Podcasts about zomorodi

In this episode of the Brain & Life podcast, American country music singer Drake White joins co-host Dr. Katy Peters. Drake shares about his singing career and how it has been affected by his journey with a diagnosis of arteriovenous malformation (AVM.) Dr. Peters is then joined by Dr. Ali Zomorodi, Professor of Neurosurgery at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Zomorodi explains what an AVM is, what the risk factors and treatment options are, and what the future looks like for patients.   Additional Resources What are arteriovenous malformations? Navigating the Complexities of Stroke Being Thankful for Recovery While Grieving a Former Life   Other Brain & Life Episodes on this Topic Connecting Music and Mind with Singer Renée Fleming Timothy Omundson on Stroke Recovery and His Return to Television Resiliency and Caregiving with Janet Fanaki   We want to hear from you! Have a question or want to hear a topic featured on the Brain & Life Podcast? ·       Record a voicemail at 612-928-6206 ·       Email us at BLpodcast@brainandlife.org   Social Media:   Guests: Drake White @drakewhitestomp; Dr. Ali Zomorodi @dukehealth Hosts: Dr. Daniel Correa @neurodrcorrea; Dr. Katy Peters @KatyPetersMDPhD

Sponsors:  Jon Cunningham, Owner, Cunningham Financial GroupWebsite:  www.cunninghamfinancialgroup.com    Phone:  205-326-7364Tyler Cain, Senior Loan Officer, Fairway Independent MortgageWebsite: www.tylercainatfairway.com    Phone:  813-380-8487First things first, here is a link to Mannish Zomorodi's Ted Talk(note - at least one curse word in the presentation)Also, she wrote a book by the same title:  Bored and BrilliantWhat do you think about when you hear the word BORED? Is that a bad thing? For some of us, it feels like a distant memory, something that had to be abandoned in adulthood. Something... bad. But if I asked about BRILLIANT, I suspect you'd have a better disposition. We've been watching Harry Potter movies as a family, so we've heard this word a lot. (British folks use it to describe pretty much anything awesome). But I think most of us would like to be more brilliant, imaginative, astute and... awesome. Today we will explore the connection between the two. We will see that down time, thinking time, and especially --- non cell phone time --- is the missing ingredient for lots of folks. Something as simple as a long shower, or a short walk can do wonders. This is part of working smarter, not harder. And I hope you find benefit for your everyday life.Sponsor Disclaimer:The information in this podcast contains personal opinions and may not entirely represent those of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation NMLS#2289. Fairway does not guarantee any services, information and/or advice provided by the individuals. This is not an offer to enter into an agreement. Not all customers will qualify. Information, rates and programs are subject to change without notice. All products are subject to credit and property approval. Other restrictions and limitations may apply. Equal Housing Opportunity. LO NMLS #118156.

In this episode we have the pleasure of chatting with the talented Matthew Zomorodi, Founder of The Emerald Coach. Matthew has a fascinating background in software engineering and has mastered the art of problem-solving and collaboration as a Scrum Master. He shares his journey from software engineer to scrum master and how his passion for working with people led him to pursue coaching. He unveils the secrets to fostering strong team dynamics, embracing continuous improvement, and thriving in an Agile environment. Prepare to be inspired as we explore the intersection of salsa dancing, entrepreneurship, and personal growth.ABOUT MATTHEWMatthew Zomorodi is a seasoned professional with a passion for guiding team leaders and teams toward peak performance using Agile principles. With a background as a Scrum Master and a Graduate Certificate in Professional and Executive Coaching, Matt brings a unique blend of technical expertise and interpersonal skills to his coaching practice.With years of experience in Agile methodologies, Matt understands the nuances of creating high-performing, collaborative teams. His coaching style is rooted in the belief that successful Agile adoption goes beyond processes and tools – it's about fostering a culture of continuous improvement, open communication, and adaptability.Matt's commitment to helping teams and leaders thrive is evident in his ability to tailor Agile frameworks to each unique situation. His goal is to empower individuals and organizations to embrace change, iterate, and deliver value more effectively.LINKS & RESOURCESVisit The Emerald Coach's WebsiteConnect with Matthew on LinkedIn

Roqe 187 - Feature interviews with Shally Zomorodi and Peyman Salimi on a rollicking and diverse edition of Roqe. Iranian-American journalist and broadcaster Shally Zomorodi joins Jian from San Diego to discuss her much-anticipated new children's book, “Myla Caterpillars Become Butterflies,” and her forthcoming appearance at the Seattle Iranian Festival. Then Iranian-Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and music producer, Peyman Salimi, comes to the Roqe Studio for a chat and live performance of songs from his solo project. Plus, the Roqe on-air Team discusses Father's Day, the city of Seattle, and another team birthday.

