Topics: Psychology of Social Networking and Digital Media

Catalog description

This course involves a combination of didactic and experiential learning strategies to explore the relationship between the various platforms of digital technology and human functioning. As new technologies continue to emerge and play a dominant role in navigating daily life and relationships with others, it is crucial to better understand the role of technology and identify the new challenges and opportunities it brings. Questions emerge about the nature of self and identity in online and offline spaces; the role of technology in finding intimacy with others as well as solitude with ourselves; and how technology might be fundamentally changing the human condition, altering our minds and behavioral patterns in conscious and unconscious ways. Most importantly, this course will challenge students to incorporate the knowledge they are gaining through readings and course discussion into their own behavior own relationships to technology through experiential learning assignments and designing experiments that can be administered to their peers. Raising awareness about the impact of technology on the self is crucial due to the potential for bias in developing research projects, given the pervasive role of technology in the lives of young people. Students will thus adopt tho role of participant-observers In attempt to balance the task of observing and studying these phenomena while simultaneously being immersed In them. Given the many platforms in our society aiming to deepen our understanding of these new media, each class will involve materials taken from each of three platforms addressing the impact of technology on human functioning : (1) academic article, (2) popular news media, and (3) artistic expression of these phenomena. Class discussions will attempt to synthesize the wisdom and lessons that can be drawn from all three platforms in effort to develop a…