Breaking Bad Habits

Two things to note about habits: one, they are very hard to break and two, a fair number of them are bad for us. Many of us have fallen into the habit of reaching for our phones throughout the day to read the news and editorials. We watch videos of congressional hearings, we listen to […]

The New Panopticon

With my work bringing me back in touch with public high school education, and as someone recently acquainted with a third decade of mostly continuous consciousness, connecting with my students has been eye-opening. The immortal hot topic among staff is cell phones. The students are, to put it lightly, addicted. They have had access to […]

Reflections on the Gamification of Fitness

According to any number of game designers, psychologists, and journalists, our lives are becoming increasingly gamified. Gamification, or “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts,” seems to be everywhere—hotel brands and coffee chains have loyalty programs that give out points for choosing to visit them over their competitors, the language-learning app Duolingo records […]