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Self

Technology can distract us from the path to happiness and self-realization, or it can help us get there. This page offers reflections, resources and advice on how to turn the web into an engine of self-discovery, creative expression and mental health. It also offers cautionary tales about some of the struggles and excesses that come along with integrating technology into our personal and professional lives. If you’re trying to figure out how to integrate technology into your life with integrity and purpose, I hope the resources here will help.

Towards a geography of digital memory

March 6, 2012
View from Sutton Place Hotel

I’m in Toronto for a lightning trip, speaking tomorrow at a luncheon hosted by Women in Film & Television. Tonight I’m staying at the Sutton Place Hotel, which puts me at the epicentre of memory for my first 25 years of life. From the east-facing window of my suite I look down the barrel of [...]

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S.E.O. is payback for teenage freaks

February 24, 2012

Today I was catching up with my colleague Haig Armen when he asked me if I knew Steve Andersen. “You mean, Steve Andersen from Salesforce?” I asked. ["You mean, Steve Anderson of Open Media?" my husband asked later.] “No, Steve Anderson of Get Mental Notes,” Haig replied. “See, this is why it’s better to be [...]

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5 commandments for your digital fast this Lent

February 21, 2012

I’m not really a Lent kinda gal. (It may have something to do with me being Jewish.) But for the past few years, I’ve felt increasingly Lent-aware, because of the sheer number of people who now seem to give up Facebook for Lent (but then tweet about it), email for Lent (but then blog about [...]

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Focus on your priorities with O.M.F.T.

February 8, 2012

Last night I was delighted to participate in a panel hosted by Canadian Women in Communications, speaking alongside Rebecca Bollwitt (aka Miss 604) and Gillian Shaw of the Vancouver Sun. CWC President Stephanie MacKendrick did a terrific job of eliciting our respective stories on how we got into social media, and really homed in on [...]

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How much social media is enough?

January 3, 2012

Today’s practice: Focus on quality, not quantity. Today’s tweets are full of references to New Year’s resolutions: “Tweet more”. “Tweet less”. “Blog more”. “Blog less.” “Check Facebook no more than once a day.” “Check Facebook at least once a day.” You get the idea. Like at least one other notable aspect of human intercourse, social [...]

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How to follow your own principles online

December 13, 2011
Angel and Devil of social media metrics

Listen carefully to any twinge of discomfort when you’re online. It’s there to help you learn how to follow your own principles online.

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Learn to listen online by lurking silently on one social network

December 9, 2011
Thumbnail image for Learn to listen online by lurking silently on one social network

Today’s practice:  Practice your listening skills by choosing one social network where you’ll pay active attention, but not actually contribute. My friend Jason Mogus likes to say that we teach what we need to learn. I have long taken this as the single best explanation for my career of hectoring people to listen using social media, [...]

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Learning about online graffiti from bathroom graffiti

December 8, 2011

Today’s practice: When you find an online comment or contribution that truly annoys you, put it on your desktop or bulletin board. It’s your own personal classroom for learning about difference, and practicing tolerance. When companies, organizations or individuals set up their first social web presences, one of the things they often worry about is how [...]

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9 ways the Internet can cheer your mood when you’re feeling sad

November 25, 2011

A rough day: we all have them. Yet no day is so rough that it should shake your faith in the Internet as, if not a universal cure, than a widely applicable balm. Here are 5 ways the Internet can cheer you up when you’re blue: Create something. Upload a picture. Edit and share a [...]

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What you can learn from your tech defeats

November 1, 2011

When I was a small child my mother dropped me onto a hard, stone floor. Miraculously, I was uninjured.  As soon as I stopped crying, it seemed, I was as good as new. It would take years before the long-term repercussions of this fall became apparent: the tumble had caused hyper localized, irreparable damage to [...]

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Leaning into online struggles

October 17, 2011

The fourth time I got a call from the principal’s office, I knew I had to rethink our school year. One of our kids was having a tough time in class, and I had already made several visits to the teacher, the classroom and the principal’s office. Not only was I worried about my kid, [...]

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