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'Social Animals' Focuses on the Highs and Lows of Instagram-Famous Teens

To say young people's identities are tied up in social media would be a failure to recognize that the digital is now intrinsically part of the real, as evidenced in the documentary, Social Animals.

Film

'War in 140 Characters' Is to the Point

David Patrikarakos has written an engaging narrative that covers the activities and surroundings of eight 21st century social media crusaders.

Books

Propoganda Isn't About Trying to Fool You

Lee McIntyre's 'Post-Truth' is a history lesson and a call to action asking liberals to defend the concept of objective truth. But is it the best approach to the problem?

Reviews

Tribeca 2018: 'Netizens' and 'Every Act of Life'

These important documentaries about online abuse and the works of Terrence McNally attempt to illuminate empathy and social awareness at a time when it is being woefully ignored.

Film

Is Life in a 'Post-Truth' World Sustainable?

How do we overcome the human tendency to resist verifiable reality? Lee McIntyre takes this on in this installment of MIT's Essential Knowledge series.

Books

True/False Film Fest: 'Our New President'

The next film from Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer director Maxim Pozdorovkin treats us to Russian propaganda about the United States.

Film

Pop Ten

The 50 Best Albums of 2019 So Far

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2018

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Mixed Media

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PM Picks

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The 50 Best Albums of 2019 So Far

Corb Lund and Hayes Carll Join Forces for "Cover of the Rolling Stone" (premiere)

Fujiya & Miyagi Debut Stunning Vince Clarke remix of "Fear of Missing Out"(premiere)

The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2018

Body of Work: On Burt Lancaster's Physicality in Film

Drab Majesty's Darkwave Peaks on 'Modern Mirror'

Winnow's 'Light the Match' Is Aflame with Gritty Roots Rock (album stream) (premiere)

In His New Van Session, Craig Stickland Presents "Break Every Rule" (premiere)

Aimée Faces Chronic Anxiety Head on with "Break Me" (premiere)

Corb Lund and Hayes Carll Join Forces for "Cover of the Rolling Stone" (premiere)

Golden Dawn Arkestra Seeks to Heal With "Mama Se" (premiere + interview)

Rupert Stroud Gets Personal with 'Along the Low' (album stream) (premiere)

Lexi Todd's "Madonna" Is Her Feminist Autobiography (premiere)

Janet LaBelle's "I Only See You" Is Spare, Haunting Ballad (premiere)

18th & Addison Bemoan "Leeches" in New Video (premiere)

Culture and media critic Kate Eichhorn's The End of Forgetting explores how relentlessly documenting young lives allows little room for the unfettered joys of imaginative freedom and perpetuates a seemingly endless state of childhood.

Jaron Lanier says we should delete our social media accounts, yet it's not social media per se, but the way in which it presently exists, that Lanier is concerned about. But Lanier is overlooking a critical factor in our social media addiction.

To say young people's identities are tied up in social media would be a failure to recognize that the digital is now intrinsically part of the real, as evidenced in the documentary, Social Animals.

Drnaso's Sabrina explores how isolation, both psychic and social, fuels the evolution of tragedy into social paranoia and a dehumanized narrative of fraud.

Shannon Purser discusses her debut role in film, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, catfishing, and the unrealistic expectations imposed on today's youth.

David Patrikarakos has written an engaging narrative that covers the activities and surroundings of eight 21st century social media crusaders.

Rather than moralize, critique, or make grandiose statements about "digital natives", writer-director-wunderkind Bo Burnham brilliantly visualizes what it means to live in a world in which social media is omnipresent.

Like an alchemist, Taylor Swift turns stray thoughts and abject emotions into global cultural touchstones—and into piles and piles of cold, hard cash. What do her fans get out of it?

Bo Burnham's big-hearted, emotional tidal wave of a movie shows how the look-at-me / leave-me-alone contradictions of adolescence, powered by social media, are cranked up to 11.

Against the constant distaste for and dismay about social media, Videocracy gives readers a series of anecdotes that connect YouTube to the goodness of being human.

Lee McIntyre's 'Post-Truth' is a history lesson and a call to action asking liberals to defend the concept of objective truth. But is it the best approach to the problem?

The DIY strategies and indie allegiances of recent alternative comedians reveal the spirit of punk to be alive and kicking beyond the music world.

These important documentaries about online abuse and the works of Terrence McNally attempt to illuminate empathy and social awareness at a time when it is being woefully ignored.

How do we overcome the human tendency to resist verifiable reality? Lee McIntyre takes this on in this installment of MIT's Essential Knowledge series.

The next film from Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer director Maxim Pozdorovkin treats us to Russian propaganda about the United States.

University campuses are seething. But telling people to get along with each other is not the answer.