Book excerpt: "The 21st century has seen rapid and profound technological innovations that have fundamentally changed our media environment. Our now unlimited access to information, entertainment, and social interaction is simply unprecedented. It is undeniable that this new media landscape impacts important aspects of our daily experiences - how we spend our time, who we connect with, what we know about each other and the world around us. But at a deeper level, this newer, digitized media age influences a fundamental aspect of what it means to be human: our emotional experiences. Given the centrality of emotions to both psychological and physical well-being, as well as to shaping human behavior, understanding how our current media environment impacts our emotional experiences - in ways both helpful and harmful - is critical to understanding the role media use plays in emotional development, life experiences, and societal events"--