Since you are reading this blog, you are likely old enough to remember “The Before.” You remember a time before social media, smartphones, tablets, streaming videos and music, a constant connection to the Internet, and, um, reading blogs. In short, before screens were woven into our daily lives. With the emergence of these technologies, we have…
It’s been too long since I’ve posted a blog on the APACenter website! I have been blogging lately at Psychology Today under Tech Happy Life. One of my more recent blogs is about the game, Fortnite. It’s all the rage these days among kids, teens, and young adults. It is mostly males playing, with…
PSA: Technology Addiction, This Is Your Brain On Screens If you are old enough, you might remember the old public service commercial about a frying egg representing “your brain on drugs.” I doubt that people actually avoided drugs based upon that commercial, but it did get our attention! What about your brain on smartphones?…
The seductive pull of screens that you might not know about Blame it on supernormal stimuli In my previous blogs, I describe the role of classical conditioning in the pull of technology. There is another, perhaps even more, influential way in which we get drawn into using technology. There is another, perhaps even…
The pull of screens: we all experience it, we all feel it on a daily basis, but why? Screens have a strange power over us, much like the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. Our screens appeal to us for many reasons. One reason that we feel the pull of screens is…
So, I was at the gym the other day, and I couldn’t help but notice this twenty-something year old guy next to me who was lifting weights…and then sitting down on the bench for several minutes periodically to play Clash of Clans. If you don’t know about that game, just ask kid or teen!…
Technology can be so alluring because it provide an easy way to get many of our psychological needs met (i.e., for belonging, power/esteem, freedom, fun). Moreover, many forms of technology (e.g., Facebook, texting, Twitter, Instagram, email, games such as Candy Crush, Dots) can be powerfully addictive in the same manner as gambling and even…
A friend told me about this news program from PBS’s Frontline, and I’d say it is a “must watch” for those interested in how technology is affecting our lives, those of kids and teens, and changing society as a whole. Frontline: Digital Nation The program covers many fascinating topics such as what technology is…
As cited in a recent Reuters news article on MSNBC, a study by British scientists published in the journal Psychopathology found that people who spend a lot of time on the Internet are more depressed than those who don’t. In this study, the researches analyzed the Internet use of 1,319 Britons between the ages…
The temptations to spend in our capitalist society are enormous. More is better, right? If we only had that shiny widget, then we would be happy! The reality is that happiness from spending is short-lived, and the misery and stress from overspending is a heavy price to pay. Part of the economic woes that…