Media Environments and Mental Disorder

<p> The information environments that modern society requires us to master and engage in are based in literacy and digital communication. Mediated information not only passes through our brains it alters and rewires them. Since our environment to a large extent is shaped by the way we perceive understand and communicate information we can even think of mental disorders as symptoms of maladaptation to our media environments. </p><p> This book uses this media ecology model to explore the effects of media on mental disorders. It traces the development of media from the most basic forms--the sights and sounds expressed by the human body--to the most technologically complex media created to date showing how each medium of communication relates to specific mental disorders such as anxiety depression schizophrenia and autism. As the digital age proceeds to envelop us in an environment of infinite and instantly accessible information it's crucial to our own mental health to understand how the various forms of media influence and shape our minds and behaviors.</p>