If you are old enough, when you hear the term “The Wall,” you may think of Pink Floyd’s album and/or movie of the same name. Both of which are more pleasant than today’s connotations of “The Wall” (or the lack thereof). We are entering the fourth week of a government shutdown, the longest in…
Kids are are still on their enviable, long winter break, and most of them will end up spending some extra time in front of screens. This raises the question: How much screen time is too much? I cover this topic in the most recent episode of Tech Happy Life on my YouTube channel and…
You might have caught the recent segment on 60 Minutes by Anderson Cooper about the effects of screens on kids and teens. Within the story, Cooper profiled a $300 million, 10-year study funded by the National Institute of Health that involves more than 11,000 children and 21 research sites. Hopefully, researchers will help answer…
Dr. Mike Brooks and Dr. Jon Lasser were interviewed by CTV’s Todd van der Heyden on his Viewpoints podcast. Viewpoints is a nationally syndicated radio show that airs through-out Canada. The episode is posted below. The interview starts around the 38:25 mark.
Screen challenges and problem prevention Hello! I’m back from a family vacation — a road trip to the Grand Canyon! I was trying not to be TOO much like Clark Griswold from National Lampoon’s Vacation, but there might have been a little of that. Screens were sometimes a challenge with my three boys, but…
Dr. Brooks was recently featured on the Texas Standard, an award-winning radio journalism organization that focuses on current, relevant issues. Dr. Brooks was brought on as an expert in the field to help inform and guide parents in their quest for a balanced life with technology. Follow this link to hear Dr. Brooks, or…
Are you seeking a happier life in this tech world? Here’s how to start. I’ve started a YouTube channel for Tech Happy Life, and this is my introductory vlog. Yes, I get the irony (hypocrisy?) of using YouTube, Psychology Today, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. as a medium to try to help people to unplug more…
What’s up with today’s kids — Generation Z? I recently was interviewed by Tara Parker-Pope of the the New York Times for a story she wrote titled, “Are Today’s Teenagers Smarter and Better Than We Think?” Unfortunately for me, I didn’t end up getting cited in her article. Ah, my brush with 15-minutes of…
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…
And to win the video game, we have to check ourselves First, let’s get this out of the way: our lives aren’t like video games. But there are a number of similarities between our lives and video games that are fun to ponder. A client of mine from long ago once made an off-hand…