Samuel Hardman Taylor

Samuel Hardman Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), affiliated with the UIC Psychology Department. He earned his PhD in Communication from Cornell University, where he worked in the Cornell Social Media Lab. His research focuses on interpersonal and psychological processes in social media, mobile technologies, and algorithmic systems. Key areas include social media's impact on relationships, mental health, and the design of technologies to support human connections. Taylor leads the Chicago Social Media Lab, advising undergraduate and graduate students.

Education: PhD in Communication from Cornell University. Research highlights include interdisciplinary work on algorithm responsiveness (measuring user perceptions of platform algorithms), mobile phone availability's effects on well-being, and digital parenting strategies around TikTok algorithms. He collaborates on open science initiatives to improve transparency in communication research.

Publications span journals like Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, New Media & Society, and Proceedings of ACM CHI/CSCW. His work bridges communication theory with computational methods, developing tools like the Truman social media simulation platform for experimental research. He advocates for open science practices and has co-developed validated scales like the Perceived Algorithm Responsiveness and Insensitivity Scale (PARIS).

Lab/Team: Chicago Social Media Lab. Future work continues exploring algorithmic transparency, digital parenting, and the psychological implications of social media algorithms. Grants include NSF-funded projects on algorithmic fairness and social media analytics.