Dr. Twenge will address how American culture has grown steadily more individualistic over the last few decades. Based on data from nationally representative surveys of 11 million adolescents and young adults, this resulted in generational shifts favoring individual freedom and less importance placed on marriage and family. For Millennials (born 1980-1994), individualism led to more positive self-views and more happiness as teens, but that trend reversed for iGen (born 1995-2012), who are less happy, more lonely, and more depressed. iGen spends more time online and on social media and less time interacting with friends in person than previous generations at the same age, a pattern of time use associated with compromised mental health. iGen is also growing up more slowly, taking longer to engage in adult activities such as working, driving, dating, having sex, and drinking alcohol.

CNBC hosted a discussion on the effects of technology and social media, for which MTH's Dr. Primack provided commentary. This discussion, centered around the role of app developers and parents in children's technology use, comes just as Apple is under scrutiny for smartphone addiction. Watch the conversation here.

Dr. Primack, interviewed by Weight Watchers, describes what MTH research around mental health and multiple social media platforms, social isolation, anxiety and depression.

Pokemon Go, the App that Turned a Video Game into a Movement, Has its First Birthday

July 6th was the first birthday of Pokemon Go, an augmented reality mobile game that incentivizes moving, and Dr. Primack spoke to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the effect of the game on health and wellbeing.

Status of Vaping in 2017

In August, the New Pittsburgh Courier featured e-cigarettes on their health page, including comments from Dr. Brian Primack on what e-cigarettes are and why their use is being regulated and an editorial by Dr. Kar-Hai Chu on the link between vaping and social media.

Dr. Primack weighed in on a June JAMA Pediatrics study that found adolescents who try e-cigarettes are more than three times as likely to take up smoking traditional cigarettes. Read the full story in Reuters here.

Time Health compiled a list of eight ways to stay energized all day, and MTH's Dr. Primack weighed in about the positive and negative ways social media may affect mental health and well-being.

"Put Down the Phone" Music Video & the Science Behind It

MTH's Dr. Brian Primack was interviewed by CBS Pittsburgh in relation to a new music video by Pittsburgh rapper Jordan York called "Put Down the Phone." Dr. Primack spoke about why social media can be addictive and how it can increase feeling of depression, anxiety, and isolation. You can read the story and watch the news clip here.

Allegheny County's Proposed E-Cigarette Regulations

On Monday, March 6, UPMC and Pitt medical experts, including MTH's Dr. Primack, met in a press conference supporting Allegheny County's proposed e-cigarette regulations. You can watch a clip reel online here, or read about the coverage from thePittsburgh Post-Gazetteor the Tribune-Review. The regulations passed on March 7.

Forbes cited MTH's 2016 study on social media and drepression saying that the that subjects who reported the most frequent use of social media had 2.7 times more likelihood of depression than those who used it less frequently.

MTH Releases its 2016 Annual Report

The 2016 annual report features the Center's news and accomplishments, including several new publications on social media and mental health, new staff and faculty, and recent conference presentations.

Social media photo-sharing platform Instagram just released a support system for users to flag posts related to self-harm or eating disorders. Pittsburgh Triubune-Review covered the developments, supported by medical and communications professionals, including Dr. Primack.

Can you treat anxiety with YouTube videos?

Dr. Primack and other experts weighed in on how YouTube videos about mental health can counter social stigma and serve as helpful resources for individuals suffering from anxiety. This was covered in The Guardian.

Is Social Media Harming Students?

In the September 2016 issue, IB World magazine discussed MTH’s study on the relationship between depression and frequency of social media. The article reviewed the findings, and included comments made by Dr. Brian Primack.

Ryan McGarry, MD, clinical instructor of emergency medicine at Cornell University and executive producer of the CBS drama Code Black, delivered a special presentation in Scaife Hall where he discussed how Code Black and other television dramas can harbor significant educational worth beyond entertainment value. The video and additional information are available here.

Researchers from the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health presented a total of seven poster and four oral presentations on a variety of topics at the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s annual conference in Washington D.C. this March. MTH statistician Ariel Shensa’s poster was featured in an article by Reuters UK, a rare feat for a poster presentation. A summary of the presentations can be found here.

Local Pittsburgh news station WTAE interviewed Dr. Primack for its story the overuse of electronics by children and the resultant missing out on outdoor activities that occur during the summer.

Society of General Internal Medicine Presentations

Researchers at CRMTH brought a variety of thought-provoking research topics to the Society of General Internal Medicine’s (SGIM) annual conference in Toronto in April 2015. A summary of the presentations can be found here.

Alcohol Intoxication on YouTube

Dr. Primack was interviewed on NPR’s Here and Now about his study on the Portrayal of Alcohol Intoxication on YouTube, which examined more than 70 popular YouTube videos and found that intoxication is mostly depicted as fun and humorous, with few references to the negative consequences of drinking. Dr. Primack discussed his study and how analyzing the videos may help debunk myths about drinking and help design interventions.

Dr. Primack’s research on students smoking hookah was featured in a lead story on CNN Health on June 7, 2012. The article, titled “1 in 3 college students has smoked hookah,” discusses both the attraction towards and the dangers of smoking hookah.

On April 8, 2010, Dr. Primack was selected as Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Top Early Career Researcher. This award recognizes an early-career nominee's total career achievements, including the publication of a representative paper.

Media Exposure in Children

In an article published in Nature on June 10, 2009 titled, “Media Research: The Black Box”, Dr. Primack’s gave several quotes on the importance of researching the influence of media exposure on children and adolescents, and his research on this topic was cited.

In a study published in JAMA Pediatrics, Dr. Primack and colleagues found that the average adolescent is exposed to approximately 84 references to explicit substance use daily in popular songs. This research made national news, and was the subject of a New York Times article titled, “Alcohol and Drugs Abound in Pop? Who Knew?”

Dr. Primack was selected as the new investigator of the year from The Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine. The Society has established the New Investigator Award to recognize professionals who, through excellence in research, have furthered the Society's goals.