Author/speaker/researcher on our lives in the digital age. Author of Attention Span (our attention spans on screens average 47 sec.). Chancellor's Professor Emerita at UC Irvine. My Substack is The Future of Attention. https://gloriamark.substack.com
As we outsource more and more of our task to AI, read about the science showing how it’s displacing our cognitive skills.
#AI #thinking #productivity #attention #distraction
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-the-work-of-thinking
AI magnifies the biases that humans have always had. It also turns out that we trust biased AI output more than judgments from other people. Read my latest Substack about this.
#AI #LLM #management #bias #productivity #attention
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/ai-might-feel-neutral-it-isnt
A great 2026 New Years resolution: Read more books! It helps train working memory, improves vocabulary, and gets us to reflect, deliberate, imagine.
#management #attention #education #books #wellbeing #psychology
https://apnews.com/article/reading-for-pleasure-routine-library-books-booktok-4ccb7acd24ad890bf0b403605ca89378
Australia launched one of the most ambitious social experiments of the digital era with its social media ban. Yet it's not without critics. Learn the backstory in my latest Substack.
#Australia #socialmediaban #teens #education #Psychology
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/the-great-australian-social-experiment
My interview on Freakonomics is being rebroadcast this week on NPR. You'll learn everything you need to know about attention, multitasking, distractions, improving your focus. It's a really fun interview--you'll laugh a lot.
#attention #technology #focus #technology
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/season-15-episode-9/
From the industrial revolution to mass consumerism to the digital age--our view of happiness has changed. Read about the history of how pleasure became engineered in the digital age, in my Substack.
#well-being #management #tech #attention
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/how-our-happiness-became-engineered
We tend to take the path of least resistance. But putting in work to build a new skill can literally rewire our brains to make them more efficient. Read about it in my latest Substack.
#Mind #Neuroscience #Brain #art #tech
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/renewing-the-brain-through-learning
In a country so deeply divided, we don't realize how simple Internet search can inadvertently strengthen our biases.
In my latest Substack, read more how to increase analytical reasoning in daily life.
#education #technology #Internet #focus #biases
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/we-search-for-proof-not-truth
My op ed appeared today in The Boston Globe. It highlights how we can so easily become dependent on our devices that we ignore our own body's signals.
#wellbeing #technology #stress #attention #focus
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/19/opinion/gloria-mark-sleep-tracking/
The real challenge isn’t whether we use technology, but how we use it.
In my Substack, read how technology habits can lead us to lose touch with ourselves.
#technology #habits #agency #dependency #attention
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/how-a-digital-habit-can-erode-self
A recent study shows Americans are reading less for pleasure. In this week's Substack, I discuss what happens to our minds when we read less-- It's more than just entertainment.
#psychology #wellbeing #technology #attention #reading
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/the-decline-in-reading-and-what-it
A new study found decreasing rates of cognitive decline and dementia--attributed to technology use. My Substack explains why we shouldn't celebrate so fast.
#technology #health #exercise #dementia #attention #cognition #psychology
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/are-we-growing-sharper-with-time
My latest Substack covers why it's so critical to keep our minds stimulated: read about how neurogenesis works.
#Productivity #AI #NeuralNetworks #technology #psychology #neuroscience #brain #wellbeing
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/our-brain-is-shaped-by-what-we-feed
Technology's efficiency saves us from mundane and repetitive tasks. Yet too often, we squander that freed-up time.
My latest Substack covers what we can do to reclaim our capacity for deeper thinking.
#management #AI #attention #technology #focus
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/the-case-for-depth-in-an-age-of-convenience
This week on my Substack, I discuss freedom of attention with Nir Eisikovitz, Director of the Applied Ethics Ctr, UMass, Boston. Is freedom of attention just an illusion?
You can read our discussion here.
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/nir-eisikovits-on-the-freedom-of
#attention #distraction #technology #psychology #AI
My op ed in The Boston Globe just came out. You can read about how our future will appear when we fully automate the hospitality industry. A world without a human touch will not be a welcoming world.
#automation #AI #hospitality #loneliness #management
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/03/opinion/gloria-mark-hotel-of-the-future/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results
Recently I visited what was meant to be the hotel of the future but it wasn't what I expected. In my Substack, I discuss the dangers of such fully automated experiences.