Thanks for joining Jill Baughan today on Finding Joy ...No Matter What. Make a Joy Box for Someone You Care About: https://jillbaughan.com/joy-box/ Ducharme, Jamie. “Being Bored Can Be Good for You--If You Do It Right. Here's How,” Time.         January 4, 2019.  https://time.com/5480002/benefits-of-boredom/ “How a Dictaphone and Other Vintage Office Transcription Machines Worked.” https://clickamericana.com/topics/money-work/the-all-new-dictaphone-time-master-1958 Robinson, Bryan, PhD. “Why Scientists Say ‘Boredom Is Good for Your Brain's Health.'” Forbes. September 2, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2020/09/02/why-neuroscientists-say-boredom-is-good-for-your-brains-health/?sh=41433fb11842 Zomorodi, Manoush. “How Boredom Can Lead to Brilliant Ideas.” TedTalk, April 2017. https://www.ted.com/talks/manoush_zomorodi_how_boredom_can_lead_to_your_most_brilliant_ideas Connect with Jill: Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Twitter ~  Website

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but holy crap, I would love to be BORED.     • DISCLAIMER Colorful words may be used. don't be alarmed.     • NEWSLETTER https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61525a85337f1c2aacf52f6d     • Etsy Shop is open! https://www.etsy.com/shop/CGBPrints       • FIND ME ON ALL THE THINGS Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo YouTube - https://youtube.com/c/CindyGuentertBaldo Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/llamaletters/ Discord - https://discord.gg/Rwpp7Ww Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/llamaletters/ Website - www.cindyguentertbaldo.com     • STUFF I MENTIONED Benefits of Boredom - psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/202004/5-benefits-boredom How To Be Bored - https://zapier.com/blog/benefits-of-boredom/ Under the Influence Podcast -     Inquiries - cindy@cindyguentertbaldo.com   TRANSCRIPTION Hello, my name is Cindy Guentert-Baldo, and I need to be. Welcome to the uncurated life podcast, or we talk about life both on and off of the internet. If this is your first time here, I am so excited that you're here. And if this is not your first time here, thanks for coming back today. We are talking about boredom and why I need to be bored and why I somehow cannot manage to be okay with being bored.   It's a thing that I am coming to terms with. I just got off of a three-day weekend and I had some moments where I got bored and immediately turned to candy crush. I'm actually going to be talking a little, you'll be hearing a lot about candy crush over the next few episodes, but like, it was like, I couldn't just sit and be bored.   And I realized that this like constant busy-ness in my mind. Is one of the things that is contributing to my massive sense of overwhelm. It occurred to me that maybe I need to embrace boredom just a little bit. So let's talk about being bored. Why is being bored? A good thing, because it sounds like a bad thing, right?   Like when you're a kid being bored is like the worst possible thing ever, you know, like, oh my God, mom, I remember my kids being like, what can I do? What can I do? What can I do? And I'm like, you can fuck off. I didn't say that, but I wanted to.   One of the reasons I think being bored really can frustrate a lot of us is because when you're bored, it's like time moves slower because you're not constantly busy, constantly. Everything else shit starts to drag. And then as soon as you get wrapped up in something and suddenly it's flying by. But I realized with as quickly as like February has flown by for me, uh, maybe being bored and having that time going slow could be a good thing.   There's an article. I have a link and the articles I talk about in the show notes, this one is from psychology today. It's by a Dr. . He wrote an article called the benefit five benefits of boredom. And so I'm just going to read through them really quick. The first benefit of boredom is that boredom can improve our mental health.   So according to the article, It says that in this age of information, our brains are overloaded with information and distractions. The wealth of information means a scarcity of attention. Attention uses one's limited cognitive resources for productive activities. So taking a break can be a valuable opportunity to help our overloaded brains relax and alleviate stress.   It is beneficial to step away from social media and other stressors long enough to feel bored and quote. So right here is something that I think is a distinction between. What I'm doing and what I might maybe should be doing. I'm okay. With stepping away from social media and from other things, I can do that for a few minutes.   I don't think I do it long enough to get bored, because I think the moment I'm starting to even brush against the idea of boredom I'm right back on my phone or I'm right back in my book or I'm right back, whatever. So there's a podcast. I'm sure you've heard of it. If you haven't. It's awesome. It's called under the influence.   One of the things they're talking about in the newest season is in the fall having a day where women exit social media for a day to show the power that women hold over social media, it doesn't really talk about non-binary or other people, which is something that I've actually been curious about. And I want to message them, but the idea here is to step off for an entire day.   And I was listening to her talking about, and I'm like, that's a great idea. And then I was like, do I think it's a great idea because I want to show the power that women have over the internet and like the internet economy, or is it that the idea of just not being on social media is. Refreshing. I don't know, but this idea of stepping away from it long enough to be bored.   So not just stepping away from it, but step away to actually our board. It's not something I'm including in my March goals, but it might be something I start to think about. Come. The second benefit to being bored. According to the article, boredom can increase creativity and can provide an opportunity to turn inward and use the time for thought and reflection.   Boredom can enable creativity and problem-solving by allowing the mind to wander and daydream. People were in one study, people were made to do boring tasks like reading reports or attending tedious meetings, the boring tasks encourage their minds to wander, which led to creative ways of thinking. The study showed that with mundane activities, we discover useful ideas in the app.   External stimulation. We use our imagination and think in different ways and quote, this was kind of where the boredom came from. For me, the idea this, this particular benefit was the one that was at top of my mind when I was thinking about wanting to be board, was that one of the things I want to do this year is more hobbies and really stimulate my creativity outside of work so that it can like benefit my whole life.   And I'm just not bored enough. I don't think to really let some of those newer ideas start from. One thought process I had when looking at this article was like thinking about being in high school and being in a class that, or a college middle school, whatever, being in a class that I really wasn't into.   And I was a nerd. I was into most of my classes, but there were classes I wasn't into. And so I would start doodling and I'm a child of the nineties. So often those doodles were like the Stussi S that special S or drawing Tweety bird, or Marvin, the Martian. If you are a child with it, like if you were a teenager in the nineties, you know exactly what I'm talking about, the cover of my trapper keeper and so on and so forth.   But I was, I would do some of my most fun doodles when I was that bored. So this makes a lot of sense. The third benefit to boredom, uh, from the article, boredom motivates a search for novelty without boredom. Humans would not have the taste for adventure and novelty seeking that makes us who we are intelligent, curious, and constantly seeking out.   The next thing, novelty seeking implies dissatisfaction with the status quo and a willingness to challenge established ideas and practices. Great achievements are facilitated with dissatisfaction with the status quo. And I'll tell you right now, this is when I read this benefit. I was like, oh fuck. Yeah, because I am both an very intense creature of habit.   Like I get stressed out if my routines and my habits are funny. But I also do get frustrated when I'm doing the same old, same old for too long, in certain aspects of my life, especially creative aspects of my life. I've always been somebody who kind of bounces like a hummingbird from hobby to hobby. And I think that this idea of novelty and seeking out new and interesting experiences is something that I am really trying to lean into this year.   But it's kind of fighting against my nature. I want these things, but my nature is to stick, be a homebody stick to the things I know through teens. I know the status quo is comfortable for me. And so stepping outside of that is difficult. And I'm thinking if I can get bored enough, that might motivate me to do it in a way that just saying, I want these things.   Does that make sense? I wonder if it does, it's making sense to me, at least from the article, the fourth benefit of boredom is that boredom motivates the pursuit of new goals. Boredom is an emotional signal that we are not doing what we want to be doing. Being bored means we are currently engaged, not only.   Uninteresting or challenging situation, but also in a situation that fails to meet our expectations and desires, boredom encourages us to shift to goals and projects that are more fulfilling than the ones we're currently pursuing. And here I think is maybe the crux of why it's so hard for me to be.   Generally speaking, I am not in an uninteresting or unchallenging situation with my life. We moved to Denver that in and of itself is challenging. Right. But I, my family has some challenging health problems right now, but I'm relatively happy with the state of my life, with the things I'm doing with whatever.   I don't feel very. Dissatisfied with my life. What does she say in the breakfast club? My home life is unsatisfying or my home life is satisfying. And I recognize what a privilege that is, but maybe that's part of why I don't tend to gravitate towards boredom aside from the fact that I've always been someone who just can't manage to not be busy.   I also am someone who is relatively content with the state of my life. And so maybe that is one of the reasons why I don't have that, like, kind of wanderlusty achy feeling. And the fifth benefit of boredom, according to the article is boredom and self-control skills boredom affects the ability to focus and pay attention because the interest is lost among students boredom results in disengagement, from class and poor performance, they can feel bored when they lack the cognitive resources to focus.   