September 2024
Introduction
Mindbridge Insights: Driving Change Through Civic Engagement
At the Mindbridge Institute, we are at the forefront of shaping the future of human rights by merging neuroscience, psychology, and advocacy. In these times of heightened political and social polarization, the upcoming elections serve as a crucial reminder of the power we each hold to drive change in our communities. Civil involvement is essential, not only in voting but also in participating in the larger movements that uphold our shared values of inclusion, equity, and justice.
We believe that building a society where everyone feels valued and empowered requires action on both individual and systemic levels. This fall, we’re proud to spotlight our current offerings, like MindMatters, our six-week seminar transforming how Human Rights Defenders approach their work through neuropsychology. We are also developing a new course on Neuroethics for Human Rights Defenders, which will address the ethical dilemmas posed by rapidly advancing neurotechnologies.
Our work intersects with global issues, like the recent focus on gender-based violence, highlighted in the story of Aishah Shahidah Simmons, who embodies activism against these injustices. Her advocacy, which we feature in our Human Rights Defender Spotlight, reminds us of the importance of confronting and challenging societal systems that perpetuate violence, especially during times when national conversations spotlight such injustices.
With the constant influx of negative news, many of us may find ourselves 'doomscrolling,' a behavior that can exacerbate feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. Understanding these patterns is part of our work at Mindbridge, where we strive to foster mental well-being amid today's overwhelming media landscape.
As researchers, we acknowledge the complexity of studying human behavior. Progress in psychology and neuroscience often comes slowly, demanding patience and precision. Yet, this complexity is what makes our work both challenging and rewarding. It emphasizes the need for a deliberate, scientifically-informed approach when advocating for human rights.
Your involvement in the upcoming elections is one such way to contribute to building the just and inclusive society we all aspire to. By electing leaders who support and prioritize human rights, we can shape policies and create environments where every individual feels seen, heard, and valued. Let’s continue to take these steps together.
Onward.
- Laura Ligouri
Mindbridge Executive Director
Program Spotlight: The Mindbridge Institute
At the Mindbridge Institute, we’re driving the future of human rights by merging neuroscience, psychology, and advocacy in our cutting-edge programs. To equip Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) with the skills they need to navigate today's and tomorrow's complex challenges, we’re excited to spotlight our current course offerings and give you a sneak peek into an upcoming, groundbreaking course.
MindMatters, our six-week seminar that’s transforming the way HRDs approach their work and currently open for enrollment. This course dives into the science of human behavior, empowering participants to reimagine programming through the lens of neuropsychology. With interactive exercises, a comprehensive workbook, and continuous support through the MindMatters Community Group, this is more than a course—it’s a movement. Register your interest today!
In addition to MindMatters, we’re hard at work developing another public course focusing on Neuroethics for Human Rights Defenders. This course will tackle the ethical dilemmas posed by rapid advances in neurotechnology. This forward-thinking course will arm HRDs with the knowledge and tools to advocate for fairness, autonomy, and privacy in a constantly evolving technical world. Stay tuned for more on this essential course!
I am a Human Rights Defender
Aishah Shahidah Simmons
Global estimates suggest nearly 1 in 4 women will experience gender-based violence in the form of physical and/or sexual violence. The alarming prevalence of gender-based violence has been forced into the spotlight once more in recent weeks following the death of Ugandan Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei in early September at the hands of her partner following her participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Here in Maine, the statistics largely echo those seen internationally: violence against women impacts over 39% of Mainers, most often at the hands of someone close to them. For those from traditionally marginalized communities, rates of victimization are nearly six times higher.
For the reinstallment of our Human Rights Defender Spotlight series, I recognize the work of Aishah Shahidah Simmons, a childhood sexual violence survivor and award-winning documentary filmmaker and author who has dedicated the past 30 years of her career to lifting the veil on the systems that perpetuate gender-based violence, particularly in African American communities in the United States.
