The “new normal”, media shock and…frogs

Little Miss Sunshine? Photo cred: DLM

It’s amazing how many times in the past year I’ve used the phrase “new normal“. Whether it’s managing intense change resulting from an “acceleration of the acceleration”, as David Taras author of Digital Mosaic, Media, Power and Identity in Canada puts it, or feeling unsurprised by the latest headlines following a twitterfest, “normal” feels like it’s in a state of perpetual redefinition. Some things deserve to be normalized, and media’s influence (particularly in digital spaces) is helping that to happen. It’s also becoming clear, however, that there are a great many aspects of our society that are becoming normalized in concerning ways. Are we living out the myth of the frog and boiling water? Continue reading “The “new normal”, media shock and…frogs”

Maybe we need to thank Facebook, Trump and the Russians

Speak your kind.  Photo cred: DLM

Ten years into the “smartphone experiment”, and we seem to be reaching a tipping point.  Just this week, we saw two major Apple investors write an open letter challenging Apple over concerns that device-usage habits are harming children’s developing brains. Then two days later, the Globe and Mail ran an alarming, evidence-based article on how smartphones are making us stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. But what is all of this technology (ab)use doing to the health of our society? Continue reading “Maybe we need to thank Facebook, Trump and the Russians”