Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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...
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...
The Harvard Business Review
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...
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...
OneZero
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
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,...
JSTOR DAILY
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
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,...
THE VERGE
5 ways to make task management software work for you
I have a love-hate relationship with task management software. On the one hand, I'm kind of obsessed with it: trying out new task and project management tools is one of my favorite pastimes, and it's hard for me to resist trying out each shiny new entry in the market....
Stop worrying about your kids’ online future
I'm one of more than a thousand Internet experts who contributed thoughts about our emergent digital world to the 2012 Elon University-Pew Internet & American Life study on the future of the Internet. My comments were picked up in the Globe and Mail and MindShift,...
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...