As a survivor of childhood sexual assault and incest, Simmons has utilized both her lived experiences and the stories of others to catalyze conversations about how race, gender, and culture intersect to silence victims and perpetuate gender-based violence in societal institutions. In her 2006 film, NO! The Rape Documentary, and more recently in her anthology, love WITH accountability: digging up the roots of child sexual abuse, Simmons amplifies the voices of Black women, including survivors and advocates, as they discuss the particular barriers faced by those from marginalized communities in speaking out and seeking justice following victimization.
More recently, Simmons has dedicated her activism to cultivating racially-informed and survivor-centered healing and restorative justice practices, while servings as a visiting faculty member in the Black Queer…Everything program at Morgan State University and facilitating workshops to promote community conversations about race, sexual assault, and healing.
Interested in joining Aishah Shahidah Simmons and Mindbridge in the movement against gender-based violence? The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence takes place later this fall from November 25th to December 10th.
References
World Health Organization. (2024, March 25). Violence against women. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
Karoney, C. (5 September 2024). Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei dies after being set alight by ex-boyfriend. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3vx0kq2xr2o
Dumont, R & Shaler, G. (2015). Maine Crime Victimization Report: Informing public policy for safer communities. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine.
Smith-Clapham, A. M., Childs, J. E., Cooley-Strickland, M., Hampton-Anderson, J., Novacek, D. M., Pemberton, J. V., & Wyatt, G. E. (2023). Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Interpersonal Violence Within Marginalized Communities: Toward a New Prevention Paradigm. PubMed, 113(S2), S149–S156. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2023.307289
“Love, for me, is a verb—an action—and I continuously strive to be the embodiment of what I want to womanifest in this work.”
Research Roundup
Welcoming Our New Interns!
With the coming of fall comes the start of a new academic year, new projects, and several new goals for the Mindbridge Research and Evaluation Department. Additionally, we have been lucky to have two new interns join our team! This month, we welcome Divine and Jasper. Divine comes to us as a part of the Data Innovation Fellowship Program, and is currently undertaking a Masters of Social Work at the University of Southern Maine (USM). Jasper is also a USM student, pursuing dual degrees in Psychology and Criminology as well as dual minors of Social Justice and Ceramics. We are excited to have them on board!
Did You Know?
It’s Time to Take A Break: Doomscrolling Can Add Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Pessimism to Your Daily Life
From: Psychology Today, Published September 7, 2024
Let’s say that you use your phone for an alarm in the morning, and to ‘wake yourself up’, you use your thumb to swipe and unlock your phone. You may or may not remember your dreams, and you may have even let out a big yawn and begun to wipe the corners of your eyes with your free hand before taking your alarm off and slowly waking up.
It starts small. You may have opened an SMS message from one of your contacts. You may have decided to check your email to find out more about a sale you signed up for. And then? You catch wind of a headline that shocks you. And once you click, you begin to swipe your thumb from the bottom of the screen up. Before you know it, you’ve done it. You’ve “doomscrolled”, and forty-five minutes has already flown by.
What is “Doomscrolling”?
“Doomscrolling” is considered a relatively new phenomenon that has only recently begun to be studied, defined as “the act of consuming an endless procession of negative online news, to the detriment of the scroller’s wellness” 1,2. As media viewing and consumption become more decentralized from television, the public and scientists alike are finding that it is more and more common for people to use internet-enabled smartphones as a source of news and current-day understanding. Specifically, “doomscrolling” is reading or coming in contact with “disturbing news”, whether it may be a violent event, political uproar, or any news story that could suggest a personal or existential threat.
The media push for news stories that are negative is supported by a negativity bias, in which there is an assumption that negative stories are more likely to be consumed than positive stories. It makes sense that, to survive, humans are more likely to seek out negative information to increase alertness and heighten our personal awareness of what may be going on in the world around us to stay safe. This is not a new concern; research has shown that concern over the amount of negative news in society is not new. However, with increased access to the internet and greater access to media sources via technology, overall mental health and “altered perspectives towards the self, others, and existence” remain a concern.
Researchers found, in two survey samples of university students from both Iran (n=620 students) and the United States (n=180), that “doomscrolling” was associated with greater levels of existential anxiety. It was suggested that people who doomscroll (“doomscrollers”) may experience additional stress through exposure to traumatic events in a fashion that resembles post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although researchers did not explore if there were any positive psychological benefits to doomscrolling, they concluded that doomscrolling was not likely to foster positive changes in the individual. Decreasing access to news stories that may challenge your personal feelings and reducing overall screen-time may overall help you maintain your general mood and positivity.
