PROFILE

Donna Freitas, Ph.D., lectures at universities across the U.S. on her work about college students. Over the years, she has written for national newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post, and she’s currently a non-resident research associate at the Center for Religion and Society at Notre Dame. In 2008 Donna published Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance and Religion on America’s College Campuses (Oxford University Press). Her latest book, The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost (Oxford, 2017), is based on research from her new study about social media and how it is affecting the ways we construct identity, make meaning in the world, and navigate relationships during college. She received her Ph.D. in 2001.