Media Psychology & Technology
Modernizing Maslow’s Hierarchy through the Lens of Self-Care
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) is one of the founders of Humanistic Psychology. Along with Carl Rogers (1902-1987), Maslow stressed the importance of looking at the whole person rather than reducing individuals to a list of symptoms or diagnoses. Both also placed a central focus on the concept of self-actualization, or the belief that humans possess an…
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American Psychological Association Publishes Guidelines on Social Media Use for Children and Adolescents
Social media, like any technology, is neither inherently good nor bad. Its value lies in how we choose to use it. To encourage the positive use of social media and discourage harmful practices among children and adolescents, the American Psychological Association (APA), an organization with 146,000 members, has published a series of recommendations and advisories…
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Media Literacy and Modern Technology
Media Psychology Technology, including social and other forms of media, is often considered neutral – its value is determined by how we use it (see Social Media is Related to Both Ill-Being and Well-Being). Finding a social group online that understands you can be a positive, life-changing, and even life-saving experience. However, becoming consumed with…
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Doomscrolling: The Ultimate Negative Flow State and Four Ways to Counter It
First, A Little Psychology I’ve written before about social media use and how it can be both helpful and harmful. The article, Is Social Media Reflecting Our Pathology or Adding to It?, concluded that social media does both. The trick to making social media a positive experience is understanding how their algorithms work. The first…
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Is Social Media Reflecting Our Pathology or Adding to It?
Social Media and Mental Health Social media has become an open forum for discussing and sharing stories about mental health. For many, this has been positive, perhaps even a lifesaving, as it helps people connect with others who have similar experiences and find places where one does not feel alone. According to an article in…
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Social Media Use is Related to Both Ill-Being and Well-Being
Social media use and mental health seems to have a love/hate relationship. Brailovskaia and Margraf (2016) conducted a large study comparing users and non-users of Facebook on various mental health variables. While they found that users were significantly more likely to score higher on scales of narcissism, they also scored higher on extroversion and self-esteem.…
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Social Media and Self-Esteem
A recent article published in Science Direct looked at the association between social media use and mental health among adolescents. The impact of social media on mental health is certainly not a new topic. Neil Petersen wrote about envy as a mediator of mental illness among social network users, how social media affects life satisfaction…
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Therapy Can Be as Effective Online as In Person
From Zoom happy hours to remote learning, one thing most of us have discovered this year is that doing something “virtually” isn’t always as good as the real, in-person thing. But does that hold true for therapy? Even before the pandemic, psychology researchers were interested in the potential of online interventions given the convenience and…
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The Psychological Similarities Between Professional Gamers and Baseball Players
Some day soon, the Olympic Games may have video games on the schedule. “But video games aren’t a real sport,” you cry. And yet, besides the obvious analogy between video games and traditional sports in terms of competitive skill, a new study from researchers in South Korea suggests striking psychological similarities between pro gamers and…
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How Different Types of TV Viewing Relate to Children’s Language Skills
Something you never hear anyone say is “children these days don’t watch enough TV.” Indeed, a 2017 report found the average child in the US who is 8 years old or less has more than two hours of screen time a day, with a good chunk of that going into television viewing. You might suspect…
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