The full research article, by Shabahang et al., was published last month (August 2024) in Computers in Human Behavior Reports and can be found here.
1. Mannell, K., & Meese, J. (2022). From doom-scrolling to news avoidance: limiting news as a wellbeing strategy during COVID lockdown. Journalism Studies, 23(3), 302-319.
2. Taskin, S., Yildirim Kurtulus, H., Satici, S. A., & Deniz, M. E. (2024). Doomscrolling and mental well‐being in social media users: A serial mediation through mindfulness and secondary traumatic stress. Journal of Community Psychology, 52(3), 512-524.
3. Kätsyri, J., Kinnunen, T., Kusumoto, K., Oittinen, P., & Ravaja, N. (2016). Negativity bias in media multitasking: The effects of negative social media messages on attention to television news broadcasts. PloS One, 11(5), e0153712.
4. Andersen, K., Djerf-Pierre, M., & Shehata, A. (2024). The scary world syndrome: news orientations, negativity bias, and the cultivation of anxiety. Mass Communication and Society, 27(3), 502-524.
Happenings & Events
The Mindbridge Center is excited to be attending the 2024 Conference for North Carolina’s Nonprofits next month!
Mindbridge Executive Director and Founder, Laura Ligouri, will be presenting on October 23rd, along with our E-Learning Specialist Andrea Marzilli! Come visit our session "Neuroscience of Implicit Bias: Cutting-Edge Strategies for Non-Profit Leaders" at 2:15 PM!
To check out the schedule and register: https://conference.ncnonprofits.org/
Additionally, the Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) champions the work and worth of Maine nonprofits and amplifies voices, contributions, and challenges of nonprofit organizations in our communities and beyond.
In Other News
Fellow Maine non-profit Amjambo Africa recently published an article on the new generation of African-born Mainers who are working to better the Lewiston community through their advocacy and leadership. Learn more about this inspiring young Mainers here. Amjambo Africa not only provides support for new Mainers, but also encourages local communities to recognize the benefits of welcoming diversity as the only free multilingual publication offered in Maine.
The Portland-based non-profit, The Third Place, was recently recognized by the Portland Press Herald for its fourth annual Black Excellence Awards. Among those recognized were Geral E. Talbot, Bob Greene, Clifford Richardson, Darmita Wilson, Lisa Jones, Claudette Ndayininahaze, Amara Ifeji, Gabriela Alcalde, and Nyamuon Nguany Machar. The Third Place aims to connect Black Mainers to other communities of color, local businesses and institutions, and towns all across Maine through in-person and virtual programming and opportunities..
Upcoming Days of Observance:
9/15: International Day of Democracy
The importance of democracy is recognized by the UN on September 15th. Strong democratic societies rely on an engaged electorate of critical thinkers, and that includes future generations to come. This year’s theme is “Empowering the Next Generation”.
9/15: Start of Hispanic Heritage Month
September 15th marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage month, which runs until October 15th. Many Latin American countries celebrate their independence days during this timeframe.
9/17: National Voter Registration Day
In the United States, September 17th is often regarded as National Voter Registration Day. Some useful websites like vote.org allow U.S. citizens to check their voter registration status, deadlines, and what is on their ballot in November.
9/21: International Day of Peace
The UN recognizes the International Day of Peace, or Peace Day, on September 21st. This year’s theme is centered on “Cultivating a Culture of Peace” in the wake of rising geopolitical tensions and international human rights abuses.
10/2: International Day of Non-Violence
In remembrance of Mahatma Gandhi's birth date, the UN recognizes October 2nd as the International Day of Non-Violence. This day marks the importance of non-violence and Gandhi's philosophy: “Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being”.
10/10: World Mental Health Day
The World Health Organization (WHO) designates October 10th as World Mental Health Day as a time to raise awareness for mental health concerns around the world in order to make comprehensive mental health care a reality for all people around the world.