The ability to focus and self-regulate is correlated with the ability to handle boredom, learning, to endure boredom at a young age. Great preparation for developing self-control skills, like regulating one's thoughts, emotions and actions. Yeah, man, like that makes sense. I have always been someone who feels like their brain is moving at a million miles per hour, often faster than I probably want it to.   And boredom has always been really stressful for me. And so trying that maybe that's why meditating has never really worked for me. Cause I get fucking bored and I'm like, no, I don't want to do this. I want to do something else. And so I'm thinking by facilitating some boredom in my life, maybe that will help me a little bit when it comes to focus issues I have in other areas, maybe I don't know.   Anyway, so I. I was doing some more research into the idea of boredom, right? Like, cause I was like, I know I want to be bored. I know that being bored is something that's almost like aspirational to me. I've joked a lot about when Jesse and I finally go on our honeymoon, even though we've been married for fucking what, like eight years now, I don't even know.   He, he knows I'm not good at remembering these things, uh, by seven had a honeymoon yet. But my goal honeymoon is to go somewhere, maybe tropical, where I can like lay by. Like in a pool, be in a pool where the water is filtered, but be in sight of the beach where there's no wifi, so I can be bored, but that's my dream honeymoon.   And. I wonder sometimes if I might hate it when I actually do it, because I'd be like, fuck, I'm so bored, you know? But this idea of being bored to me just feels right. It feels like if I can just manage to get to a point where I'm like, fuck dude, I am so bored that it might help me kind of rocket ship off into more interesting or new to me, experiences and things.   So I was like, okay, well, if I really want to be bored, and if being bored is something that I've actively pushed against my whole life, then how do I get there? You know, that's, that's easier said than done, but one of the things I came across was another article that was on Zapier, which I think is an app that lets you like connect things to get out of whatever the article is, what I'm here for by Emily Esposito.   And it's about the art of being bored, how to be more productive by doing nothing. And the specific thing I zeroed in on where the types of boredom, because if I can identify with the type of boredom I want, maybe that will help me get there. So the five types of boredom that she talks about were developed by a team of German.   Researchers led by Thomas guts. They wanted to dive deeper into the types of boredom. And so they did a bunch of research. They studied high school students and college students asked them to answer questions over the course of a couple of weeks. And. They identified five different types with unique characteristics.   These types are in, I'm going to read from the article number one in different perhaps than most neutral of the five people with indifferent boredom are calm and withdrawn from the world. They use the words, relaxation and cheerful fatigue to describe. Number two is calibrating boredom, which refers to wandering thoughts and not knowing what to do.   You want to change your environment or behavior, but aren't actively finding alternatives. This type of boredom is common when. Performing repetitive tasks. Number three is searching boredom, which is defined by a sense of unpleasant restlessness and an active search for ways to minimize that boredom using two, usually turning to activities and thoughts about hobbies, leisure interests in school.   Number four is reactant boredom, which is characterized by feelings of aggression, reacted, boredom, motivates people to leave the boring situation and avoid those responsible for it. People experiencing this type of boredom have persistent thoughts about specific, more, highly valued alternative situations.   And finally, there's apathetic. This type of boredom operates at a different level than the previous four. It's a deeper, more negative state of mind that can be linked to feelings of helplessness and depression as well as destructive behaviors. So when I'm looking at these five, I would say that when I am bored, I tend to be in the world of.   Calibrating boredom where the wandering thoughts and not knowing what to do and apathetic boredom, which is where I go when I'm in a really not great place. And that is, um, that tends to trigger some of my anxiety and depression. So I think what I want is to bring into my world more of the calibrating board.   Which is the board and the happens with repetitive tasks and the indifferent boredom where I'm bored, but I'm okay with it. Like I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm relaxed and I can just be bored and be okay with it. So that's what I think I want to really search for. They offer in this article, a couple of ideas of how to do it.   And the first one is about choosing activities, right? So there's a bunch of mundane tasks we have to do on a daily basis, whether they're work-related or house related or whatever the case may be. And the point that the article makes. And I super agree with this is that there are some tasks that. Feel mundane and repetitive, but you still have to focus.   The example they bring up in the article is building a pivot table and analyzing data. It's boring and it's tedious, but you have to focus on it. You can't like. You can't let your mind wander right now for me, a task like that would be, uh, prepping vegetables. Now I find chopping vegetables to be kind of relaxing.   However, I could also get easily bored by it if I'm just not in the right spot, but I have to pay attention to what I'm doing. I can't let my mind wander or I'll chop my finger off. You see what I'm saying? The other thing the article brings up is that there are tasks that. Are relaxing. That can be confused with boredom.   I brought up earlier that meditation makes me bored, but they say that meditation is actually meant to promote tranquility. The idea is to remove the distractions and rid your mind of stimulation. Whereas boredom is when you're trying to find the stimulation and you can't find it. I don't know. I'm still pretty bored by meditation, but the point is, is that might not be the way to find it a.   A task that they bring up. That would be a really great example of a way to bring up that like boredom of doing what is the calibrating boredom of doing repetitive tasks is like stuffing envelopes for something like, if you're doing wedding invitations or we were doing life campaign with their, my church to send out things for donations or whatever, stuffing envelopes, definitely a boredom inducing situations.   So coming up with ideas, like for that, for me coming up with like a boredom list, I'm going to maybe put that in my bullet journal in March makeup of board and list. I'm gonna write that down. I'm gonna write down a boredom list of activities that I can do that will kind of take the stimulation out to.   But give me something to keep me occupied so that my hands are working, but my brain can wander. The second thing they suggest is to banish distractions, which is the one we were already talking about with removing your smartphones. One of the people referenced in the article is Sandy Mann, who is a psychology lecturer at the university of central Lancashire.   And she said, That we're trying to swipe and scroll the boredom away. But in doing that, we're actually making ourselves more prone to boredom because every time we get our phone out, we're not allowing our mind to wander and to solve our own boredom problems. So the suggestion is, is to take your, don't take your phone out when you're standing, waiting for something like I do this all the time.   I was standing, waiting around. I bust out my phone and I play a little candy crush. The idea here is to. To not to start getting the habit, whether you have to put an app on your phone or something else of not whipping your phone out in those little Mormon moments where you could be bored. So that's something to work on.   I might turn that into a habit for April as well. I don't know. And then the other situation, the other idea they bring up, and this is one that I need to take to heart, and that is to stop overbooking yourself. You know, don't accept. Meeting. Don't always be going out strategically block off boredom time in your calendar.   You know, some people would say leave white space in your calendar, but this idea of like making sure various time for you to get bored. It says here in this article, uh, for some, uh, minutiae Zomorodi in a GQ article said that being bored is like the stuff that feels super uncomfortable. If you're not used to it, like going to the gym, it really hurts at first.   But then you start going maybe three or four times a week and it gets a little easier and maybe you get a little hot, a little exercise high in the sweat starts to feel good and it suddenly becomes part of your life. So the idea is to. Treat boredom like a muscle and train it so you don't lose it. And then you can go find your boredom, find your time, spend that time being bored and make it a habit.   Making boredom a habit. That's also a good idea. I should write that down. I'm going to make myself a little list. I'm going to make myself a little list. I want to make a boredom list and I want to do boredom habit. I better write those down. Those will not be in my March video. Cause I already filmed it.   You probably already seen it at this point. However, I will be talking about that more come April. I think, I think that is going to be a focus because like I said, in the title of this, I want to be bored. Now what about you? Do you want to be bored? Are you going to try some of these things? Are you going to seek out the boredom in your life?   I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Go to instant. Tag me at @llamaletters in your story. And tell me your ideas, the things that help stimulate your boredom. Are you trying to be bored? Do you think I am losing my shit for wanting to be bored? Let me know. I'd love to hear about it. This episode was brought to you by my patrons.   They're fucking amazing. If you want to know about Patreon, go to www.patreon.com/cindyguentertbaldo to find out more. And in the meantime, my friends, I hope you find some time this week to get a little bored. I'm hoping I can too. I, I don't know if I'm going to be able to or not, because this week is, you know, a busy week for me, but we shall see wish me luck.   I'm wishing you. Well, And until next time, peace out.

