CTRL Agency: New Tools for Studying Digital Interaction
A digest on digital technology in the lives of young men.
CTRL Panel
Two problems come up constantly when studying digital technology.
First, the variation in how people use it, even within the same app. Spending an hour on Instagram might mean messaging friends or comparing yourself to strangers.
Second, self-reported survey data is often unreliable. Most people can’t accurately recall how much time they spent on their phone, nevermind what apps they used.
Fortunately, researchers are solving the measurement problem with new tools that capture what people actually do online—tools like the EARS app, which allows researchers to record keyboard activity.
Join Boys & Men Online and the Psychology of Technology Institute today at 3pm ET for a webinar on these tools, and how they can help us better study our digital lives. Registration here.
The Feed
Are AI romantic companions reshaping relationships?
A new Wheatley Institute survey of 2,431 partnered young adults (18–30) finds that 1 in 7 regularly chat with AI romantic companions—defined as AI systems designed to simulate romantic, sexual, or emotional relationships (~18% of men vs. ~12% of women). Several findings stand out:
Married young adults are the heaviest users, with 17% regularly chatting with an AI romantic companion, significantly more than those who are dating or engaged
Among frequent users, 60% wish their real partner behaved more like their AI companion and 68% wish real conversations felt more like conversations with AI
54% of users say they’re using AI to replace specific human relationships
Per my introduction, the results should be interpreted cautiously, as survey-based research on emerging technologies is often noisy. Still, they add to the growing evidence that AI companions may start to reshape users’ emotional and relational lives.
Gambling ads in sports television
The Washington Post used AI to analyze 50 hours of televised football, basketball, and hockey and found a gambling reference, promotion, or commercial every four minutes on average. The analysis builds on our earlier coverage of the Campaign for Accountability’s report on gambling advertising on YouTube and podcasts. Gambling is increasingly embedded in the mainstream sports-viewing experience.
As gambling advertising continues to grow Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have introduced bipartisan legislation—the Gaming Advertisement to Minors Enforcement (GAME)—to ban targeted sports betting advertising to minors on social media and other online platforms.
What courts should make platforms do next
A new report from the Knight-Georgetown institute examines how court-ordered remedies in social media and AI chatbot litigation can change company behavior. The authors draw on almost 100 prior remedies from tobacco, pharma, e-cigarette, and FTC cases to argue that monetary relief alone won’t change platform design because companies can absorb fines. Instead, courts should require injunctive relief: bans on unsafe design features, safer defaults for minors, independent external monitors, and mandated experiments measuring whether changes reduce harm in practice. The report’s release coincides with the second phase of the New Mexico bench trial, where a judge is deciding right now whether Meta can be compelled to redesign its products.
Prediction markets under fire at Senate Commerce Committee hearing
The central question of the Commerce Committee hearing was whether sports event contracts are federally regulated investment products or state-regulated gambling products by another name. Dr. Harry Levant of the Public Health Advocacy Institute argued in written testimony that sports prediction markets “constitute gambling,” and warned that online platforms and prediction markets have expanded sports gambling into a mental-health crisis affecting children, young adults, and families.
Minnesota bans prediction markets
Less than 24 hours after Minnesota became the first state to ban prediction markets, the CTFC stepped in, suing to block the law. The Minnesota law does not place any restrictions on users, but would make it a felony to operate platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. This is the latest development in the debate over whether to regulate these products as investments or gambling. Our polling with Ipsos showed that Americans are much more likely to view prediction markets as gambling rather than investing, with 61% saying the former and just 8% the latter.
What else we’re reading
Kalshi Retail Bettors Have Lost $100M+ on Parlays This Year - Sportico
Adolescents and loot boxes: a systematic review of behavioral mechanisms and problematic outcomes - Han et al.
From bans to recalls: A public health framework for AI companion bots - Brookings
Prediction Markets Underperform Simple Baselines for Infectious Disease Forecasting - Dudley et al.
An Evaluation of Chat Safety Moderations in Roblox - Kaushik et al.
Events & Funding Opportunities
International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking | Las Vegas, NV | May 26-28, 2026.
National Conference on Gambling Addiction & Responsible Gambling | Nashville, TN | July 22-24, 2026 | Call for presentations closed.
What did we miss this week? Do you have an upcoming conference or study we could feature in the next edition? Are you a researcher using novel methods to study our digital lives? Let us know at bmonline@substack.com, or shoot me a message here.
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