Technology
Social Media
Renowned psychologists Lisa Damour, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, and Laurence Steinberg, author of You and Your Adult Child, delve into the complex landscapes of adolescence and young adulthood in today’s society. Both have devoted their careers to studying and understanding adolescents — Damour as a clinical psychologist working with families and organizati...
Two champions of free speech, one of whom sits on the Facebook Oversight Board, delve into the legal and ethical implications of content moderation online. How do social networks strike a balance between societal values, individual expression, and online safety? How should we find an equilibrium between open dialogue and harmful content?
If the First Amendment’s protections against government intrusion are a core tenet of American democracy, what happens when the chief regulators of speech are private technology companies? What is protected, who gets to decide, and what are the implications for our democracy?
As the nation’s top doctor, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy helps to advance the health and well-being of all Americans. He has described the growing youth mental health crisis in America as the “defining public health crisis of our time” and warned that social media carries a “profound risk of harm to the mental health of children and adolescents.” Murthy has also highlig...
Does it feel like the quality of our national discourse has gone down in the last several years? You’re not the only one who’s noticed. It’s not individuals who have gotten stupider, says NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, but it’s our collective intelligence that’s suffering. Institutions aren’t getting as much done, and leaders are making rash decisions under the pr...
Americans aren’t dumb—at least individually—but something changed in the last ten years that made the country-as-a-whole stupid in an unprecedented way. And yes, it was social media. What was once a place to share cute kid pics became a place to score hits on enemies and undermine institutional trust, and the viral nature of social media empowered the far political extreme...
Today's 15- to 25-year-olds — dubbed Gen Z — are true digital natives coming of age against a backdrop of unprecedented political, social, technological, and economic change. These circumstances are shaping a precocious generation that has found its voice and is changing our society, redefining cultural norms, and putting into question decades-old geopolitical and business...
Join this roundtable discussion — led by Aspen Digital’s Vivian Schiller and Zaki Barzinji — for an engaging conversation about the impact of emerging technologies and platforms on youth. We will also be joined by diverse Gen Z leaders, researchers, and industry experts, who will talk about what they see as both the threats and opportunities of today’s digital world, part...
News organizations find themselves in an unenviable position today: charged with delivering the facts in a post-truth world, all while staying financially viable and navigating a rapidly shifting technological landscape. In this conversation, Noah Oppenheim and Jeffrey Goldberg discuss the long game for media through the critical lenses of editorial, business, and tech. Wh...
There’s a mental health crisis plaguing America’s youth. The last decade saw major increases in adolescents who reported having a depressive episode, and “serious loneliness” affected a majority of young adults—and the global pandemic has likely worsened these conditions. The stats are staggering, but we need to do more than just talk about them, and come together as paren...
One in two girls say toxic beauty advice on social media causes low self-esteem, and seven in ten have felt better after unfollowing idealized beauty content. This research — and wider conversations surrounding social media use and its impacts on teens’ mental wellness — make this conversation more urgent than ever. Join creative and cultural expert Jess Weiner for #DetoxY...
Technology has revolutionized the way we see and share beauty. From street style rocking luxury fashion houses to the changes in how and what we purchase, social media is disrupting the world of fashion. How does having the world at our fingertips make fashion more accessible and democratic? And in the process – how are we changing the ways in which we express ourselves cr...
COVID-19 vastly accelerated vaccine skepticism, such that even routine childhood immunizations, including shots that had largely eliminated measles, are now being questioned. Misinformation can be as contagious as disease, undermining faith in institutions, jeopardizing public health and safety, and distorting clinical decision making. Come watch a live demonstration that...
When you tick a box on an online privacy notice, just how much personal information are you giving away? Is the tradeoff worthwhile? When it comes to data, the relationship between companies and consumers is uneven — customers are getting a raw deal because there's no limit on what a company can collect. Who's job is it to regulate this space and better protect consumers'...
Technology has changed the way we think and interact with one another, and social media platforms are intentionally engineered to be addictive and manipulative. Those messages are in the documentary "The Social Dilemma," which was created by Jeff Orlowski's filmmaking company Exposure Labs. "Big social," says Orlowski, is transforming our information ecosystem. He tells Vi...
Instead of coming together during the pandemic, many Americans have grown farther apart. People are increasingly living in different realities of news, politics, and information, which is putting public health, elections, and democracy at risk. False and misleading information online are partly to blame, says Vivian Schiller, director of Aspen Digital. "Much of this stems...
Facebook holds more power globally than do few other private or public-sector entities. So, hearing from one of its top execs often sheds light on what to expect. The company’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, joins The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson to discuss a wide range of issues regarding the ever-evolving creative economy. What’s the role of virtual reality in the y...
We are increasingly living in different realities of news, politics, and information — a trend that’s undermining the shared foundation of “truth” necessary for proper functioning of society. At risk are public health, elections, and democracy itself. But America’s “fake news” problem actually runs much deeper. What are the roots of our broken information ecosystems, who i...
America’s Founders didn’t envision activist groups mobilizing on social media and disinformation spreading across the internet. Thanks to the web, new threats to democracy — like the January 6th attack on the US Capitol — have emerged. Nate Persily, professor of law at Stanford, talks with Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center, about why passion may...
Last year Russia infiltrated the digital networks of federal agencies and many of America’s largest corporations, and last week’s armed insurrection on the US Capitol was fomented through disinformation campaigns on social media.