Escaping Screens: A Tech-Free Travel Quest, Part II

A stranded American tourist shares the story of a six-month screen-free quest through India and Nepal just as the coronavirus explodes. Part II.

By Tom Grotewohl | August 12, 2020 | Cognition, Culture, Media, Philosophy, Society, Well-Being | Acceptance, Addiction, Art, Awareness, Boredom, Boundaries, Concentration, Conscientious Tech Use, Consciousness, Convenience, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Creativity, Distraction, Dystopia, Electronic Devices, Experience, Food, Ganges, India, Jungle, Localism, Lockdown, Meditation, music, Nature, Nepal, News, Obsession, Pandemic, Peace, Photography, Presence, Renunciation, Ritual, Sacred, Screen Sabbath, Serendipity, Smartphone, Social Media, Spirituality, Superficiality, Tech-Free, Time, Tranquility, travel, Wisdom, Writing

Read more  

Escaping Screens: A Tech-Free Travel Quest, Part I

An American tourist stranded in India shares his story: six months traveling without a screen, only to pick one up again just in time for the global meltdown.

By Tom Grotewohl | July 30, 2020 | Cognition, Culture, Media, Philosophy, Society, Well-Being | Acceptance, Addiction, Art, Awareness, Boredom, Boundaries, Concentration, Conscientious Tech Use, Consciousness, Convenience, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Creativity, Distraction, Dystopia, Electronic Devices, Experience, Food, Ganges, India, Jungle, Localism, Lockdown, Meditation, music, Nature, Nepal, News, Obsession, Pandemic, Peace, Photography, Presence, Renunciation, Ritual, Sacred, Screen Sabbath, Serendipity, Smartphone, Social Media, Spirituality, Superficiality, Tech-Free, Time, Tranquility, travel, Wisdom, Writing

Read more  

The Prescience of E. M. Forster

Compared to 1984 or Brave New World, E. M. Forster’s 1909 futuristic novella The Machine Stops was, in some ways, the most eerily accurate prediction of our current technological milieu.

By Geoffrey Dutton | January 2, 2020 | Automation, Culture, Environment, Philosophy, Relationships, Society | Addiction, Atrophy, Class, Computers, Decadence, Dependence, Dystopia, E. M. Forster, Eugenics, Fiction, Internet, Nature, Pollution, Progress, Social Commentary, Synthetic Food

Read more  

The Transformative Power of Print

College students given an assignment of reading a print book learn about their own habits and the power of concentration.

By Michael Bugeja | July 17, 2019 | Cognition, Education | Accomplishment, Addiction, Attention, College, Comprehension, Concentration, Disruption, Distraction, Focus, Intentionality, Internet, Learning, Reading, Relaxation, Retention, Silence, Smartphones, Tangibility, Texting, Twitter

Read more  

Visual Survey: More Than 27% Occupied With Devices

Our new survey shows more than a quarter of people in public spaces occupied with digital devices; the full story is in our new print issue.

By Mo Lotman | June 28, 2019 | Community, Relationships, Society | Addiction, Distraction, Smartphones

Read more  

Print Preview: Issue #3 | Summer 2019

Our third print issue is about to ship nationally.

By Mo Lotman | June 7, 2019 | Community, Economics, Environment, Health, Philosophy, Relationships, Review, Society | Activism, Addiction, Automobiles, Capitalism, Distraction, National Parks, Nature, Ralph Nader, Smartphones, surveillance

Read more  

Podcast #30: Gail Dines on Porn Culture

Activist, author, and sociologist Gail Dines discusses the impact of pornography—particularly in its virulent and violent Internet form—on culture.

By Mo Lotman | April 11, 2019 | Culture, Economics, Identity, Podcasts, Relationships, Society, Well-Being | Abuse, Addiction, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Boys, Eastern Europe, Erectile Dysfunction, Feminism, Fun, Gender, Girls, Global Culture, Greed, Hookup Culture, Image, India, Inequality, Internet, Intimacy, Love, Men, Monopoly, Pedophilia, Porn Addiction, Prisoners, Profit, Rape, relationships, Self-Esteem, Self-Expression, Self-Harm, Sex, Sex Addiction, Sexual Identity, Sexuality, Shame, Teens, Violence, Women

Read more  

Podcast #28: Jonathan Taplin on Internet Aggregators

Jonathan Taplin, former music and film professional, tells first-hand what the new rentier economy of Internet aggregators like Google and Facebook has done to the creative arts, journalism, and democracy.

