Courses

Most of us spend a great deal of time on social media or interacting with internet-related technologies. Screen time can change a person in profound ways. Many people behave more impulsively, narcissistically, angrily, or immaturely online. And after spending countless hours “being” that online person, they can find these undesirable characteristics seeping into offline behavior, adversely affecting everyday relationships and transforming society along the way. Drawing on research, cultural observations, and the instructor's clinical experience as a psychiatrist, this course will explore the range of ways in which internet-related technologies have transformed psychology and mental health. We will discuss how online life can change cognition, affecting attention, memory, reading, and writing. We will see how over-reliance on social media can come at a high personal and sociocultural cost. We will explore cyberbullying, video game addiction, online dating, the internet's tenuous relationship with democracy, and how to aim for psychological balance in a world where privacy—crucial to a healthy psychology—is all but impossible to maintain. Finally, we will highlight how internet-related technologies are also making possible new and promising ways to treat mental illness and increase access to care, including through video, VR, and AI platforms.