Medfield - Current Events: Social Media and Online Culture

" ... the gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks preyed on psychological frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions ... the companies' founding tenets, combined with a blinkered focus on maximizing engagement, have led to a destabilized world for everyone."--Dust jacket flap.

"In our always-on, productivity-addicted lifestyles, we tend to think of the pursuit of fun as being indulgent, even immature and childish. When we do find the time to relax or care for ourselves, we tend to turn to activities that are not actually restorative: binging Netflix, scrolling through Twitter, or indulging our FOMO on Instagram. Through years of research, journalist Catherine Price has learned the truth: far from being frivolous or a distraction,...

"Resettling Your Brain in the Age of Cheap Pleasures"-- We are living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. Lembke explores new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain-- and what to do about it....

This volume examines the effects of video and TV on the developing minds of children. The author explains how parents can navigate through a TV, DVD and video game market that has only begun developing its potential and expanding its influence on children. She focuses on infants to five-year-olds and explores what exactly is "educational" about educational media. She examines how play and language development are affected by background and foreground...

In all the writing and reporting KJ Dell'Antonia has done on families over the years, one topic keeps coming up again and again: parents crave a greater sense of happiness in their daily lives. In this optimistic, solution-packed book, KJ asks: How can we change our family life so that it is full of the joy we'd always hoped for? Drawing from the latest research and interviews with families, KJ discovers that it's possible to do more by doing less,...

Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It's the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world. In this timely and enlightening book, the bestselling author of Deep Work introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives. Digital minimalists are all around us. They're the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations...

"An urgent and expert investigation into behavioral addiction, the dark flipside of today's unavoidable digital technologies, and how we can turn the tide to regain control. Behavioral addiction may prove to be one of the most important fields of social, medical, and psychological research in our lifetime. The idea that behaviors can be being addictive is new, but the threat is near universal. Experts are just beginning to acknowledge that we are...

The digital technology explosion has blown everything to bits--and the blast has provided new challenges and opportunities. This second edition of Blown to Bits delivers the knowledge you need to take greater control of your information environment and thrive in a world that's coming whether you like it or not. Straight from internationally respected Harvard/MIT experts, this plain-English bestseller has been fully revised for the latest controversies...

"Over the last two decades, there has been an inescapable rise of anger and aggression across our planet. Hate speech has become increasingly prevalent online, Western governments are turning towards authoritarianism and populism, and extremist groups are rising across both the left and the right ends of the political spectrum. Every day, it seems, we're hearing more angry voices and fearful opinions, we're seeing more threats and frightening news,...