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Facebook makes us lonely. Selfies breed narcissism. On Twitter, hostility reigns. Pundits and psychologists warn that digital technologies substantially alter our emotional states. But Luke Fernandez and Susan Matt show that technology doesn't just affect how we feel from moment to moment¿it changes profoundly the underlying emotions themselves.
About the author
Luke Fernandez is Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and codirector of the Tech Outreach Center at Weber State University. His essays on the effects of the internet on higher education have appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education. An NEH Digital Humanities Fellowship funded his course “Are Machines Making Us Stupid?” which generated media interest across Utah. He blogs at www.itintheuniversity.blogspot.com.Susan J. Matt is Presidential Distinguished Professor of History at Weber State University and author of Keeping Up with the Joneses: Envy in American Consumer Society and Homesickness: An American History, both widely reviewed. She has appeared on many radio programs, including To the Best of Our Knowledge on Wisconsin Public Radio and the CBC’s Tapestry, and her work has been recognized in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Slate, New York Magazine, and Washington Post, among others.
Summary
Facebook makes us lonely. Selfies breed narcissism. On Twitter, hostility reigns. Pundits and psychologists warn that digital technologies substantially alter our emotional states. But Luke Fernandez and Susan Matt show that technology doesn't just affect how we feel from moment to moment-it changes profoundly the underlying emotions themselves.
