Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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...
Protecting social spaces from cell phones and social media marketing
If you have ever glared at someone who is having a loud cell phone conversation on the bus, or felt slighted by a friend who answers a phone call during a dinner date, you have to read Christine Rosen's insanely awesome take-down of public cell phone use. Written in...
Good news for Internet users who need a boost
Happy News is a site that accentuates the positive: it promises to deliver only good news stories. You wouldn't want to make it your only source of information, but when the endless stories of crime and conflict get you down, here's a nice way to balance it out. It's...
Social networks say good-bye to difficult but crucial interactions
Todd Essig has a thoughtful post about how social networks have affected the process of saying good-bye in our culture. Now that the hospital where he works is closing, he anticipated more than the usual end-of-school-year good-byes. Instead, he's seen less: as one of...
Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog: Not addiction; dependency
Nicholas Carr has genius take on the conversation about "Internet addiction": By dismissing talk of "Internet addiction" as rhetorical overkill, which it is, we also avoid undertaking an honest examination of how deeply our media devices have been woven into our lives...
5 paths to self-discovery online
One of the key ways to make your online life more meaningful is to use it as an outlet for self-discovery and self-expression. Here are 5 ways you can use the Internet to get to know yourself a little better.
The Harvard Business Review
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...
Protecting social spaces from cell phones and social media marketing
If you have ever glared at someone who is having a loud cell phone conversation on the bus, or felt slighted by a friend who answers a phone call during a dinner date, you have to read Christine Rosen's insanely awesome take-down of public cell phone use. Written in...
Good news for Internet users who need a boost
Happy News is a site that accentuates the positive: it promises to deliver only good news stories. You wouldn't want to make it your only source of information, but when the endless stories of crime and conflict get you down, here's a nice way to balance it out. It's...
Social networks say good-bye to difficult but crucial interactions
Todd Essig has a thoughtful post about how social networks have affected the process of saying good-bye in our culture. Now that the hospital where he works is closing, he anticipated more than the usual end-of-school-year good-byes. Instead, he's seen less: as one of...
Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog: Not addiction; dependency
Nicholas Carr has genius take on the conversation about "Internet addiction": By dismissing talk of "Internet addiction" as rhetorical overkill, which it is, we also avoid undertaking an honest examination of how deeply our media devices have been woven into our lives...
5 paths to self-discovery online
One of the key ways to make your online life more meaningful is to use it as an outlet for self-discovery and self-expression. Here are 5 ways you can use the Internet to get to know yourself a little better.
OneZero
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
Review: ThinkGeek TK-421 Bluetooth Keyboard for iPhone
In my gift roundup for Harvard Business Review last week, I wrote that the secret to buying gadget gifts for early adopters is "to surprise us with something so new that it hasn't yet arrived at Best Buy". The item I suggested was a keyboard case for iPhone or iPad,...
A prescription for healthy social media use from the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association has come out with guidelines for how physicians should handle social media, as reported by the association's own news site. These guidelines shed light on the way that social media challenges existing models of medical care and the...
Santa goes to Best Buy
Early adopters are the hardest folks to shop for. As an early adopter married to yet another early adopter, we struggle to find good gifts, since we own every gadget we need, and many we don't. That's why you've got to surprise us with something so new that it hasn't...
JSTOR DAILY
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
Review: ThinkGeek TK-421 Bluetooth Keyboard for iPhone
In my gift roundup for Harvard Business Review last week, I wrote that the secret to buying gadget gifts for early adopters is "to surprise us with something so new that it hasn't yet arrived at Best Buy". The item I suggested was a keyboard case for iPhone or iPad,...
A prescription for healthy social media use from the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association has come out with guidelines for how physicians should handle social media, as reported by the association's own news site. These guidelines shed light on the way that social media challenges existing models of medical care and the...
Santa goes to Best Buy
Early adopters are the hardest folks to shop for. As an early adopter married to yet another early adopter, we struggle to find good gifts, since we own every gadget we need, and many we don't. That's why you've got to surprise us with something so new that it hasn't...
THE VERGE
3 reasons to check out the latest research on social media and food
In the past, ethnicity and family traditions dictated the foods we prepared; we bought our groceries at a neighborhood store; we learned our recipes from “mom” or a cookbook; and we ate our meals together around a table. In contrast, today social media introduces us...
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....