Real World Advice About Wholesaling, Fix-and-Flips, Investing And More with Ryan Zomorodi   Welcome to episode 15 of The Multifamily Millionaire: Real Income From Real Estate podcast with Jason Lee. This week Jason sits down with Ryan Zomorodi and they discuss all the ways in which he invests in real estate, which include fix-and-flips, wholesaling, as well as more traditional real estate investing.   Ryan Zomorodi is a San Diego, CA based real estate investor and entrepreneur. He is a founder and the VP of Real Estate Skills. Ryan helps house flippers and multifamily investors raise capital for residential value-add projects around the U.S.Ryan heads the identification, acquisition, rehab, leasing, management, and maintenance of rental and fix-and-flip properties across twelve states and counting. He has over 9 years of business and real estate experience, including a business management degree with a specialization in entrepreneurship and a minor in marketing from San Diego State University.    Here is what to expect on this week's show: Information about Ryan's real estate education company that helps people become real estate entrepreneurs with an emphasis in wholesaling houses, fixing, flipping and buying rental properties. Information about rz Holdings, Inc, which is Ryan's real estate investment company. What wholesaling is and how Ryan makes money through it. How Ryan find the great deals that he is able to find, of properties that are often below market value. Why Ryan chose to go into real estate, a story that begins with him owning the house he lived in during college. Based on what Ryan knows from his real estate skills company, what are the most common first mistakes he sees real estate investors making. Advice about performing fix-and-flips and what's so important about finding the right contractor to work with. Lessons learned about doing new builds, which present unique challenges but also opportunities. What are some of Ryan's favorite sub markets around the U.S. to invest in right now.   Links Mentioned: www.realestateskills.com Ryan@realestateskills.com   Connect with Ryan: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ryan.zomorodi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanzomorodi/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanzomorodi/?hl=en Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ginger Johnson is battling cancer. She's also preparing her digital legacy. Ginger has three amazing children, and she wants to stay in their lives, even after she's gone. That's why she's using a service that helps her make messages and then schedules them for delivery in the future. Videos, audio recordings, emails and photos, pegged to specific days and personal milestones. Moran Zur created this service, Safe Beyond, after his own father died of cancer. He wanted to give people a chance to be remembered as they choose, not through Google search results or in a hospital bed. As vibrant people, full of wisdom. Full of, well, life. Can Silicon Valley really help us cheat death? And what does it mean for the people we leave behind? This isn't the first time we've talked about messages from the afterlife, actually. If for some reason you want even more of this, check out our episode on voicemail from 2015.   For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.     

