Chris Liebold
Following the successful defence of his doctoral thesis on 15 April 2026, Max Schindler’s thesis has now been officially published online via the University Library. The thesis is entitled “Masspersonal Communication and Mental Health on Social Media in Digital Urban Contexts” and is now available in digital form.
The thesis examines the interplay between social media, mental health and urban environments from an interdisciplinary perspective. It focuses on the concept of mass-personal communication, which describes the increasing convergence of interpersonal and mass communication on social media. Building on this, the thesis analyses how digital communication practices influence individual experiences of mental health and community life in cities. To this end, it systematically reviews existing research and conducts an extensive mixed-methods analysis of city-related discussions on Reddit. The findings make an important contribution to understanding the interplay between digital infrastructures, mental health and urban contexts, and broaden communication studies’ perspectives on life in digital cities.
The thesis can be accessed via the following link: