Rescheduled from February 16 due to recent events at MSU.
The Muskegon Community College (MCC) long-running community lecture series continues with discussions about smart phone use impact on health and equitable climate adaptation.
Dr. Allison Eden discusses “Chicken Soup on the Screen? Screen Media’s Relationship to Health and Well-Being” on Thursday, March 23. “People often turn to screen media for stress relief after a long day. But how effective is media for coping with stress, and what are possible side effects of using media for comfort?” Eden queries. “In this talk I will present some recent work examining the role of entertainment media in health and well-being – including why entertainment is so effective for dealing with stress, and why it’s so hard to turn off before bed.”
Eden is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Her work centers on understanding media enjoyment, particularly the role enjoyment plays in attention to and selection of media content, and more broadly the effects of entertainment on user behavior and well-being. Dr. Eden’s research has been published in the Journal of Communication, Journal of Media Psychology, Media Psychology, and Mass Communication and Society, among others.
“We constantly want to be entertained, but I wonder if that is good for us,” says Dr. Andy Wible, MCC instructor and lecture series coordinator. “I look forward to Dr. Eden’s talk since I, like most people, worry about the love/hate addictive relationship I have with social media on my phone.”
The series continues Wednesday, April 5 with Dr. Elena Lioubimtseva engaging community members in discussions about managing climate change with “The Role of Inclusion in Equitable Climate Adaptation Planning: Lessons from Small American Cities.” Lioubimtseva is a professor of geography and sustainable planning at Grand Valley State University. She specializes in human vulnerability monitoring, climate modeling, climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, nature-based solutions, and green and blue infrastructure planning.
Both events begin at 6pm with a one-hour presentation followed by thirty minutes of questions and community discussions. The free events are at the Muskegon Community College main campus in room 1300 of MCC’s Stevenson Center for Higher Education.
The lecture series is a component of MCC’s Arts and Humanities department. Additional information is available at https://www.muskegoncc.edu/lecture-series or by contacting Andy Wible at (231) 777-0626 or andy.wible@muskegoncc.edu.
MCC offers over 80 areas of study and a variety of community resources including a gallery, planetarium, natural area, science museum, health and wellness center, and golf course. Visit www.muskegoncc.edu to learn more.