We've been measuring drunk driving for years. Since the Drunk-o-Meter was invented back in the '30s. But now, it's distracted driving that's killing people, and tracking that is just getting started.  That's what Ben Lieberman learned, when his teenage son was killed in a crash. Lieberman checked the driver's phone records. And anyone who listened to Serial knows those are powerful documents. They can show what cell tower your phone was near, calls in and out. But what they can't track is swipes, taps and clicks.  So Lieberman created the Textalyzer. Like the Breathalyzer, but for your phone. It can reveal every touch - just the action, not the content. And the company behind it might be familiar, if you followed the saga of the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone.   SHARE YOUR PRIVATE THOUGHTS. WITH US, AT LEAST.   If the idea of the Textalyzer sets off your privacy Spidey sense, we understand. We're all figuring out where to draw the line on data sharing, and how to balance privacy, safety, and our modern lives. It's something we're going to be thinking about a lot more in the new year, and we want your help.  TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT PRIVACY, ONLINE AND OFF Every year, Note to Self teams up with our listeners to take on a project together. We've tackled information overload and boredom. Next, we're taking on privacy: the how, and the why. But we need to hear from you, about what matters and what you want to learn.  Please take a few minutes to fill out our survey. The project won't be the same without you.   For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.         

When Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded in 1980, an estimated 25,000 people were killed in drunk driving crashes each year in the U.S. Then Frasier stepped in.  We all know, now, that drinking and driving is a big no-no. But how do we all know that? In part, because shows like the Simpsons and Cheers dedicated plot lines to designated drivers. Growing Pains introduced a character (Matthew Perry!) just to kill him off in a collision. TV producers didn't just come up with this on their own. They did it because a team at the Harvard School of Public Health made a case for the message. Now, that team is taking on distracted driving. And it's proving to be a much trickier problem.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.

