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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.

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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10 early warning signs that you need to decrease (or increase) your time online

October 3, 2011

Yesterday I received what I accurately diagnosed as the Best Error Message Ever: Being a deeply religious person, I figured that an error message this…ummm…ironic? apt? transcendant?…must be some kind of sign from the universe. At first I thought it might be a sign to stop using Microsoft software, but then I thought, hey, surely [...]

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5 questions that will make the most of your social media vacation

June 27, 2011
Wire cutters cut the connection of a router

Do you suspect that taking a brief or extended break from the Internet would make you happier, smarter or taller? Tackle these 5 questions to get the most from your social media vacation.

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8 ways to beat the urgency trap in online communications

June 15, 2011
Clock with email at sign

In a thoughtful post about The Pitfalls of social media, Aleksandr Voinov writes Social Media exerts pressure on us to do things immediately and respond to everything immediately. I’m not sure about you, but sometimes I like to think things through and discuss it with other people before I respond. Your Twitter and Facebook accounts [...]

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The social media obituary

May 24, 2011

His real break came as a stuntman in the Hollywood movie “On the Beach,” about survivors of a nuclear war, which was filmed in Melbourne, his hometown, in 1959. It starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire. “He watched Gregory Peck do 27 takes and thought, ‘A mug could do that,’ ” Rhoda Roberts, Mr. Hunter’s [...]

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