Digital Sanctuaries: Where Joy and Healing Intertwine
Time: Oct. 19, 2026, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Location: 114 Bird Library
Part of the Syracuse Symposium series.
How can we come together as a community to create an affirming, joyful and more just future in the digital age? Desmond Upton Patton (University of Pennsylvania) discusses how engaging youth as collaborators, storytellers, and agents of change can bring technology into the realm of human connection and co-creation, to foster well-being. Rather than passive consumers of technology, or being “red flagged” as “at risk,” students are positioned as agents of change, crafting new futures using digital tools.
Dr. Patton's presentation is also a feature of the Ganders Lecture Series in the School of Education.
About the presenter...
Desmond Patton is the 31st PIK University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with joint appointments in the School of Social Policy and Practice and the Annenberg School for Communication, where he is the Waldo E Johnson Jr. Professor of Communication.
His groundbreaking research examines the relationship between social media and gun violence, grief, and loss, focusing on how online communities influence offline behavior. He is also pioneering a new research agenda on joy, developing a practical and theoretical framework for integrating joy into AI model development as a tool for equity, imagination, and human connection.