This course aims to introduce the topics regarding the relationship between media use and personal well-being. Students will learn about the media's fundamental modus operandi, ecosystem and discovered influences on people from the existing multidisciplinary literature. Individuals' well-being – particularly in terms of life satisfaction, psychological states, and health in relation to media affordances and uses – will be reviewed with relevant readings and class-yielded data. The knowledge gained and exercises within the class will be conducive for self-reflection and class discourse and to ponder on possible remedies. Students will also delve into a chosen specific topic in the interplay of media use and well-being to produce either a case-study essay or a research paper that showcases their informed insight and sheds new light on their concerned subject. Effective Fall 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in the following BU HUB area: Research and Information Literacy.

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