#technology #AI #automation #wellbeing #Management
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/hospitality-without-humans
Read how you can avoid "leisure time contamination"--when we have mental spillover of stress into those rare moments that are meant to be restful.
#management #productivity #wellbeing #technology #email #stress
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/leisure-contamination
Our minds have a strict limit on how much we can process. A recent Cal Tech study discovered exactly what that limit is: 10 bits per second. So don't feel guilty if you can't do it all: we're not wired for it.
#attention #stress #productivity #Tech
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/why-we-cant-do-it-all
Learn how reading longform content can help build a skill of sustained attention.
You can read more about immersion and the benefits of reading in my Substack.
#attention #distraction #technology #socialmedia #wellbeing
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/resist-distraction-discover-immersion
Read how our cognitive skills are declining in my discussion with The Signal.
#attention #distraction #productivity #wellbeing #technology
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My latest Substack presents the research showing how a passion project can do a lot for our mental and physical health. Try it out instead of screen time.
#wellbeing #leisure #stress #project #productivity
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/passion-projects-can-boost-well-being
Read my interview with the legendary Don Norman, father of user-interface design, on his new vision of design for humanity. He's one of the most influential voices in computing and design.
#design #HCI #computing #technology #interface #climatechange
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/don-norman-on-the-future-of-design
AI's vision is to free up cognitive resources to be more productive. But research shows this isn't the case. Critical thinking worsens.
Learn more in my latest Substack, "Outsourcing our minds."
#AI #productivity #management #tech #creativity #wellbring
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/outsourcing-our-minds
A recent study suggests that it's not smartphones that distract us, but something more unsettling: it's us.
Read more in my latest Substack.
#attention #distraction #smartphone #productivity #wellbeing
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/distraction-isnt-about-the-smartphone
Had a fantastic conversation with host Sana Qadar on ABC's All In The Mind show on why we can't focus in today's digital age, and how we can build a skill of paying attention.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/allinthemind/fighting-for-focus-age-of-distraction/105034906
#smartphone #attention #distraction #productivity #focus #wellbeing
The 2025 World Happiness Report finds sharing meals is a key predictor of happiness. And BTW, the U.S. ranks 69th globally in dining w/others.
#smartphone #wellbeing #happiness #loneliness
Check out my Substack to read more:
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/eating-alone-in-the-age-of-connection
Synthetic companions are gaining popularity, with an estimated 52 million users. Is this a passing flirtation or societal shift? Read more in my latest Substack.
#AI #attention #relationship #tech #wellbeing
https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-synthetic-companions
Our memories have gotten worse in the digital age.
In my recent Substack post, I report on the research and discuss what we can do. I invite you to subscribe to my Substack.
#memory #technology #smartphone #wellbeing #productivity
Read more: https://gloriamark.substack.com/p/is-technology-weakening-our-memory
Before (a)social media, the web used to be social. Each and every Web 2.0 site used to offer its info pebbles also as an RSS feed. RSS (really simple syndication) is a standardized XML format (extensible markup language) that an RSS reader app can import and display. Some of this information infrastructure has survived and can be revived by the web app RSS Enterprise on this page.
The primary use case is Mastodon. But as it turns out, RSS feeds provided by at least BlueSky, tumblr, WordPress, SpeakerDeck, Pinterest, and Wordpress can also be displayed here.
For Mastodon in specific, there are a few special features:
- You can click Mastodon tags to load the tag’s content. Try #SciFiEtiquette or #trendytoots
Discover more insights at the tag #RSSEnterprise itself.
- You can click a Mastodon user to display her feed.
Try @mprove or @chronohh
- You can drag any RSS feed URL from any web page to the cover above and drop it into the river. This does also work for Mastodon users and hash tags, as well as for blogspot, pinterest, substack, and tumblr.
The menu command Edit > Paste of an RSS address is also possible, but less exciting.
Of course, you can always fiddle around with the parameters in the browser’s address bar:
RSS Enterprise parameter info
- rss=
- The feed url or a dropable blog URL
Support for multiple Mastodon hash tags; e.g. get the combined tags #ComputerHistory #HistoryOfComputers #HistoryOfComputing #chm with this RSS Enterprise link
- rss2=
- A second feed to be displayed; but no support for multiple tags
- roundrobin
- Optional parameter to flip-flop between two feeds instead of sorting them chronologically
stay curious – share the links – have fun! Matthias
P.S.: I’d appreciate a little tip:
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