For Hillary Clinton, that private email server was an Achilles heel. For Donald Trump, late night tweet-storms and the echo chamber of the so-called alt-right were rocket fuel. For American voters, the power of technology was inescapable. We've seen the good, bad and ugly of tech this election cycle. And we all have big feelings about it. So Manoush hosted a good old-fashioned call-in, for listeners to share their thoughts and fears about our digital lives under a Trump administration.  Joining Manoush was Farhad Manjoo, New York Times technology columnist, and Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.  They looked back at how social media shaped the Presidential race, and forward at privacy in the Trump era. We wish we could tell you it's uplifting. But we don't like to lie.  The call-in show was part of the United States of Anxiety, a series from WNYC Studios. If you're having big feelings about what the new administration means for the arts, women, the economy or just in general, they've got you covered.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

What does it really take to put more diversity - however you define it - into your news feeds? We tend to click on things we agree with already. It makes us happy. And social media networks like it that way. Bumming out your customers is a bad business model.  A while back, we got tips on escaping the echo chamber from Katie Notopoulos, co-host of BuzzFeed's Internet Explorer podcast, and Tracy Clayton, co-host of the BuzzFeed podcast Another Round. When we first talked, this felt like an important idea, a step towards an expanded mind. Now, post-election, it feels a lot less optional.  Katie and Tracy joined Manoush to talk about how to get just the right amount uncomfortable online, and why the first step is to just try.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Thanksgiving is here. The holidays are right around the corner. And with politics on everyone's minds, dinner table conversations can feel like a minefield. We have you covered. We're bringing back an episode from the archive, with strategies on how to be calm, collected – and constructive – when faced with racism online, or IRL. And if you're doing a little Internet detox, like we talked about last week, don't worry. We made you some printer-friendly tools for navigating your Facebook feed – or maybe just the Thanksgiving table. Deep breaths.   (Note to Self/Piktochart) LARA is a system promoted by the National Conference for Community Justice. (Note to Self) For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

It's time to figure out how to be online in this post-election world. Note to Self listeners are wondering how we can stay well-informed without simultaneously bathing in a toxic stew. What do you do when going online makes you unhappy? Here to help is Gretchen Rubin, author of mega-selling books that include "The Happiness Project" and "Better Than Before." She's a researcher, a journalist, and host of the podcast "Happier with Gretchen Rubin."  Author, researcher, and journalist Gretchen Rubin. (Elena Seibert) Didn't hear last week's special note from Manoush? Listen to it here. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

We're all processing this election together. We want to create a nurturing, constructive space to do that. Please take a minute and listen to Manoush's short audio message to you, dear listener. We believe this is the beginning of a rigorous and critical conversation between us, you and your fellow listeners.  So we move forward. And whoever you voted for, chances are you're still thinking about the surprise of the results.   The fact that no one picks up their phone anymore meant pollsters were WAY off. The way we get our media and journalists do reporting contributed to one of the biggest political surprises in history.   Donald Trump became our president. It would be weird to pretend things here in podcast land are just "business as usual." Yes, we are grappling. Sure, we're asking ourselves: "What does this election mean for the country?" But we're also asking: "What does this election mean about me? About how I live my life? About how I connect to human beings and information?" As a way to start processing all of this: we curated a list from the archive... 7 Episodes For Your Post-Election Reality There is no right way to deal with the election aftermath. It's time for me to get out of my social media echo chamber. We click on things we agree with already. Here are some concrete steps to get out of our comfort zone and expose ourselves to different people, opinions, and voices online.  How can I deal with the hatred or racism in my social media feed? There's a formula for a productive conversation about tough topics. Please. Get me some Zen. Kindness would be nice too. Chade-Meng Tan, Silicon Valley's mindfulness coach, is making meditation accessible and he's got tips to incorporate it into our everyday lives. I need to rethink my information intake. Information overload. Enough said. How can I deal with the confusion I'm feeling without hiding beneath a large duvet? In a time of racial tension, how do you manage the storm of news online when paying attention is painful? Two friends find their answers. Should I have paid closer attention to the nuances of the election? We dive deep into the modern media diet with theSkimm co-founders Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin, and John Herrman, media reporter at the New York Times.  I need to escape to a galaxy far far away. Failed 2016 presidential candidate Zoltan Istvan (convincingly) explains why you might live forever and vote for him in 2040. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

You probably didn't vote for him, but Zoltan Istvan has been on a two-year quest to merge politics with the scientific and technological movement called Transhumanism. He's been running as a 2016 U.S. presidential candidate, representing the party of those who believe humans will ultimately merge with machine. And once we merge, our superhuman selves could live forever. This is not your typical post-election analysis, people.   Zoltan Istvan in front of the Immortality Bus in Washington DC (Roen Horn)  "I would be very surprised if people are human beings," Istvan explains to N2S Executive Producer Jen Poyant. "I think we'll all be cyborgs at that point. I think there will be body shops where we're replacing our limbs...all controlled by software, all working together. We'll be able to run faster than cheetahs." Hear more about Istvan's predictions about our impending future, the issues you'll likely be voting on in 2040, and how he plans to do for Transhumanism what Al Gore did for global warming. Jen, however, has a soft spot for appreciating life as it is. It's a political debate you'll actually enjoy. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

