Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
How to use your RSS reader to enhance community
How to use your RSS reader so that it strengthens your connection to community, and helps build the kind of society you want to live in.
Your social media friends are your real friends
Diana Adams is one of a growing number of social media junkies who have experimented with taking some time off from the web. She describes "hitting a wall" with her social media use and online relationships, and taking 8 days off from the net so that she could put...
Techsperiment day 1: the difficulty of unplugging with kids
24 hours into our vow to unplug -- for just 3 hours a day! -- and I am the weakest link. We've sworn to give up computers, iPhones and iPads between 6-9 every night ("family time") but it's day one and I'm already struggling. And that's after our daughter did a good...
How to unplug as a parent: a techsperiment
The best site for reviews of kids’ games & movies now has apps too!
A few friends have recently asked me for iPhone app recommendations for kids. My friend Annemarie took suggestions from me and others, and wrote up a fantastic list of iPhone apps for kids and parents on yoyomama. I shared my own list of 12 iPhone apps for toddlers...
Online activities reinforce offline social connections
How did I miss this one? In 2008, StatsCan published a very useful paper on How Canadians' Use of the Internet Affects Social Life and Civic Participation. It speaks directly to the questions about the Internet's impact on social capital that have been a big part of...
Your therapist’s Facebook page could be harming your mental health
I've been part of many recent conversations about whether Facebook is harmful to our mental health -- and perhaps a new source of business for psychotherapists. Now I've discovered the other side of the coin: a debate about whether therapists' use of social media is...
Strategies for managing online distraction from Steven Pinker
Psychologist Steven Pinker has a terrific op-ed in the New York Times this morning, responding to the recent flurry of press about how the Internet is destroying the quality of our attention and thinking. Here's my favorite part of his article: Yes, the constant...
Group identity and the psychology of social media
What motivates people to contribute content to user-driven web sites? A blog post on the Psychology Behind Social Media does a nice job summing up the major factors? I was particularly interested that it noted the desire for group identity: One of the main reasons...
The 10 lies of working late
It's not late if you're not tired. It's not work if you're in bed. It's not late if your friends are still online. It's not work if it's blogging. It's not late if you like working at this hour. It's not work if the TV is on. It's not late if you can sleep in...
The Harvard Business Review
How to use your RSS reader to enhance community
How to use your RSS reader so that it strengthens your connection to community, and helps build the kind of society you want to live in.
Your social media friends are your real friends
Diana Adams is one of a growing number of social media junkies who have experimented with taking some time off from the web. She describes "hitting a wall" with her social media use and online relationships, and taking 8 days off from the net so that she could put...
Techsperiment day 1: the difficulty of unplugging with kids
24 hours into our vow to unplug -- for just 3 hours a day! -- and I am the weakest link. We've sworn to give up computers, iPhones and iPads between 6-9 every night ("family time") but it's day one and I'm already struggling. And that's after our daughter did a good...
How to unplug as a parent: a techsperiment
The best site for reviews of kids’ games & movies now has apps too!
A few friends have recently asked me for iPhone app recommendations for kids. My friend Annemarie took suggestions from me and others, and wrote up a fantastic list of iPhone apps for kids and parents on yoyomama. I shared my own list of 12 iPhone apps for toddlers...
Online activities reinforce offline social connections
How did I miss this one? In 2008, StatsCan published a very useful paper on How Canadians' Use of the Internet Affects Social Life and Civic Participation. It speaks directly to the questions about the Internet's impact on social capital that have been a big part of...
Your therapist’s Facebook page could be harming your mental health
I've been part of many recent conversations about whether Facebook is harmful to our mental health -- and perhaps a new source of business for psychotherapists. Now I've discovered the other side of the coin: a debate about whether therapists' use of social media is...
Strategies for managing online distraction from Steven Pinker
Psychologist Steven Pinker has a terrific op-ed in the New York Times this morning, responding to the recent flurry of press about how the Internet is destroying the quality of our attention and thinking. Here's my favorite part of his article: Yes, the constant...
Group identity and the psychology of social media
What motivates people to contribute content to user-driven web sites? A blog post on the Psychology Behind Social Media does a nice job summing up the major factors? I was particularly interested that it noted the desire for group identity: One of the main reasons...
The 10 lies of working late
It's not late if you're not tired. It's not work if you're in bed. It's not late if your friends are still online. It's not work if it's blogging. It's not late if you like working at this hour. It's not work if the TV is on. It's not late if you can sleep in...
OneZero
TV for multi-tasking: 10 shows to help process your e-mail
21 Gmail filters that will empty your e-mail inbox
Empty your inbox with Gmail filters
5 steps to emptying your e-mail inbox
Fix: How to prevent Chrome from hanging or freezing with WordPress and TinyMCE
In recent weeks I've had trouble using Chrome to post to my WordPress blog: after typing just a few words, Chrome froze and asked me to kill the page. Today I discovered that this is the result of a known issue with TinyMCE, which WordPress uses for WYSIWYG editing....
Reduce the volume of your incoming e-mail with an e-mail “vacation”
5 essential ingredients for effective e-mail management
Put the 0 in 2011: 7 days to Inbox Zero
JSTOR DAILY
TV for multi-tasking: 10 shows to help process your e-mail
21 Gmail filters that will empty your e-mail inbox
Empty your inbox with Gmail filters
5 steps to emptying your e-mail inbox
Fix: How to prevent Chrome from hanging or freezing with WordPress and TinyMCE
In recent weeks I've had trouble using Chrome to post to my WordPress blog: after typing just a few words, Chrome froze and asked me to kill the page. Today I discovered that this is the result of a known issue with TinyMCE, which WordPress uses for WYSIWYG editing....
Reduce the volume of your incoming e-mail with an e-mail “vacation”
5 essential ingredients for effective e-mail management
Put the 0 in 2011: 7 days to Inbox Zero
THE VERGE
Save your laptop from reclining airplane seats
I live in fear of my laptop getting crunched on an airplane. How many times have I been working away when the person in front of me suddenly reclines, threatening to trap the top edge of my laptop and break my screen? I thought my 11" MacBook Air would save me, but...
S.E.O. is payback for teenage freaks
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...
Infographics against infographics
I am super in love with the Pinterest collection of social media infographics compiled by Irene Koehler. But the ever-growing excitement about social media infographics isn't all good news: along with the gems there are some absolute crimes against infographicality....
Be the e-mailer you wish to see in the world
How many people do you receive e-mail from that you read and reply to every single time? I'm guessing it's just a handful: Your best friend -- the one who sends you short periodic updates with a single recent photo, not the one who sends you weekly 2-pagers. The...