It would be impossible to not pause and ponder the implications of the deaths of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Both were cultural icons tied to a specific time in U.S. pop culture. Their death forces us to deal with the passage of time and mortality (theirs and ours). It reminds us that we won’t ever be that age or that person again. It would be hard to distinguish between people’s reaction to the loss of Fawcett or Jackson as symbols of the time, (not to mention success, beauty... Read Full Story

(This was posted June 5, 2009 on my blog “Positively Media” at PsychologyToday.com) Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he voluntarily makes himself a great baby - so helpless and so ridiculous.” Think of the tech-saavy younger generation as another country with a different language. Their lives are inseparable from technology and they are connected to each other and to information flows... Read Full Story

This was posted April 13, 2009 on my blog “Positively Media” at Psychology Today. First it was “Dell Hell” and now it is “#AmazonFail.” For all the debates over the purpose, point, and value of social media, it is events like these that illustrate how important they have become and how powerful they can be. “Dell Hell” is one of the iconic stories in the history of social media sending an emphatic message that consumers have a new power. In Jun... Read Full Story

Nigeria has recently embarked on a rebranding effort to improve their image worldwide.  Global perceptions are important in attracting the kinds of things an emerging economy needs to improve the living standards and opportunities of its people: tourism, trade, foreign direct investment and foreign financial assistance, or even to meet the UN recommended Millennium Development goals. In the words of President Yar Adua, “we must readily put in place a positive perception of Nigeria.̶... Read Full Story

An article on Entrepreneur.com “In This Economy, Everything’s (Re)Negotiable” got me thinking about how hard it is to make changes in a business.  Aside from contracts and other commitments, it’s difficult to retrench because it means redefining how you think about yourself and success.  Running a business is hard work because you have to be able to  adapt to the market with the necessary steps to keep your business healthy–especially when the econ... Read Full Story

This is a great clip from “On the Brain” with Dr. Michael Merzenich interviewing Dr. Bruce Wexler. Wexler wrote the book Brain and Culture —one of my favorites.  In this interview, Merzenich and Wexler talk about the brain plasticity or the ability of someone to adapt when someone’s internal models and worldview no longer match the world he or she lives in, such as in cases of trauma, loss, or the experience of immigrants in a new culture.  To me, this aptly describe peop... Read Full Story

I get a lot of questions about career paths in media psychology, particularly among those thinking of pursuing a degree in the field. I certainly empathize with that confusion–and the desire to make sure someone will give you a job if you do all that work. Media psychology, as a new field, doesn’t offer up any quick and easy answers. It’s helpful to think about how to define media psychology broadly and then make it relevant to individual interests and goals. It the largest se... Read Full Story

Pew Internet and American Life project recently posted a slideshow that summarizes their findings of the changes in the News MediaScape. There’s no sound but the charts and graphics tell a pretty good story. 2009 Feb 17 Public Broadcasters View more presentations from PewInternet.               Read Full Story

Yesterday I posted the “Rutledge’s Text Messaging Developmental Stages” on my Psychology Today blog, Positively Media.  Clearly it’s a loose adaptation of Erikson’s psychosocial stages and will, I hope, be entertaining to ‘psychnerds’ as one of my Twitter followers remarked.  (I take that moniker as a compliment, BTW.)  Joking aside, there are, however, observable differences in how people use text messaging based on their adoption age and rate.  It has to do with how ... Read Full Story

I am very excited to announce that I have joined the blogging community on Psychology Today’s website writing about the positive use of media and social technologies. My blog there is called Positively Media: How we connect and thrive with emerging technologies. The first posting is called Zen Moment: Social Media isn’t a “thing,” it’s a state of being talks about the phenomenon of social media. Check it out!  I’d love to have your feedback. {BLANK}&nb... Read Full Story