Social media

A new study found that listening to other people speak—as opposed to just write—tends to make us think they’re more mentally capable.

A supervised learning algorithm can predict clinical depression much earlier and more accurately than trained health professionals.

We used to use technology. Now technology uses us. Silicon Valley ethicist Tristan Harris explains how the attention economy hijacked our self-worth for profit.

Users don’t need better media literacy to beat fake news. We need social media to be frank about its commercial interests.

Video of a man being dragged off a United Airlines flight sparks widespread outrage.

In what Tristan Harris calls a “race to the bottom of the brain stem,” media companies and advertisers will do almost anything to keep your eyes locked where they want them.

There’s a trillion-dollar underground economy hiding in plain sight, says Steven Kotler, and it can be measured in dopamine.

When you take off a virtual reality headset, you don’t remember seeing things, you recall experiencing them, says Kevin Kelly. VR will create a world of amazing opportunity – for us and for advertisers.

A careful analysis by two economists finds that phony journalism had little influence on voters and the outcome of the election.

Nowhere is anti-intellectualism more warmly incubated or does misinformation spread faster than in the online community, which is why Facebook – the third most-visited website in the world – has such a weighty responsibility.rn

Go fearlessly into the Internet, but not blindly, says Virginia Heffernan – each corner of digital culture has its best practices. Not learning them is a disrespect.

Researchers find more evidence of the link between social media use by young adults and depression.

A recent tweet from Donald Trump plummeted the value of Lockheed Martin’s stocks. What implications does this hold about the economic influences of social media? 

Despite our romanticized vision of social media as a global town square overflowing with diversity, the reality is that each user’s experience is hyper-filtered.    

One in five employees are distracted at work by social media, a Pew Research Center poll finds.   

If hate is a virus, the U.S. has got it bad. Oliver Luckett presents a fascinating perspective on how the 2016 election divided America, how social media mimics biology, and how the U.S. can start to rebuild.

Sean Curry takes aim at the rapidly evolving “gourmet” food industry that is warping our expectations, mindsets and first-world privilege to a scary new level. 

The question isn’t, “Are you a narcissist?” — it’s “Which type are you?”

1 in 3 people over the age of 65 live alone in the United States, and by age 85 it’s 1 in 2. Loneliness is an epidemic. Here’s how to fight it.