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9780190239855

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With thick description and compelling accounts from youth, Freitas invites the reader to tour American collegiate life as she showcases how social media exacerbates the pressure that today's students feel to be happy and successful. The Happiness Effect demonstrates how timeless collegiate practices are being reshaped by the anxiety and stress students face, asking hard questions about technology and social life. -danah boyd, author of <em>It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens</em> An eye-opening, data-driven look at how young people use social media to craft their images, keep tabs on their peers, and create their identities. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology is shaping an entire generation of Americans. -Scott Westerfeld, author of <em>Uglies and Zeroes</em> In the age of social media, we live a new state of self: 'I share, therefore I am.' Here, media researcher Donna Freitas explores what this means for a generation that has never known another way of life. Or as one young man put is to Freitas, reflecting on a date with his girlfriend: 'It's not an official event until we have taken a selfie.' What Freitas finds is poignant, disturbing: There is only one way to be in public: smiling. Read this book to better understand the alienations that follow when we validate our private lives in public spaces. -Sherry Turkle, Professor, MIT; Author of <em>Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age</em> and <em>Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other</em> Attention-grabbing research that amply shows the many detriments of social media, particularly for young adults. -<em>Kirkus</em> In this extremely readable and hugely informative book, Freitas clarifies with tenderness and insight the profound challenges and implications of social networking for young adults. Psychologically astute, soulful, and full of wisdom, this book should be required reading for college students everywhere, as well as for adults who want to help this generation of digital pioneers. -Catherine Steiner-Adair, author of <em>The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age</em> When I want to know what college students are thinking and feeling, I turn to Donna Freitas. At a moment when college students' happiness is at an all-time low, we need this book. Combining vibrant storytelling, original research, and cultural critique, <em>The Happiness Effect</em> is required reading for anyone parenting or teaching college students. -Rachel Simmons, author of <em>Odd Girl Out</em>

With thick description and compelling accounts from youth, Freitas invites the reader to tour American collegiate life as she showcases how social media exacerbates the pressure that today's students feel to be happy and successful. The Happiness Effect demonstrates how timeless collegiate practices are being reshaped by the anxiety and stress students face, asking hard questions about technology and social life. -danah boyd, author of It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teensi An eye-opening, data-driven look at how young people use social media to craft their images, keep tabs on their peers, and create their identities. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology is shaping an entire generation of Americans. -Scott Westerfeld, author of iUglies and Zeroesi

With thick description and compelling accounts from youth, Freitas invites the reader to tour American collegiate life as she showcases how social media exacerbates the pressure that today's students feel to be happy and successful. The Happiness Effect demonstrates how timeless collegiate practices are being reshaped by the anxiety and stress students face, asking hard questions about technology and social life. -danah boyd, author of <em>It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens</em> An eye-opening, data-driven look at how young people use social media to craft their images, keep tabs on their peers, and create their identities. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology is shaping an entire generation of Americans. -Scott Westerfeld, author of <em>Uglies and Zeroes</em> In the age of social media, we live a new state of self: 'I share, therefore I am.' Here, media researcher Donna Freitas explores what this means for a generation that has never known another way of life. Or as one young man put is to Freitas, reflecting on a date with his girlfriend: 'It's not an official event until we have taken a selfie.' What Freitas finds is poignant, disturbing: There is only one way to be in public: smiling. Read this book to better understand the alienations that follow when we validate our private lives in public spaces. -Sherry Turkle, Professor, MIT; Author of <em>Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age</em> and <em>Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other</em> Attention-grabbing research that amply shows the many detriments of social media, particularly for young adults. -<em>Kirkus</em>

Ms. Freitas's detailed survey adds substance to her compelling thesis. Her interviews with 184 randomly selected, diverse students from 13 colleges - public and private, selective and less so - covered faith, parents, selfies, sexting and individual social-media histories... Some of her interviews contain real gems. One woman reported being so attached to her phone that, mugged for it on a bus, she pursued the muggers and to get it back gave them $150. * Laura Vanderkam, Wall Street Journal * She [Freitas] limits herself to a single topic - the effect of social media on the lives of college students - that turns out to have myriad dimensions, each of them explored in informative, artfully crafted chapters on selfies and self-image, sex and sexting, public and private identity, and more. * The Gospel Coalition *

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Donna Freitas is a Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame's Center for the Study of Religion and Society. A regular contributor to Publishers Weekly, she has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Christianity Today.

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