Mindfulness is quite the buzzword these days. Especially within Silicon Valley, where many tech workers have been known to seek out guidance and spiritual direction in Eastern practices. HBO's Silicon Valley parodied the trend with a tech company CEO who seems to be attached at the hip to his spiritual advisor.  Putting fiction aside though, we've talked a lot about information overload and our addiction to our gadgets. We're living in a world where it is challenging to be mindful. And, well, we all can't afford to have a spiritual guru following us around non-stop. So, we brought in an actual spiritual advisor from the actual Silicon Valley to help bring us more kindness, compassion, and happiness (especially during this election season). His name is Chade-Meng Tan and he's a former Google software engineer where his job title was, "Jolly Good Fellow." After retiring from Google in 2015, Chade-Meng began focusing on bringing mindfulness to the masses. "I'm calling it transformational philanthropy, which is to try to transform human beings. Make peace, joy, compassion the default state of all human beings," he says. In his quest, he recently wrote Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within.  And he stopped by N2S to share some simple exercises for us all to find more joy and happiness. Step one: take one very long inhale in and then slowly exhale, listening to the sound of your breath as you do so. Then hit "play" above to find some serenity now.    For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Legendary performance artist, Marina Abramović, got more than 750,000 people to slow down and wait in line at MoMA just to sit at a table across from her. She also convinced Manoush and N2S Executive Producer Jen Poyant (and hundreds of other New Yorkers) to lock away their phones, sit in silence for 30 minutes, and then listen to Bach's Goldberg Variations. She just published Walk Through Walls: A Memoir and she thinks that our over-caffeinated, hyper-productive society needs her now more than ever.   With the everyday upkeep of our virtual selves on Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat, many of us have become nearly as performative as Marina herself. And so, in response, she's changed her work to become more about us. She is focusing on ways to help us put our phones down and to restore our overtaxed systems in a digital world. Here are just a couple of her suggestions: Find ways to truly be alone. Marina suggests things like: going to the desert, hiking to a waterfall, (and for the brave of heart) looking inside of a volcano. Find ways to be be with nature in any way you can.  Re-channel your energies. As an experiment, instead of checking emails or immediately texting right after you wake up, take some time (a whole bunch of time) and sit by a window. Marina says that in the beginning you'll feel restless, but push through it, you have to train your body to funnel that energy into other places. Host Manoush Zomorodi with performance artist Marina Abramović. (Jen Poyant)  For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

Artist Marina Abramović – the woman famous for staring into a record-breaking number of people's eyes at MoMA, letting an audience point a gun at her head, and convincing the public to take performance art seriously – has some opinions about our phones. Namely: They are distracting us, and we need to stop pretending like they aren't.  Her 2015 project was called "Goldberg," and it was a collaboration with celebrated pianist Igor Levit and the Park Avenue Armory. The team says it was designed to help audiences remember what full attention actually feels, looks, and sounds like. Through a performance of J.S. Bach's notoriously difficult Goldberg Variations, they were attempting "a reimagining of the traditional concert experience," in which attendees first trade their tickets for a key. Each key had a corresponding locker, in which they were instructed to put their phone, watch, computer, and any other personal belongings that tell time or receive a signal from outside. Guests arriving at the Armory, putting their distractions behind lock and key. (James Ewing) Once they had locked the doors, they were given a pair of noise-canceling headphones. For the first thirty minutes of the performance, that's it. The entire audience – and also Levit, the performer – sat together in complete silence.  The audience sitting in total silence. Yes, total. (James Ewing) Levit then broke the silence by starting to play his version of the Goldberg Variations.  Legend has it that Bach originally wrote the Goldberg variations to soothe an insomniac Austrian Count through the night. (James Ewing)  On this podcast extra, Abramović explains her "method" for really, truly listening: Marina Abramović: You're taking a taxi, you're concerned you're on time, you're answering [a] last phone call and so on. And you're arriving, and you sit down, and you hear the concert... but you're not ready to hear anything. You're just too busy. So I'm giving this time and space to the public to actually prepare themselves. Manoush Zomorodi: But surely, I mean, we're grown ups right? I'm coming to the concert. Can't we just turn off our phone? Why does it have to be so heavy-handed? Abramović: ...If Igor has enormous discipline to learn by heart the Goldberg variations with 86 minutes, and play [them] in the most incredible magic way, we can have discipline to to honor this. And to just see, to have [a] new experience... the moment you don't have your phone and you don't have the watch to check if you're sitting there for five minutes or ten, it just gives you a completely different state of mind. Zomorodi: I'm concerned that my state of mind won't be one of calm but rather one of agitation. That it's going to be very difficult for me. Abramović: Well this is where you have the real problem then. That you have to address the problem in your life. That is why it is good for you. Listen above or anywhere you get your podcasts. Bonus points if you sit in total silence for 30 minutes first. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

This episode features new writing from both Kim Brooks and Kiki Petrosino. Find Kim's essay, "The Problem of Caring" here, and find the poem Kiki wrote for this project, entitled, "Letter Beginning: If My Body is a Text," here. Six years ago, Kim Brooks started going on "news fasts." She was struggling with parinatal depression at the time and the news of the world was often too much—too terrible—for her to absorb. So she got into the habit of taking time away from headlines and her Twitter feed to turn her focus inward.  During the week of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling's deaths, Kim was on one of these fasts. When she returned to her screen, she realized her break from the news was possible because of the color of her skin. Kim is white. She doesn't have to think about police brutality. According to Pew Research, there's a significant difference in how black and white adults use social media to talk about race-related content. About two-thirds of black social media users (68%) say at least some of the posts they see are about race or race relations. One-third of whites agree. And there's a similar racial gap when it comes to posting, too: among black social media users, 28% say most or some of what they post is about race or race relations. 8% of whites say the same. "This is one of the ugliest manifestations of my privilege that I can envision: the luxury of ignorance." Kiki Petrosino, a poet, professor, and a friend of Kim's, saw the internet as a necessary way to immerse herself in what was happening. Kiki is bi-racial, and while Kim was offline, Kiki noticed a striking paradox at the center of the storm of circulating images, video, and information on her feed. "On the one hand we're brought really front and center, because you can literally watch someone dying, which is probably the most intimate moment of a life. But we don't know that person. We can't touch them, we can't talk to their family. It really throws into question how to participate in community given all these technological advancements that we're making..."Videos of police shooting young, black men and a troubling election cycle, played out on social media, have made racism in this country more visible. How do we balance being informed people with being healthy? Kim and Kiki come up with a strategy for absorbing, understanding, and addressing the news—from places of fear, exhaustion, and privilege. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

