Mark Carrier, Ph.D.

My book, From Smartphones to Social Media: How Technology Affects Our Brains and Behavior, comes out on October 31, 2018. Here I write a little about a topic covered in Chapter 3, “Electronic Aggression.” You can’t go online and interact with other users without putting yourself at risk for cyberbullying; so go online wisely. Ten to 40% of youth have been the victims of #cyberbullying. Victims can experience significant emotional and mental anguish. In extreme cases, some vic

There is a movement to help regular people control their technology use; it aims to give people JOMO, or the Joy of Missing Out. Fear and Joy JOMO is a play on the phrase #FOMO—the Fear of Missing Out—that became synonymous with the continuous, impulsive checking of our devices that was observed in society when cellphones became widely owned. Achieving JOMO may be difficult on your own. If, for example, you are someone who might qualify has having a technology addiction—gamin

We helped Premieres Lignes--a French news agency--spread the word about the conflict between impulsivity and cognitive control when it comes to our digital devices. Paul Moreira (@PaulMoreiraPLTV) from Premieres Lignes, an independent press agency in France, visited the lab on December 7, as part of his work putting together a story on the effects of digital technology upon children. Mr. Moreira was interested in the role of the #brain (the brain is everything, isn’t it?) in

Anderson Cooper and the crew of "60 Minutes" visited the laboratory on March 30th to find out how my colleagues and I are investigating the effects of personal technology--in this case, #smartphones--upon people's behaviors, physiology, and brains. The Brain Imaging Lab contains psychophysiological and #brain imaging equipment. The lab technician, Jonathan ("JP") Pedroza, helped me conduct an imaging study of Mr. Cooper's (@andersoncooper) prefrontal cortex. Mr. Cooper was in

Katie Couric and Steve Aoki came to campus for a television series shoot. Very little research has examined the effect of #digital personal technology use upon the brains of ordinary individuals. Fortunately, our Brain Imaging Laboratory possesses the right equipment for measuring #brain activity while people are in realistic settings. I always am happy to share what I know about the topic with non-scientists. Visit to the Laboratory On Monday, November 20, I had the privileg