OK, so maybe we do look like members of some creepy cult here. But it’s People, people! Trust me, we’re . . . → Read More: Featured in People Magazine!
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The Lost Art of Staring Into Space It reminds me of a scene from last Sunday at the Buttercup Bake Shop near my apartment, a heartbreaking power struggle involving competing temptations: technology, love and sugar. I watched a girl, about 10 years old, eat a cupcake and try to get her mother’s attention, but Mom had eyes and fingers only for her iPhone. There was no evidence she’d even eaten a cupcake. She scrolled through emails for the entire time I sat next to them, 20 minutes. iPhone 1 – Cupcake 0. iPhone 1 – Daughter 0. Continue Reading The Huffington Post :: The Lost Art of Staring Into Space The Onion weighs in … in typical style. Love the shout-out to Hollywood that kicks it all off. Nancy Meyers, are you listening? The Onion Review :: The Winter of Our Disconnect If Susan Maushart’s book The Winter Of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (And A Mother Who Slept With Her iPhone) Pulled The Plug . . . → Read More: The A.V. Club Book Review :: The Winter of Our Disconnect My fantasy review … written by Chuck Leddy (aka my new best friend) at The Boston Globe. Without being wired, family connected again Susan Maushart, a divorced mother of three teenagers, noticed how digital technology, from Facebook to online gaming to constant text messaging, had fractured her family into independent fiefdoms. Connected only to their devices and their online “friends,’’ the Maushart family had stopped eating together and rarely held real-world conversations. As Maushart puts it, “I started considering . . . the possibility that the more we connect, the further we may drift, the more fragmented we may become.’’ After rereading “Walden,’’ about Henry David Thoreau’s famous two-year stint living in solitude alongside a Concord pond, Maushart, a journalist and social scientist with a doctorate from New York University in communication arts and science, was inspired to begin her own experiment in mindful living: For a six-month period, she would allow her family no in-home access to any screen, including computers, cellphones, and televisions. Needless to say, her teenagers were less than thrilled, but, as Maushart’s provocative, funny, and highly personal memoir shows, it changed them all profoundly. Continue Reading The Boston Globe: Without being wired, family connected again “ILY!” Susan Maushart’s 16-year-old daughter often calls out over her shoulder as she leaves the house. Sure, actual words would be better. But Mom knows not to complain. . . . → Read More: OMG, when did we start talking like txt msgs? Karen Lillington wrote a phenomenal article for the Irish Times titled “Information Flatulence“. Great title, too - am pretty sure it’s taken from the book, now that I immodestly think about it … It’s fascinating to see how various countries are viewing “the experiment.” I’ve had mail from China, Poland, Spain, Chile, Korea, Turkey, Hungary … and Brazil, where the publishing rights have just been sold. There’s no doubt about it. Sometimes technology really can be our friend. Information Flatulence WHEN TWO small girls, aged 10 and 12, were trapped in a storm drain in Australia in 2009 they might easily have perished. Fortunately, they had their mobile phones with them and immediately sought help – by updating their status on their Facebook pages. Lucky for them, a schoolfriend quickly saw the update, the authorities were notified and they all lived happily ever after. The story, one of many amusingly telling yet quietly alarming anecdotes in Susan Maushart’s The Winter of Our Disconnect , perfectly illustrates her starting premise that Digital Natives – those children and young adults who have never known anything but a life with their faces turned towards screens and the internet – think and act differently from those of us who can remember a world before “friend” became a verb. Susan Maushart lived out every parent’s fantasy: She unplugged her teenagers. . . . → Read More: What Happens When Mom Unplugs Teens for 6 Months? When the Whole Family Is Staring at Screens, Time to Try a Tech Detox. . . . → Read More: Your BlackBerry or Your Wife Susan Maushart Author of The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone)Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale . . . → Read More: It’s Your Health Network Interview Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. When Susan Maushart made her family turn off the internet she got amazing results, finds Helen Brown . . . → Read More: A page in the life: Susan Maushart |
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