lit. review I

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr


"Our ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting, we now know, are not entirely determined by our genes. Nor are they entirely determined by our childhood experiences. We change them through the way we live—and, as Nietzsche sensed, through the tools we use."

Nicholas Carr, author and critic, has a unique perspective on the technological revolution. Carr explains how high computer usage neurologically rewires our brains, in effect changing the way we think. Understanding how the brains of digital natives are reconfigured helps me accommodate the habits and expectations of young social networkers in my designs.

Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.

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Cyberpsychology: an Introduction to Human-computer Interaction, Kent Norman


"Users will expect computers to interpret both their intentions and their actions."

Cyberpsychology is a book that introduces an emerging field of psychology that deals with the study of the human mind and behavior in the context of human-technology interaction. Norman helped me understand the importance of mental models—the stored mental representations of objects and processes—which is pivotal when rethinking the design of a social networking space. The emphasis that my thesis has on a synergistic relationship came from Norman's work—where the human learns and remembers from the computer and the computer learns and remembers from the human (and environment). He also explains a lot of the theoretical approaches and research methods in human-computer interaction, with lots of interjections on the role of the designer.

Norman, Kent L. Cyberpsychology: an Introduction to Human-computer Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print

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Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other, Sherry Turkle


"Now, technology makes it easy to express emotions while they are being formed. It supports an emotional style in which feelings are not fully experienced until they are communicated."

Sherry Turkle is a sociologist who focuses her research on people's relationship with technology. My thesis is grounded in her theories—on young adults' relationship with social networking sites. Analyzing the effects of current human-computer interaction, Turkle worries about the negative implications of being constantly tethered to a virtual network. She puts forth the idea that we are determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things and describes young adults' perceptions of privacy in online social spaces, like Facebook.


Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. Basic, 2011. Print.

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Psychological Predictors of Young Adult's Use of Social Networking Sites, Kathryn Wilson, et al.


"Extroversion was found to be associated with addictive tendencies, suggesting that extroverts may become overly reliant on SNSs because the interactive experience meets their need for stimulation and social interaction. Low scores on conscientiousness significantly predicted addictive tendencies. It is plausible that unconscientious young adults demonstrate addictive tendencies toward the use of SNS because unconscientious people tend to lack self-control."

This study focused on young adults' use of social networking sites (and addictive tendencies) from personalty characteristics and levels of self esteem. The results from this study are the foundation for the personas that I will develop for my thesis. The researchers theorize that (1) social networking sites appeal to extroverts because they like to connect and reach out to others, as well as present information about themselves online, and (2) that unconscientious people have an addictive tendency towards social networking because it occupies their time while procrastinating. These findings are a breakthrough in the field because it is inconsistent with previous researchers who have typically concluded that extroverts prefer face-to-face interactions, and the internet mainly appeals to introverts with low self esteem.


Wilson, Kathryn, Stephanie Fornasier, and Katherine M. White. "Psychological Predictors of Young Adult's Use of Social Networking Sites." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 13.2 (2010). Journal.