Meet the Scholar: Nicole Puapattanakajorn

EXPERIENCE: Research assistant for the Happy Tech Lab
MAJOR: Psychology
HOMETOWN: Bangkok, Thailand

Highlight of the Experience

I really love the fact that research assistants in the Happy Tech Lab get the opportunity to do work that actually matters to the outcome of the study for the National Institute of Mental Health. Although we inevitably do some tedious things, I was given so many opportunities to interact with actual participants and create protocols that are actually being used to understand the impact of social media on middle schoolers.

Biggest Takeaway

A lot of people in our lab are quite conscious of how much we use technology and social media on a daily basis. I found that to be pretty infectious, especially after one lab meeting when we talked about some of the strategies people use to stay off their phones more. It was refreshing to see that be an active choice when I often feel like most people don’t really think about it at all.

On any given day in the Happy Tech Lab, students and researchers can be seen checking their phones for messages or using apps to manage their bank accounts or social profiles — after all, no one in that room today has known a world pre-Internet, but everyone in that room is working to understand its effect.

Nicole Puapattanakajorn (C’25) is just one of those students. As a psychology major, with a double minor in English and disability studies, Nicole had heard of the work of Associate Professor Kostadin Kushlev and the Happy Tech Lab and needed something to do in the summer of 2024. She was missing home, but a long trip back to her family in Bangkok, Thailand, wasn’t in the cards. So she wanted to find something that would get her busy quickly and allow her to dive into work to battle her light case of homesickness. The bigger bonus for an international student: the start date was flexible, so she could get to work sooner than later, which was exactly what she was after.

Puapattanakajorn isn’t looking for a life in academia when she graduates in May, but she wanted lab experience, and spent time that summer writing scripts, coding survey questions and testing protocols.

“I wanted to know what research would be like in a lab, so I applied to work there through a paid summer fellowship offered through the Department of Psychology, which affords students opportunities to work in a lab who wouldn’t necessarily have that experience in their regular coursework,” she said.

During the summer, the work didn’t require a lot of human contact — one of the main things, Kushlev said, that impacts our happiness. So not surprisingly, Puapattanakajorn, a self-described introvert, found herself looking forward to the biweekly lab meetings that started up during the fall.

They proved a chance to connect with Kushlev and all of the other workers and researchers — to hear about their work, to watch presentations by lab alumni who have gone on to study in other labs, and discuss issues or concerns. Each week the lab team talked about things like Instagram, TikTok and screentime or the latest school and national policies around children and technology.

Puapattanakajorn’s time in the lab has given her that sought-after lab experience, but those bi-weekly staff meetings and the research her fellow lab dwellers share has also given her a few tips on managing her digital appetite to protect herself from negative effects. Turning off notifications, for example, or putting her phone out of sight can help her focus. And trading her text screen for a one-on-one lunch date with a friend can go a long way to keep her homesickness in check and a smile on her face. You might say Puapattanakajorn found her own bit of happy in the Happy Tech Lab.