Our Minds Have Been Hijacked by Our Phones – WIRED

Source: Our Minds Have Been Hijacked by Our Phones. Tristan Harris Wants to Rescue Them | WIRED

Technology steers what 2 billion people are thinking and believing every day. It’s possibly the largest source of influence over 2 billion people’s thoughts that has ever been created. Religions and governments don’t have that much influence over people’s daily thoughts. But we have three technology companies who have this system that frankly they don’t even have control over—with newsfeeds and recommended videos and whatever they put in front of you—which is governing what people do with their time and what they’re looking at.

I’ll be the first to admit I spend a lot of time online.  But I pretty much avoid most social media sites.  Stopped using FaceBorg.  Instagram to catch the occasional post from one of the kids.  A little Twitter for news.  LinkedIn rarely.  It wasn’t hard for me to recognize mass brainwashing.  Not to mention addiction.

One of my more popular posts was a link to this Atlantic article.

But many of you never clicked through to read the article.  I do hope you take the time to read this Wired article.  It will make you think long and hard about your use of technology.

Think about what would happen if you shut off some of these apps that keep dinging you for attention?  This happens.

Are friends better for us than family? – Michigan State University

In a pair of studies involving nearly 280,000 people, William Chopik found that friendships become increasingly important to one’s happiness and health across the lifespan. Not only that, but in older adults, friendships are actually a stronger predictor of health and happiness than relationships with family members.

Source: Are friends better for us than family? | MSUToday | Michigan State University

Hell yes.

Orthorexia Nervosa: When ‘Healthy’ Eating Turns Dangerous

The condition also overlaps with obsessive compulsive disorder, obsessive compulsive personality disorder, and somatoform disorders. During the session, two case reports were presented. The first patient was a 72-year-old white Buddhist nun who presented with extreme weight loss. “You get afraid of eating because you don’t know what it’ll do to you,” said the patient in a video clip. “Eventually I was afraid to do anything, so I did nothing.”

Source: Orthorexia Nervosa: When ‘Healthy’ Eating Turns Dangerous

Some time ago I developed a fear of what would happen to me if I stopped drinking alcohol.  So I did nothing.

Chill

The photo credit belongs to an Instagram feed from Aspen Well Being.  I follow several Aspen CO related feeds for the pictures.  It only took me years to discover the tiny button in Instagram that saves photos to your phone.

Years.

Rock climbing envisioned as new treatment for depression — ScienceDaily

“You have to be mindful and focused on the moment. It does not leave much room to let your mind wonder on things that may be going on in your life — you have to focus on not falling,”

Source: Rock climbing envisioned as new treatment for depression — ScienceDaily

Sounds promising and for some people a better alternative than drugs.

Yeah, I had to Google it too.

 

IBM’s Remote Work Reversal Is A Losing Battle Against The New Normal

In both a 2014 white paper by IBM’s Smarter Workplace Institute and in a conference panel the company hosted just weeks ago, its own experts suggested that remote workers tend to be happier, less stressed, more productive, more engaged with their jobs and teams, and believe that their companies are more innovative as a result of flexible work arrangements.

Source: IBM’s Remote Work Reversal Is A Losing Battle Against The New Normal

Memo to IBM:

Why?