Resources: Technology & Well-being

Italic = Reading List

* = Core Resource

Bold = PTI Member

• Twitter List

  • Accounts to follow for the latest on Technology & Well-being.

• Attention

  • The Shallows by Nicholas Carr*

    • A technology critic and member of our Scientific Advisory Board provides an early warning about how digital technology fragments our attention.

  • Remedies for the Distracted Mind*

    • A neuroscientist and psychologist prescribe research-backed remedies for our digital distraction.

  • Podcast: What is Technology Doing to Us? (Interview w/ Tristan Harris)*

    • A warning about the persuasive design tactics that permeate the digital environment and a plea for more humane methods.

  • Video: It’s not you. Phones are designed to be addicting.

  • Out of sight is not out of mind: The impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users

  • Brain drain: the mere presence of one’s own phone reduces available cognitive capacity

  • "Silence Your Phones": Smartphone Notifications Increase Inattention and Hyperactivity Symptoms

  • Why It’s OK to Block Ads

  • Productivity in Peril: Higher and Higher Rates of Technology Multitasking

  • Smartphone use undermines enjoyment of face-to-face social interactions

  • Smartphones distract parents from cultivating feelings of connection when spending time with their children

  • The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu

  • The Distracted Mind by Adam Gazzaley & Larry Rosen

  • Center for Humane Technology/Time Well Spent Reading List

• Well-being/Anxiety/Depression/Loneliness/Addiction

  • Social Media Use & Mental Health: A Review (Haidt & Twenge Google Doc)*

    • After discovering counter-evidence to their fears about teens & social media, researchers Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge put together this Google Doc to collate the varied findings on social media & mental health.

  • Worry Over Social Media May Be Misplaced*

    • An article on Jeff Hancock’s soon-to-be-published meta-analysis of social media & well-being research, which found a null result.

  • Digitally connected, socially disconnected: The effects of relying on technology rather than other people*

    • A study on the core tradeoff that characterizes digital tools: increased efficiency at the cost of social connection.

  • Beyond Cherry-Picking*

    • Because of their large sample sizes, social media studies open themselves up to multiple analyses and post-hoc claims to statistical significance. This article explains how to mitigate that problem.

  • Have smartphones really destroyed a generation? We don’t know.*

    • A journalistic summary of the many problems with social media research, including the poverty of screen-time as a metric.

  • Podcast: A GPS in the Garden of Forking Paths (Interview w/ Amy Orben)*

    • An extremely useful podcast on the importance of open science methods in social media research.

  • Relationship Between Peer Victimization, Cyberbullying, and Suicide in Children and Adolescents

  • Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of FOMO

  • Social Media’s Enduring Effect on Adolescent Life Satisfaction

  • Irresistible by Adam Alter

  • Is technology addiction a myth?

  • The Association Between Adolescent Well-being and Digital Technology Use

  • Smartphones reduce smiles between strangers

  • Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-being

  • The Future of Happiness

  • Stop blaming teens’ mental health issues on “screen time”

  • Is our use of digital technologies affecting our brain health?

• Sleep

  • Evening use of light-emitting e-Readers negatively affects sleep

  • Association Between Portable Screen-Based Media Device Access or Use and Sleep Outcomes

  • Sleeping with technology: cognitive, affective, and technology usage predictors of sleep problems among college students

• Polarization

  • #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media by Cass Sunstein

  • Technology is Not Driving Us Apart After All

• Design

  • Hooked by Nir Eyal*

    • A bible of persuasive and addictive design techniques, all of which are implemented the apps many of us use daily.

  • Video: How Dark Patterns Trick You Online*

    • Dark patterns are one of the more insidious persuasive design techniques. This video explains what they are and walks through one of the worst ones.

  • Gamification: Toward a Definition

  • Nudge by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler

  • Is Anything Worth Maximizing?

  • Designers, are you making people strong or weak?

  • Do Artifacts Have Politics?

  • Humane Tech Design Guide

  • Humane Tech App Ratings

  • Humane Tech Ledger of Harms

  • Humane by Design