Viral Outrage Can Make People More Sympathetic

It’s a familiar pattern now: first, someone says something offensive online. Then their ill-advised social media post goes viral, subjecting them to trial by Twitter and Facebook. Paradoxically, because the consequences of viral outrage can come to seem out of proportion with the initial offense, this process might ultimately make the person who made the…

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Media Literacy: An Essential Twenty-First Century Skill

Here’s an idea you won’t here about in, well, the media: we should have media literacy classes in schools. Despite how much information we get from the media, we don’t talk much about how to critically evaluate the things we see on TV or read in the papers. But not helping students learn how to…

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Exploring Social Media’s Impact on Human Psychology

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn….there seem to be more social networks popping up every day for us to login, create a profile and connect.  Initially this seems fun and harmless, an easy way to get back in touch with long lost friends from elementary or high school or stay in touch with family on different coasts. …

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