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How We Hurt: The Technological and Societal Underpinnings of Contemporary Psychological Suffering

This seminar session will be presented by Pablo J. Boczkowski. He will talk about his research on the effect of technological developments and societal trends on psychological suffering.

Event, Research Seminar

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Salle K.008, 1 Place St-Thomas d'Aquin, 75007 Paris

Abstract

The prevalence of mental health problems has reached alarming levels in recent years. Much has been written about this, often drawing upon epidemiological data and surveys of the patient population. In this presentation I will provide an alternative vantage point by examining the perspective of psychiatrists and psychologists who treat these patients, focusing on which conditions they see as having increased in recent years and what factors appear as driving this increase according to what they hear in the clinic. I will draw from an ethnographic study consisting of 144 in-person interviews with professionals conducted in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires between December 2022 and March 2025. My analysis of the findings reveal that professionals identify anxiety, depression, addictions, sleeping problems, suicide and self-harm among youth, eating disorders, and aggression towards self and others, as some of the main motives of psychological suffering patients seek help with. It also shows the combined incidence of technological developments and societal trends. Regarding the former, there is a tension between an abundance in the technological provision of potentially problematic content, interactive, and relational dynamics on the one hand, and comparably scarcer individual, familial, and organizational resources to handle them in a suitable manner on the other hand. Concerning the latter, there are interlocking processes of institutional impoverishment, weakening, and individualization that impinge upon the wellbeing of the patients—and likely the population at large. In this presentation I will describe these findings, explain their main patterns of variance, and reflect on how they matter for understanding general current dynamics at the nexus of technology and society.

Biography

Pablo J. Boczkowski is Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. He is Founder and Director of the Center for Latinx Digital Media at Northwestern, and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Media and Society in Argentina at Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires.

Practical information

The session will take place on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, in person and in English at Sciences Po, Room K.008, 1 Place Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin, Paris 75007.

Registration is mandatory via this link.