As a podcast listener, you may already be integrated in the world of media technology, but psychologists are continuously trying to figure out how and why people use devices like smartphones or activity

trackers. These devices monitor our moods, our activity, and they can spur more engagement

with others. In this episode, we speak with one psychologist to apply psychological science

to interactive and mobile media technology, an area of research

that is constantly changing as the platforms become more sophisticated and much more interactive.

I'm Audrey Hamilton, and this is speaking of psychology.

Pamela Rutledge is director of the Media Psychology Research Center, and she teaches and designs media psychology courses at Fielding Graduate University.

She is also active as a consultant, speaker, and researcher on applying psychological science

to interactive technology and social media.

She is editor-in-chief of the online journal Media Psychology Review.

Welcome, Dr. Rutledge.

Oh, it's a pleasure to be here.

First of all, tell us a little bit about your area of expertise, which is media psychology.

What does a media psychologist do and what do you do as

director of the Media Psychology Research Center? Well, media psychology is fundamentally using the

tools of psychology to think about media and technologies. So it's really using that in an applied

way. And at the Media Psychology Research Center, we work with a number of media

projects applying the fundamentals of psychology to help companies and organizations and even

individuals understand how to better design, develop, and teach about media and technology.

There's a lot of interest in how new technologies are affecting our behavior.

Steve here, one of the producers of the podcast.

He wears his Fitbit every day.

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