French Philosopher Paul Vilirio wrote “The invention of the ship was the invention of the shipwreck”; this, likely, will be the allegory of our time. The Dot-Com boom of the 1990’s delivered unprecedented access to a global network of information, and with it, an unprecedented blow to the Silicon Valley start-ups that had become profitable by monetizing web-based technologies.
At its inception, Google promised an ad-free search engine, and was not shy about the data they were saving from search queries. The Google Headquarters famously featured a monitor that listed real-time searches from users around the world. But faced with…
During one particularly intense end-of-semester rush, a college friend of mine once asked “Have you ever tried just sitting down and notice what it feels like to breathe? You should try meditation; it really helps with anxiety”.
I could not have rolled my eyes harder at the time. Mindfulness meditation, she argued, was the mental muscle of concentration and focus. Popular advocates in the media promised the benefits of a buddhist-like peace with one self and environment, just by taking a few minutes each day to focus on the sound of my breath. News stories cited the latest science in…
We have become accustomed to reading the latest headlines from a newsfeed.
Discussions of disaster, mass tragedy, and political scandal used to remain comfortably quarantined behind an anchor’s desk. Now, social media has outperformed traditional journalism in its influence over how we consume and share information — social, personal, political, or otherwise.
Noteworthy topics of the last year ranged from controversial to inflammatory, including commentaries on mental health: the release (and subsequent Season 2 premier) of “Thirteen Reasons Why”, proposed cuts to funding for mental health care, and the emotional “stability” of the millennial generation, to name a few.
My…
Diana M. Steakley-Freeman
Web & Systems Developer @ PsyberGuide | The Mental Health App Guide Designed With You In Mind