By Mo Lotman | March 13, 2019 | Advertising, Culture, Economics, Journalism, Law, Media, Podcasts, Politics, Society | Addiction, Advertising, Amazon, Annenberg Innovation Lab, Antitrust, Art, Automation, Bing, Bodycams, Cambridge Analytica, Campaign Finance, China, Civil War, Consumers, Copyright, Creative Fields, Decentralization, Democracy, Digitization, Dystopia, Eric Garcetti, Europe, Fake News, Federal Government, GDPR, Google Facebook, Head Tax, Infrastructure, Internet, Jeff Bezos, John Seely Brown, Journalism, LA Times, Larry Page, Law, Levon Helm, Local News, Localism, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Luther King, Middle Class, Musicians, New York Times, Newspapers, Parking Apps, Peter Thiel, Photography, Privacy, Producers, Recommendations, Record Business, Robert Bork, Roger McNamee, Royalties, Safe Harbor, Search Engine, Social Credit, Social Networking, State Politics, surveillance, The Band, The Last Waltz, The Weight, Throat Cancer, Tim Berners-Lee, Tristan Harris, Vint Cerf, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Watchdog Role, Winner-Take-All, Yelp, YouTube

Read more  

Podcast #27: Robert Lustig on Biochemistry and Health

Author and endocrinologist Robert Lustig explains the neurochemical difference between happiness and pleasure and how it’s been exploited to make so many of us fat, addicted, and depressed. Then, he reminds us how to reclaim our health.

By Mo Lotman | February 27, 2019 | Cognition, Environment, Family, Food, Health, Medicine, Neurology, Podcasts, Well-Being | Academia, Addiction, Adolescence, Alcohol, Amino Acids, Aristotle, ATP, Availability, Behavior, Biochemistry, Caffiene, Calories, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Cavities, Cell Death, Child Development, Chronic Metabolic Disease, Chronic Renal Disease, Clinicians, Cocaine, Computers, Connection, Connectivity, Contentment, Contribute, Coping, Cortisol, Dementia, Dentistry, Depression, Diabetes, Diet, Dieticians, Doctors, Dopamine, Drugs, Dyslipidemia, Endocrinology, Enjoyment, Environment, Exercise, Exposure, Facebook, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Flow, Food, Food System, Fructose, Giving, Glucose, Happiness, Health Care, Heroin, Hypertension, Hypothalamus, Information, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Marketing, Metabolic Syndrome, Metabolism, Mindfulness, Mirror Neurons, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Money, Multitasking, music, Myelin, Neurons, Neurotransmitters, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Obesity, OCD, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Opioids, Peer Pressure, Personal Responsibility, Philanthropy, Pleasure, Polycystic Ovarian Disease, Prefrontal Cortex, Processed Food, Profit, Propaganda, Quantification, Refining, Regulation, Religion, Reward, Sales, Seizures, Seratonin, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, Social Security, Stimulation, Substance Abuse, Substances, Sugar, Suicide, Taking, Taylorism, Technology, Tolerance, Tryptophane, Utilitarianism

Read more  

Curbing Our Tech Obsession: What, Why, & How

Young people are obsessively checking their phones more every year. Here are some reasons why, and strategies to regain control.

By Larry Rosen | January 30, 2019 | Media, Neurology, Psychology, Relationships, Society, Well-Being | Addiction, Alerts, Android, Anxiety, Apple, Attention, Blue Light, Boredom, Circadian Rhythm, Cues, Depression, Digital Media, Digital Wellness, Distracted Driving, Distraction, FOMO, Google, Information Foraging Theory, Marketing, Metacognition, Nir Eyal, Nomophobia, Obsession, OCD, Psychology, Sleep, Smartphones, Social Media, Social Obligation, Teens, Tim Wu, Young Adults

Read more