A Lenten fast with a tech twist A large portrait of “The Little Potato Peeler” by Albert Anker was hung prominently in my childhood kitchen. As a young woman, my mother had purchased a heavily framed reproduction of the painting at an estate sale at the side of a road in a Swiss village (often wondering whether it might actually be the original, which of course it was … [Read more...] about Reclaiming Your Stolen Focus

When asked why students today should still learn Shakespeare, the AI language processing tool ChatGPT snips back promptly: "Shakespeare's works are still relevant today because they explore universal themes such as love, jealousy, ambition, and power that are timeless and applicable to contemporary society. Learning Shakespeare helps to develop critical thinking and language … [Read more...] about Tilling the Ground for ChatGPT

A California teacher made it onto the woke watch list with this TikTok post. Don’t feel the need to watch it; she identifies as ‘cringey’ and the title of this article sums up the rest. In short she suggests that we should focus on ‘honoring the spoken word’ and get rid of the ‘language of power’, which according to her include thesis statements, citing sources, and using … [Read more...] about Death to Academic Language – Long live ‘hey, what’s up?’

Channelling Holden Caulfield, my daughter designed this logo about five years ago, frustrated with friends who kept staring at their screens during conversations. She had a t-shirt and a tote bag to go along with it. It garnered some agreeable nods, but phones still kept winning over an actual face. TikTok had not even entered the stage yet. ‘Don’t be a phoney’ actually does … [Read more...] about TikTok Brain Cure with Three Ingredients

Our children's brains are currently being sacrificed on the altar of TikTok in exchange for snippy videos on 'How to peel a banana' (over 250 million views) or 'Lip syncing in front of a bathroom mirror'(over 600 million views). These seemingly benign, mildly amusing, mostly navel-gazing shorts have been dubbed 'digital fentanyl' and have prompted even mainstream media to take … [Read more...] about TikTok – Time is running out for saving our children’s brains