Are you spending lots of time on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites? Or have you avoided these pastimes and wondered if you’re missing something important? Are you concerned about what’s healthy and what’s not in this increasingly digital world?
How does the explosion of social media affect our interpersonal relationships? Does having more virtual…
A column in today’s New York Times Business section, titled “Life’s Too Short for So Much E-Mail,” suggests that the deluge of email is so overwhelming that we lose more than we gain by using it. Younger people shun it in favor of texting and tweeting. The writer, Nick Bilton, cites a study reporting that…
Here’s a great Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post talking about the advice Eric Schmidt gave to graduates. There are so many reasons we need to unplug at least once a day: 1) using our brain to its fullest; 2) being creative; 3) reducing our stress; and 4) maintaining real relationships with real people.
I was just watching CNBC, which was covering Apple’s new iBooks2 software, something that allows highly interactive textbooks to be available on the iPad. It’s lauded as a money-saver (the textbooks will be $15.00 or less) and as a way to engage students by making textbooks much more interactive (in addition to making backpacks a…
There’s an interesting AP article today about the problem of people texting during movies and distracting other viewers. What does this say about our ability to focus on one thing at a time, even when we’ve paid to sit in a dark room and be entertained? For some people, making comments seems to be part…
I gave a speech on Sunday at the 30th Annual Conference on the First Year Experience — an organization of professionals who help students adjust to the college experience. I was telling them about the workshops I’ve been giving to college students called “Thriving on Campus and in Cyberspace: Staying Connected While Succeeding in School,”…