, Between Reasonable Caution and Unjustified Fears

Jan 26, 2026

Alberto Acerbi, Associate Professor of Sociology and author of Tecnopanico, explores alarmist narratives about digital media. He discusses moral panics, why people are not as gullible online as claimed, misinformation’s limited reach, conspiracy theory dynamics, echo chamber myths, algorithms versus user choice, and the contested links between social media and youth mental health.

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INSIGHT

Technopanics Follow A Predictable Pattern

Technopanics are recurring alarmist reactions to new communication technologies driven by negativity bias and nostalgia for a mythical past.
Alberto Acerbi argues these narratives often exaggerate harms compared with the more nuanced evidence from research.

INSIGHT

People Are Less Gullible Than Intuition Says

Cultural-evolutionary theory suggests humans are not automatically gullible; we have heuristics and epistemic vigilance when learning socially.
Acerbi uses this framework to question simple causal stories about digital media's harms.

INSIGHT

Negativity And Nostalgia Fuel Alarmism

Negative information and belief that the past was better make alarmist tech narratives particularly viral and persuasive.
Acerbi connects these psychological biases to the sociology of moral panics and scapegoating complex social problems.

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Dr. Alberto Acerbi is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Trento. He is a cognitive/evolutionary anthropologist with a particular interest in computational science. He is the author of “Tecnopanico. Media digitali, tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate” (“Technopanic: Digital Media, Between Reasonable Caution and Unjustified Fears”).

In this episode, we focus on Tecnopanico. We first talk about moral panics surrounding new technology. We discuss misinformation, and whether people easily fall for it. We talk about conspiracy theories, whether people really are in online echo chambers, whether algorithms know us better than ourselves, and whether people can fall into “rabbit holes” on social media. We discuss the supposed link between social media use and mental health outcomes, the problem with monocausal explanations, and whether there is such a thing as “social media addiction”. Finally, we discuss whether bans on smartphones and social media work, and the negative effects of alarmist narratives.

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