PSYBERTRONIC Blog

boy with phone on cement stairs

Placemaking / Smartphones / Social Media / Urban Design

Don’t Blame Your Teen’s Smartphone, Blame Their Neighborhood

“These days teenagers just stare at those damned smartphones all day instead of hanging out in the real world and actually living. Such a shame.”  Surely, you’ve heard or said some variation of this statement. It’s a common one. Countless articles, blog posts, books and research papers have been written with the direct or indirect intention of demonizing smartphones as an addictive technology rotting the minds of the young generations. I should know, I am...

Doors and Opportunities

Placemaking / Smartphones / Social Media / Urban Design / Video Games

The Relationship Between “Tech Addiction” and Urban Design

Over these past few years, there has been a lot of talk about smartphone and social media addiction. People spend hours a day with their faces staring at screens, leading to concerns about what they are missing out on while doing so. The target of this concern is often young people, with adults who grew up without such technologies criticizing them for staring at their devices instead of engaging with the real world. However, what...

community

Uncategorized

The Unexpected Social Benefits of TikTok – Part 3

This is Part 3 of the blog series discussing the surprising benefits of TikTok on society. If you are unfamiliar with what TikTok is and/or how it works, check out Part 1 for an explanation. You can find Part 2 here. Disclaimer: My impressions of TikTok have largely been formulated based off of my own FYP, which as explained in Part 1 is uniquely customized to what I like to see. Therefore, many readers may have a...

social media on the computer

Uncategorized

Problematic Social Media Use – Part 2: Challenges & Solutions

Although social media is generally used to establish and maintain social connections which is a natural and healthy human behavior, various problems have been associated with certain kinds of social media use. As with any behavior, its consequences can be positive or negative, depending on how it is done, with what intention, frequency, investment, etc. Social media can be positive if used to nurture healthy and positive relationships, to connect with support systems, to be...

Girl anxiously looks at smartphone

Smartphones / Social Media

Problematic Social Media Use – Part 1: Pathways

These days, there is a lot of discussion about whether social media is addictive or not. People around the world spend hours a day on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc. and this behavior has triggered concerns about what effect these social medias have on our health. Academic papers are written on the subject and debates are held by health professionals, the media and the general public. Terms like Facebook addiction and Instagram addiction are often...

Uncategorized

The Unexpected Social Benefits of TikTok – Part 2

This is Part 2 of the blog series discussing the surprising benefits of TikTok on society. If you are unfamiliar with what TikTok is and/or how it works, check out Part 1 for an explanation. If you want to read more on the subject, check out Part 3. Disclaimer: My impressions of TikTok have largely been formulated based off of my own FYP, which as explained in Part 1 is uniquely customized to what I...

TikTok

Uncategorized

The Unexpected Social Benefits of TikTok – Part 1

TikTok is one of the newer social media sites that has grown in popularity in recent years, and saw a notable boom in use during the coronavirus pandemic because people had extra free time and sought novel forms of entertainment. While many people see TikTok as an app for teens, a meaningless waste of time or a silly social network used just for fun and distraction, in my perspective TikTok has become one of the...

girl on smartphone

Smartphones / Social Media

How Social Media Can Decrease Happiness – Part 3: Losing the Moment

When we experience something enjoyable, without the intrusion of technology our enjoyment comes from the thing or the experience itself – the smell and taste of the coffee we’re drinking, the beauty and novelty of the city we’re visiting, the way we feel about our outfit and appearance, etc. The value comes from our own positive experience of the situation. However, when we shift our attention from fully experiencing the moment through our own eyes...

happy woman

Smartphones / Social Media

How Social Media Can Decrease Happiness – Part 2: Smelling the Roses

This is Part 2 in the series about the specific ways in which our social media use can decrease happiness.  You can find Part 1 here, addressing how social networks lead us to turn ourselves into a product and how that can negatively affect our mental health. Post 2: Skimming Instead of Reading, Scrolling Instead of Seeing Another way that intense use of social media can negatively affect our happiness and life satisfaction is because...

self in the selfie

Smartphones / Social Media

How Social Media Can Decrease Happiness – Part 1: Sharing Yourself

Depression among young people has been dramatically rising over the past 10 years and no one really knows why.  There are many possible reasons, and the answer is probably a combination of a few of them. However, one thing we know is that in the past 10 years, technology, smartphones and social media have also been greatly on the rise. To make the conclusion that higher technology use is causing more depression is a big...

Internet privacy

Marketing / Smartphones / Social Media

Internet Privacy – What We Give

Recently the world was shocked by the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal where a data scientist created a survey that gave him access to the personal data of millions of Facebook users and all their friends, then sold that data to a huge company which used it to sway voter opinion during presidential elections.  That event brought a lot of attention on the subject of Internet privacy, an important issue which many of us ignore because deep down...