Mary Chayko, Ph.D.

…to my website and the blog for my book Superconnected: The Internet, Digital Media, and Techno-Social Life, Third Edition.

For the book blog and companion website featuring lecture slides, videos,  discussion questions, sample assignments, and podcasts for each chapter, go to superconnectedblog.com.

I’m a sociologist, professor and director at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information. My research is on the impact of the internet, digital technology, and media on social connectedness and everyday life. You can reach me at mary.chayko@rutgers.edu, LinkedIn, or Twitter (@MaryChayko).

I study how people use and experience technology in building relationships, networks, communities, and societies, and I explore the consequences, both beneficial and harmful. I had the good fortune to come of age with this topic when social media began to explode in popularity. I’ve been researching, writing, speaking, and teaching about our superconnected society ever since.

Teaching about “Selfies and Digital Culture” at the Rutgers Honors College – New Brunswick

You can hear me discuss my research and the Superconnected book on the digital New Books Network and on Magic 98.3 WMGQ’s program “@CentralJersey.” And here’s my article on “What is 50 Years Spent on the Internet Worth to Humanity?” for NBC News Online.

In my spare time, I swim, hang out with family and friends, enjoy pop culture (sports, music, movies, TV), go to the Jersey shore, and read, preferably on the beach. But my somewhat secret passion is music-making and recording. I’m a singer and flutist and have joined with two of my best friends, Corey Dolgon and Jim Pennell, to express musically our hope for a more peaceful and just world. Our CD is displayed on the bottom left, and you can listen to four of our songs on the “Music” page.

Making music with my little band

Well, there’s more, of course, but this is enough for the home page. Click around the site, read the Superconnected blog (http://superconnectedblog.com), check out my books, articles, music, tweets, and other fun stuff, and I’ll see you online!