Steps to A Healthier Relationship with Technology I’ve written about digital technology for 35+ years, most of the time in Silicon Valley. Over the decades our evolving devices, and what we can do with them, have dramatically transformed almost every facet of our lives -- from how we bank, travel, and shop, to more abstract realms like how we derive a sense of self-worth, how we forge and sustain relationships, and how we choose to spend our attention. I think the first step to getting a human and humane handle on this rapid transition from a nature-based to a digital-based society is for us all – individually and collectively; technologists and the public - to... posted on Apr 8 2015 (21,422 reads)

Some of them are clinical. I'm not an M.D. by the way, and I don't pretend to be one or play one in the public forum. I am a Ph.D. But we do work with clinical populations and psychological populations and patients with Alzheimer's and dementia. But we also do a lot of basic science research. We're still trying to uncover all of these nutritional benefits that sleep provides to the brain and body. The explosion of research and understanding about sleep has been driven by technology. We have these new methods of brain science to explore sleep in ways that we never could before. We can measure patterns of brain wave activity during sleep. And we can also peer deep into ... posted on May 31 2017 (58,506 reads)

who say "We can't do anything good. We have to retreat, to be with people who look like us, get off in our own tribe and hate the rest of the world.”      That's not what we do. Question: You mentioned scale. And that related to ambition. There's almost a Zen koan you speak about: "Live your life without ambition, but live as those who are ambitious." On one hand, you have these very strong, ethical positions but you also ran two public technology companies. How have you been able to reconcile your involvement in the tech sector with your spiritual work? Larry: A Silicon Valley kind of question. Ambition is actually a Greek word. ... posted on Nov 8 2017 (15,371 reads)

are not seeing the continuation of something that was very good and positive at the beginning. We're not seeing the continuation of civil rights, of women's rights. We're not seeing the continuation of even voting rights in this country. And then you look at the circumstances of women and girls around the world, and it's dreadful. Women and children are weapons of war. Rape is a weapon of war now. And those are not signs of progress. Now, I thought you were going to talk about technology, which many people think about. TS: Yes, I was going to get there so let's go right there, yes. MW:Again, I'm not I'm not speaking for myself, I'm quoting other a... posted on Mar 29 2018 (26,918 reads)

are not seeing the continuation of something that was very good and positive at the beginning. We're not seeing the continuation of civil rights, of women's rights. We're not seeing the continuation of even voting rights in this country. And then you look at the circumstances of women and girls around the world, and it's dreadful. Women and children are weapons of war. Rape is a weapon of war now. And those are not signs of progress. Now, I thought you were going to talk about technology, which many people think about. TS: Yes, I was going to get there so let's go right there, yes. MW:Again, I'm not I'm not speaking for myself, I'm quoting other a... posted on May 17 2018 (15,886 reads)

we think of ourselves as a trusted partner on the spiritual journey, offering diverse, in-depth, and life-changing wisdom. SoundsTrue.com. You're listening to Insights at the Edge. Today my guest is Priya Parker. Priya is a facilitator and strategic advisor. She's the founder of Thrive Labs, at which she helps activists, elected officials, corporate executives, educators, and philanthropists create transformative gatherings. She works with teams and leaders across technology, business, the arts, fashion, and politics to clarify their vision for the future and build meaningful, purpose-driven communities. Here's my conversation with someone who really unders... posted on Sep 19 2019 (6,987 reads)

if we recognize that we’re hamsters on a wheel, we can’t get off? The answer is that our lives, relationships, and politics are being shaped by an ecosystem of interruption technologies. Between smartphones, tablets, and personal computers, we have instant and constant access to each other and to the Internet. Superficially, this seems to be a great benefit, but in practice we can now be interrupted at any time, in any place, no matter what we are doing. Throughout history, technology interacts with its users in predictable ways: it changes behaviors, thinking processes, social norms, and even, as neuroplasticity studies show, our physical brain structure. It may be hard... posted on Jun 7 2013 (67,714 reads)

about the condition of our souls. And if the word soul doesn’t work for you, it’s identity and integrity in the language of secular humanism. It's the spark of the divine, in the language of Hasidic Judaism. It's big self or no self in the paradoxical language of Buddhism. Everybody has a name for it. Different name. And nobody knows its true name. Um, so I think there is, to use language that's familiar to all of you, although it makes me a little nervous, there is a technology of creating safe space. The reason technology makes me a little nervous is that, um, I think at bottom, um, our — this journey is not about techniques. I think it's about existent... posted on May 8 2015 (16,124 reads)

evolve my definition of success. It wasn’t just about me getting to do what I wanted to do; it was finding a way for all of us to align our hearts and our minds so that they are working together.  I soon found that it involved quieting the mind so that it can hear what the heart says. Or, another way to say it is “How to combine the ancient wisdom of our ancestors, who knew that success is happy, healthy children, a harmonious community, and a healthy environment, with modern technology so that we use our technology for the well-being of all.” My definition of success also includes accepting reality as it is, which is not always pretty; it’s often painful. F... posted on Aug 23 2016 (17,303 reads)

to post a picture of the college students on their Facebook page. No one really gets to catch up with the kids. In these situations, and many others we’ve all experienced, our smartphones and laptops and tablets and all the social media they carry disrupt the very social connections they promise to create. They make us available to work 24/7, which might seem like a bonus to our relationships because now we can have our work and our family time, too — in theory. But actually, technology can damage our relationships and our work. We don’t really experience our family time, and the work we do while spending time with friends and family isn’t our best. R... posted on Jan 8 2017 (19,491 reads)

sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.” —Kahil Gibran Parents today are overwhelmed with demands on how to raise their kids. We want the very best for our kids. We want them to be smart, athletic, healthy, kind, happy, polite, disciplined, creative and more. We want to give them everything! And before everything, we focus on getting them into good schools so that they can have the best possible education. Kids on the other hand, are growing up bombarded by technology, needing to compete in every way, comparing themselves with others, trying to be perfect and please their parents, wanting to fit in. As a result, they are often anxious, stressed at a very... posted on Oct 15 2018 (40,190 reads)

overseas at the University of Manchester in the U.K.  I ended up getting that scholarship. I had twenty-seven thousand dollars to study anywhere in the world.  But I couldn't start until twelve months from then. So in the meantime, I planned to go work in a school in Bismarck.  Then at the last minute one of the most generous people I know, said, “Greg come and learn from me. Take a year; think of it as a leadership retreat.” There was a gentleman involved in technology who had done very, very well and was trying to redefine our downtown. So I started to work with him. I lived in the urban environment and I fell in love with Fargo. It was in 2011-20... posted on Jan 2 2019 (3,206 reads)

buy iPhones to be universally connected and have a ton of cool functions and features at their fingertips.  But as the wise monk Rev. Heng Sure once said, everything we create in silicon already exists in carbon.  I’d add that the silicon technology is a poor facsimile at best.   So how exactly do you tap into the wonderful carbon technology you carry around with you all the time? Meditation is a phenomenal tool to do just that. Here are five areas where meditation beats an iPhone.   1. Connectivity   The truth is that you can’t really connect to anyone else unless you’re in touch with yourself.  The iPhone allows and enc... posted on Nov 22 2011 (46,478 reads)

control [...] rather than [information] controlling you". She closes with a quote from Aldous Huxley which could have been from The Analects of Confucius: "There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."  Despite these occasional mentions, public discourse about virtue is muted. To abuse a recent parlour game, below is a graph of the rate of occurrence of the words "virtue" and "technology" in Google's Ngram Viewer, which plots frequency of words occurring in books over time. We see a rapid rise of technology in the last forty years against a two-century slide in virtue.... posted on Dec 21 2011 (15,868 reads)

information networks for doing things like raising money for hospitals or getting companies to backtrack on outrageous decisions. None of this would be possible without our networked, highly connected word. Is this just a kind of illusion in some sense -- that this highly connected world is having as much impact as we think it is? Iyer: You're absolutely right. For example, I couldn't live in rural Japan on a tourist visa while my family and my bosses are in New York without technology. It's only e-mails and fax machines before that that allow me to live 6,000 miles from the office. And it's only planes that allow me to live a continent or an ocean away from my mo... posted on Jun 19 2012 (19,771 reads)

school in the late 1970s and the early 80s. This was the future, and it looked great. I consumed Isaac Asimov novels at a rate of knots. I was looking forward to it. I think it is precisely this fear of the future, this sense of a looming apocalypse, this feeling that we have unleashed a monster that is now beyond our control, that has given rise to the latest outburst about the colonization of other worlds. Today, the world is a different place. The popular faith in science and technology has drained away, to be replaced by a widespread, if often unspoken, fear. From biotechnology to geoengineering, from unmanned drones to internet surveillance, the democratic promise of tec... posted on Jul 27 2014 (14,120 reads)

impacts us. So they come in with this narrative that children are born with a digital gene now. There’s no option. There’s no getting away from it. Right? It’s inescapable. Of course, in a way, it is inescapable; we have to recognize that we’re in a mediated environment. But someone in their home with their child still has a certain amount of control available. RW:  The idea that we’re born with a digital gene is disturbing. There’s a way that technology creates its own thoughts, so to speak, and pretty soon people’s thoughts are being defined by the technology. Mary:  Exactly. This is exactly what Neil Postman called “T... posted on Jul 11 2016 (20,845 reads)

technology accelerates our lives, many of us feel an urgent need to slow down. One seductive solution: A secular sabbath. Pico Iyer makes the case, in this meditative excerpt from his new TED Book, The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere The idea of going nowhere is as universal as the law of gravity; that’s why wise souls from every tradition have spoken of it. “All the unhappiness of men,” the seventeenth-century French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal famously noted, “arises from one simple fact: that they cannot sit quietly in their chamber.” After Admiral Richard E. Byrd spent nearly five months alone in a shack in the Antarct... posted on Apr 30 2017 (16,997 reads)

word to describe the relationship between Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere societies? In effect, the word powaqqatsi means predation. It means eating the life of another person.   RW:  And without the victim knowing it, right? GR:  Right. And once you know it, it’s too late. Taking that word and giving it an application to the modern world we live in, it’s the neo-liberal dictums of progress and development, the World Bank, science and technology. This idea of progress and development becomes the powaqa. It makes promises—“you’re going to get a higher standard of living.” That’s all predicated on number... posted on Oct 25 2017 (11,115 reads)

at this. This is the site of the government of India. It invites tourists to see the shame of our country. I'm so sorry to say that. Is this a beautiful picture or is it a terrible picture? It depends upon how you look at the life of the people. If this woman has to carry water on her head for miles and miles and miles, you cannot be celebrating that. We should be doing something about it. And let me tell you, with all the science and technology at our command, millions of women still carry water on their heads. And we do not ask this question.  You must have taken tea in the morning. Think for a minute. ... posted on Sep 3 2021 (3,747 reads)