Publications

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

How to password-protect yourself from iPhone addiction

How to password-protect yourself from iPhone addiction

iPhone contact has become reflexive. The five minutes before a meeting, the two-minute walk to the coffee shop, the 10 seconds between parking the car and walking in the front door: they’re all moments when I automatically reach for the iPhone.

If my iPhone were a cigarette, I’d be a chain smoker. If my iPhone were a bottle of scotch, I’d be a hard-core alcoholic. If it were a rosary I’d be a religious zealot.

There’s nothing I could touch as frequently as I touch my iPhone without looking like a total freak.

What makes me think that the constant, obsessive iPhone contact is any less freaky? Or more to the point, any less addictive?

Confidential to Beer Guy

Confidential to Beer Guy

You know who you are. In the card-swapping frenzy that is SXSW, I'm not surprised to have a conversation interrupted so that somebody can give me his card, and ask for mine. It was only later that it seemed like a really, really bad idea for you to give me yours. I...

Why I love my new job

Why I love my new job

When I came into work today, I found that somebody had knit a handle-cosy onto the front door of Emily Carr, and around the pipe just inside. This is why working at an art university rocks.

The Harvard Business Review

How to password-protect yourself from iPhone addiction

How to password-protect yourself from iPhone addiction

iPhone contact has become reflexive. The five minutes before a meeting, the two-minute walk to the coffee shop, the 10 seconds between parking the car and walking in the front door: they’re all moments when I automatically reach for the iPhone.

If my iPhone were a cigarette, I’d be a chain smoker. If my iPhone were a bottle of scotch, I’d be a hard-core alcoholic. If it were a rosary I’d be a religious zealot.

There’s nothing I could touch as frequently as I touch my iPhone without looking like a total freak.

What makes me think that the constant, obsessive iPhone contact is any less freaky? Or more to the point, any less addictive?

Confidential to Beer Guy

Confidential to Beer Guy

You know who you are. In the card-swapping frenzy that is SXSW, I'm not surprised to have a conversation interrupted so that somebody can give me his card, and ask for mine. It was only later that it seemed like a really, really bad idea for you to give me yours. I...

Why I love my new job

Why I love my new job

When I came into work today, I found that somebody had knit a handle-cosy onto the front door of Emily Carr, and around the pipe just inside. This is why working at an art university rocks.

OneZero

Erase this computer: a whiteboard for your laptop

Erase this computer: a whiteboard for your laptop

This week I was in a meeting with Myron Campbell, an MAA student at Emily Carr. Myron  runs Draw by Night, a drawing party that happens every other month in Vancouver (and now, Calgary). Myron had an awesome DBN sticker on his laptop that looked like a dry erase board...

Cool Stuff My Friends Sent Me This Week

Cool Stuff My Friends Sent Me This Week

One of the things I love about the Internet is its habit of bringing us little presents. No, I'm not talking about the complete set of Reboot action figures that I purchased on eBay for my retro-animation-obsessed kids. I'm talking about all those groovy little finds...

JSTOR DAILY

Erase this computer: a whiteboard for your laptop

Erase this computer: a whiteboard for your laptop

This week I was in a meeting with Myron Campbell, an MAA student at Emily Carr. Myron  runs Draw by Night, a drawing party that happens every other month in Vancouver (and now, Calgary). Myron had an awesome DBN sticker on his laptop that looked like a dry erase board...

Cool Stuff My Friends Sent Me This Week

Cool Stuff My Friends Sent Me This Week

One of the things I love about the Internet is its habit of bringing us little presents. No, I'm not talking about the complete set of Reboot action figures that I purchased on eBay for my retro-animation-obsessed kids. I'm talking about all those groovy little finds...

THE VERGE

Tailor your voice to each place you use social media

Tailor your voice to each place you use social media

"I make leather armour." That's a sentence I never expected to hear in this lifetime. In fact, until about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, I didn't know what leather armour was. I din't know that leather armour existed. Leather armor, it turns out, is what you wear if you...

How to stop wasting time on technology challenges

How to stop wasting time on technology challenges

Today's practice: The next time you dive into a time-consuming tech challenge, stop to ask: what would a normal person do? Saturday morning I woke up at 4 a.m. in preparation for my flight to London -- and accompanying time zone readjustment -- later that day. I...