Exercise and the brains of tiny, buff rats
One of the most striking things I found when writing Rest was how many of the intellectuals, writers, scientists and mathematicians I was studying were serious athletes. Many
My CSCW ’16 talk on focus, mind-wandering, and connectivity
[This is a transcript, slightly cleaned up, of a talk I gave earlier today at CSCW 2016. I was asked by Gloria Mark to join a panel on
The Bernice Eiduson longitudinal study of scientists and STEM subject snobbery
The Guardian has a piece by 16 year-old Orli Vogt-Vincent about “STEM subject snobbery,” and how the emphasis on science, technology, education and maths* leads us to both underfund
Habituation, attention, and distraction
We often regard a failure of focus as a failure of will, or a moral failure. But there’s also a physical and physiological foundation to our capacity to
“College students who are addicted to the Internet report positive and negative effects on their family relationships”
Georgia State University researcher Susan Snyder is studying the impact of Internet addiction (or PIU, Problematic Internet Use, described as >25 hours/week of non-school or -work use) on family
“Thank you for being late”
Almost exactly a year ago, Tom Friedman was at Davos and wrapped up his talk with this: The Arab Spring is failing not for lack of bandwidth, but
The costs of being always-available in academia
In REST, I talk a lot about why being able to unplug from work and detach emotionally and psychologically are good in the both the short term and
“I consider exercise our best bet for the magic pill:” the brain science of exercise
This morning I came across a Fast Company article on NYU neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki and her book, Healthy Brain, Happy Life, a memoir-slash-scientific monograph about the relationship between
Directed, hijacked, aimless, and wandering minds: On mind-wandering versus distraction
I’ve been thinking about different forms of distraction, and the differences between distraction and mind-wandering. We talk a lot about focus and distraction, and often talk about them
Christmas holidays: Time for teachers to unplug from work
Teachers, listen up: this holiday season, don’t grade papers, don’t answer email from parents and students, and don’t think about work. You’ll do a better job next year