Study Finds Link Between Video Games and High Levels of Intelligence by Taylor Bennett | Nov 20, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics, Research Growing up, my two brothers and I loved to play all sorts of video games. We’d crowd onto the couch and battle each other in Halo 2 and Call of Duty on the Xbox. We’d spend hours creating our dream houses and families on Sims (with the help of some…
Pros and Cons of Swipe Dating On Your Mental Health, Mood by Nathan Davidson | Nov 7, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics Pros and Cons of Swipe Dating On Your Mental Health, MoodThere was a stigma to online dating ever since Match.com first launched in 1995. The perception was that it was for people who were desperate and incapable of meeting someone in person. I’ll admit it; I never tried online dating…
Virtual Reality Used to Reduce Phantom Body Pain in Paraplegics by Taylor Bennett | Nov 2, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics, Research A couple years ago, my little brother called me into his room and begged me to try on his new video game headset. This wasn’t any old gamer headset—it was virtually a portal to another world. I’m a baby so, of course, I denied his request at first. But then…
The Good Doctor Contradicts Media’s Portrayal of Mental Health and Little-Known Savant Syndrome by Taylor Bennett | Sep 26, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Awareness, Mental Health Topics The new, much-anticipated medical drama The Good Doctor finally premiered last night, September 26 on ABC—and all eyes were on Freddie Highmore, as he made his debut playing young autistic surgeon Shaun Murphy. Many shows and films have gotten bad raps in the past for misrepresenting mental illnesses or perpetuating…
National Video Games Day, September 12 by Lenora KM | Sep 12, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics From Pac-man to Playstation, video games have become a big part of our culture. This year, on September 12, gamers all over the country will want to mark their calendars for National Video Game Day. With 24 hours dedicated to the pastime of video games, gamers will want get their…
Are Dating Sites Really Capable of Finding My Perfect Match? by Taylor Bennett | Sep 2, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics, Relationships The realm of dating as we know it has completely transformed and continues to change with advancing technology. Today, there aren’t as many of us meeting our loved ones in person—striking up conversation with them at the local coffee shop, or beginning our love story with a circumstantial meeting on…
Texting and Social Media Have Proven to Negatively Impact Mental Health by Taylor Bennett | Sep 1, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics Take a moment and try to imagine life without modern-day technology. No alarm to wake you up for work in the morning. No car to get you where you need to go. You don’t have the option of picking up your phone and calling your dad. Or the ability to…
How Your Favorite Movie Genres Can Affect Your Mental Health by Taylor Bennett | Aug 29, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics It’s a common belief that you get along best with those who share your interests. And while I certainly see the basis for this assertion, I don’t think it always rings true—actually I know it doesn’t always ring true. In college, I studied multimedia journalism. I was a writer for…
KFC Made a Kinda Terrifying VR Employee Training Simulator by Nathan Davidson | Aug 25, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics The good people at KFC decided it would be a good idea to create a virtual reality training experience for their employees and this was the absolutely terrifying result. The future of VR is extremely exciting, but not in this context. If you’ve ever wanted to know what it would…
Thrive Five: 5 Netflix Movies About Psychology and Mental Health by Nathan Davidson | Aug 15, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics, Psychology Oh Netflix, what would we do without you and your magical entertainment superpowers. Netflix has a seemingly endless supply of movies, TV shows, documentaries about any subject matter you could possibly imagine, but it’s also precisely why we spend half of our time on Netflix trying to pick out something…
5 Surprising Mental Health Benefits Of Playing Video Games by Nathan Davidson | Aug 9, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics Gamers have always had to defend their entertainment vice far more than your average cinephile or bibliophile over the years, but that’s all about to change thanks to science… and video games. Several scientists and mental health researchers (who are probably all avid gamers) have been conducting studies over the…
5 Game of Thrones Characters Who Suffer From Mental Disorders by Nathan Davidson | Aug 7, 2017 | Disorders, Media Use, Mental Health Topics To call Game of Thrones a worldwide phenomenon doesn’t even do it proper justice. It’s by far the most captivating and addicting show ever created and it’s largely due to the fact that the show has so many amazing characters… with severe mental disorders. As season 7 of GOT rages on this…