ABSTRACT

Our use of media touches on almost all aspects of our social lives, be they friendships, parent-child relationships, emotional lives, or social stereotypes. How we understand ourselves and others is now largely dependent on how we perceive ourselves and others in media, how we interact with one another through mediated channels, and how we share, construct, and understand social issues via our mediated lives.

This volume highlights cutting edge scholarship from preeminent scholars in media psychology that examines how media intersect with our social lives in three broad areas: media and the self; media and relationships; and social life in emerging media. The scholars in this volume not only provide insightful and up-to-date examinations of theorizing and research that informs our current understanding of the role of media in our social lives, but they also detail provocative and valuable roadmaps that will form that basis of future scholarship in this crucially important and rapidly evolving media landscape.

part II|78 pages

Media and Relationships

chapter 8|13 pages

Media and Friendships

chapter 9|18 pages

Sex, Romance, and Media

Taking Stock of Two Research Literatures

chapter 10|15 pages

Mediated Relationships and Social Life

Current Research on Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and Identification

part III|65 pages

Emerging Media and Social Life

chapter 11|17 pages

Video Games And Social Life

chapter 12|13 pages

The Structural Transformation of Mobile Communication

Implications for Self and Society

chapter 13|20 pages

The Place Where Our Social Networks Reside

Social Media and Sociality

chapter 14|13 pages

Blogging