Psychology of Media & Technology

Should YouTrack?  Is it useful sometimes?  Sure!  Could it damage your relationship?  Absolutely.  From a psychological perspective, these apps force us to address our beliefs about privacy, ‘feeling watched’ and the relational costs versus benefits of tracking. It all boils down to trust and establishing an honest set of ground rules. #mediapsychology

This article made me so happy. DESIGN MATTERS.  HOW SOMETHING LOOKS INFLUENCES CONSUMER EXPERIENCE.  Consumer experience is largely emotional.  Design is a way of triggering emotions to support and align with user experience.  As someone who's foundation is rooted in the psychology of design, I feel like I've been hollering into dead space, as I'm sure many designers do.  Steve Jobs knew that design sets expectations and creates a psychological environment that frames product use.  The whole field of Data Viz is built on design choices to communicate. Design (or lack of it) is one of the reasons I've never used Google Mail in spite of it's functionality.  It's just TOO UGLY.  Developers take note.  This isn't about Millennials.  It's about design.

More than anything, the filters seem to be a way to play with our look and experiment with how we present ourselves. This could eventually even change paradigms. One of the ways people learn is by watching others and evaluating the outcome. Another is to experiment. This can be nuanced or more overt expressions, fleeting or more permanent.  At the same time, it's important to be respectful of broader social implications of technology like this. 

As a psychologist, I can tell you that, contrary to any logic, traumatic events such as loss can produce extraordinary personal growth —what we call post-traumatic growth—exactly because it’s so disorienting.  Seeing ghosts in photographs were a pathway to new meaning and dealing with grief for Julie, connecting her with people, ideas, skills and, yes, spirits, she didn’t have before.  Julie’s story is just one journey to post-traumatic growth but what she demonstrates is how a regular person handled her personal trauma and by being open to some really new and, for the skeptics, entertainingly bizarre stuff.  It is inspirational and very funny.  While Julie doesn’t list finding humor in life’s curveballs as a strength, it is certainly one of hers.  Humor triggers the “feel good” neurotransmitters that take the edge of stress, anxiety, improve our mood and even increase our tolerance to physical pain.  Even if you think ghosts are figments of the imagination, you’ll feel better after reading Julie’s book because she’ll make you laugh and even the skeptics among you will probably buy a little sage, just in case.

This isn't a left/right issue.  This is a moral one that transcends politics.  We have to be FOR a moral stance that accepts all to eliminate the need for haters.  Human history suggests that these kinds of uprisings are not anomalies when people are afraid or feeling marginalized.  We can't just be "against" hate --  that's a negative position and equally powerless.  It needs haters to have something to oppose.  The same group mentality and sense of collective agency that enables the organization of hate groups can also be used to inspire resistance.  Social media goes both ways; it can be used to define and unite a definition of society that tolerates differences without hate and violence.  Let's continue to speak up against hate and create a tipping point where these groups are outcasts in society rather than an outlet.  There is no appeal or sense of  power being a member of a disempowered group--one that is looked down on by all parts of society.