thinking about pulling out cell phones as contagious, like yawning. If one person takes their phone out, everyone else does, too. And even when the phone is facedown and off, its very presence distracts everyone around. It’s today’s version of being affected by secondhand smoke.

The Appalachian town of Green Bank, known as the quietest town in America, has banned cell phones and Wi-Fi entirely.

when we detach from the screens, machines, and the enormous primal-urge network,

Buddha said (for real this time): “Improve your character through mindful striving. Or let your character worsen through negligence and obliviousness.”

Academics have this great idea that every seven years you need to take a break from your everyday work to rest, reset, and refresh your mind. “Sabbatical” actually takes its name from “Sabbath.”

When Ken is teaching at UC Berkeley, he asks his students who insist on taking notes on their laptops (which can be less effective for comprehension than taking notes by hand) to sit in a separate area. He knows that even if you don’t bring a laptop to class, if the person in front of you does, you’ll retain less of the lecture.

While we’re asleep, our brains actually shrink in a process called “synaptic homeostasis.”

loved the way that films are called “movies”: they “move” people, letting us experience things together, reminding us of our common humanity, as we laugh,

Social media can be very useful, but as media theorist and author of Team Human Douglas Rushkoff has argued, with good reason, it can also be antihuman, antisociety, and antisocial, driven by commercial agendas whose priorities don’t align with our own.