I’ve been doing a bit of traveling lately. Today I dropped in on the neighborhood where I grew up in Ohio, then headed off to an artist colony in New Mexico where I’d spent time in the late ’90s. Next came Traverse City, Michigan; Mojacar, Spain; and Ojai, California. No, I don’t have a private jet. I’ve been cyberstalking the…
I’m the first person to admit that I’m addicted to technology. I’m constantly checking my never-ending inflow of texts, emails, Facebook messages, and Twitter tweets. But I learned a couple of things during my amazing safari in South Africa—and not just about rhinoceroses! The Internet isn’t readily accessible in the veld, and at first I went through a certain amount…
Watching and being watched are no longer confined to how newborns bond with their mothers or apprentice chefs learn from sushi masters. Watching now changes how we identify ourselves and how others understand us. “Selfies” are not an anomaly; they are personal reflections of a wholesale adoption of the new culture of watching. We are watching so many—and so many…
Not getting invited to a party. Being picked last for a pickup basketball game. Not getting a joke that everyone around you is cracking up over. Almost everybody has experiences like these from time to time. And usually we get over it…unless it becomes a recurring pattern. Often, parents need to step in to help kids who feel left out.…
John C. Havens is a regular contributor to Mashable.com, where he has written a number of viral articles about online privacy, augmented reality, and the importance of a “happiness” economy that measures the full measure of well-being and not just profits and loss. He is a popular speaker at TED forums and technology expos and a terrific harmonica player (click…
Today’s dizzying pace of new technology is quickly leading people to question whether most tech headlines are science fiction or fact. The list of startling advances goes on and on. I’ve selected nine of them that will dramatically affect our daily lives: 1. Nanobots. The wind-up toy with flashing lights I had as a kid was primitive compared to the super-miniaturized robots…
My husband and I have an infuriating problem when we need to leave the house together. We play a strange, relay-race game with time, but rarely do we find time for doing nothing. He’ll be ready to go, for example, but I’ll still need to find my shoes or brush my teeth. So he gets on his computer. I appear…
I was hunkered down in a digital workstation at an Arizona longevity clinic, testing a brain training game to figure out do brain training games really work? My mind was in overdrive as my fingers chased elusive flashes of light onscreen. I was playing a shrink’s rethink of the game Fruit Ninja, except that this was a test to determine my…