"We have an opportunity to do what we want - choose our path instead of the teachers making a choice for us."  Meet Piper, a blond, freckled 9-year-old from Brooklyn who talks like a seasoned grownup. She used to go to public school with Manoush's son but now - with the help of financial aid - she's enrolled in a new experimental school in her neighborhood: AltSchool. AltSchool is not your typical private school. Its founder is Max Ventilla, a former Google executive with a vision to reform education. Ventilla's company, with over 100 million dollars from investors like Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Andreesen, uses tech to teach and track students' social and academic skills. Ventilla's idea is that over time, that data can build a more thorough picture of each student and determine how she is taught. This method of "personalized learning" (think Montessori 2.0) is being prototyped in eight "micro-schools" in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and New York City, with the goal of applying it to schools everywhere. Manoush went to visit one in Brooklyn. NPR's education reporter Anya Kamanetz is skeptical of Ventilla's goal to optimize education for the masses, and she's concerned about Silicon Valley's foray into education. "They have a giant promise, which is that the right software system, the right operating system, is going to transform teaching and learning... and, what it ultimately means is that they have shareholders to satisfy." This week: can a tech startup engineer a better system for learning everywhere and make money doing it? And would these two tech reporters/mothers send their own kids there? There are a lot of buzzwords in education technology — including the phrase "education technology!" We've rounded up some of the most common in this list. Consult it as you and your kids face more tech in the classroom.  For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

Life is made up of gestures, sayings, emotions, and sounds. Note them one by one and you see them as individual elements, granular aspects of our day-to-day. On a minute level, they may not say much. But look at them together, draw them out, and they can begin to tell a story. (When we say "draw" here, we mean literally draw.)  That's exactly what two whimsical data scientists did in a new book, Dear Data . It's a collection of whimsical postcards Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec exchanged over the course of 52 weeks.  Each week, Giorgia and Stefanie would assign themselves a small-scale data collection project-- to track their "thank yous," or their desires, or their productivity, or the frequency with which they checked the time-- and then exchanged their findings in hand-drawn postcards. This week, Giorgia and Stefanie took us down the rabbit hole of three postcards: "thank yous," "complaints," and "sounds." You can check out the images here along with the original music made by Hannis Brown featured in the episode.     Now it's your turn, dear Note to Self listener.  Have you been collecting data about your life? No topic is too small or too large. We want to see your homemade data visualizations.  Share with us a weekly visualization of the times you walk your dog, or boxes of mac and cheese your kids eat, or the strange sounds your car makes, or the times you text your spouse, or the places you daydream of visiting on vacation… or anything else. We'd love to get a postcard from you; our snail mail address is: Note to Self c/o WNYC, 160 Varick St., New York, NY 10013. You can also email a photo of your postcard to notetoself@wnyc.org; or share it on Twitter or Facebook.   Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.

Algorithms operate everywhere in our daily lives. Using the information we give them, they're constantly learning about who we are and what we're more likely to buy. (Remember how that pricey coffee maker you looked at online showed up in your Facebook ads for the next two weeks?) Most of the time, it's no big deal. But in an era where more than 40% of Americans get their news from Facebook, these algorithms can have a real impact on how we see the world. They may even have the power to shape our democracy. (Cue ominous music.)  So here's the thing: every time you "like" something, share something, tag yourself in a photo, or click on an article on Facebook, the site collects data on you and files it away in their folder of YOU. And it's not just your activity on Facebook that they're keeping track of. They also track what device you used to log on, what other app you came from, other sites you've visited, and much more. All that data helps Facebook paint a detailed picture of who you are and what you like for advertisers. The problem is that we don't know how, exactly, that picture is formed. The algorithms at work are a "black box." We don't know how these algorithms decide whether we're a "trendy mom" or a "frequent traveler." And we don't know how they decide which ads to show us. In short, no one is really accountable.   On this week's episode, we talk with ProPublica investigative journalist Julia Angwin about how Facebook collects data and uses it to categorize us. And here's where you come in, dear N2S listener. We are collaborating with ProPublica on their Black Box Data Project, which has just launched. You can take part in this important digital experiment. So go download the Google Chrome extension for your web browser at propublica.org/blackbox. Tell us what you find out and how it makes you feel. Reach out in the comments section below; email us notetoself@wnyc.org; holler at us on Twitter or Facebook; and fill in ProPublica and Julia Angwin too.      For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

Who is probably the only person in the world who can talk about technology and global equality, breastfeeding, and how her kids' Grandpa used to be president? Yup, it's Chelsea Clinton.  Manoush recently caught up with the daughter of the Democratic nominee for President at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.   Chelsea has been collecting and analyzing data and stories about women, girls, and tech in developing countries to understand how learning to code and getting digital access can help them build better lives. And she'll talk about why she's so frustrated by the gender gap in tech, how she juggles time between her 3 month-old and the campaign trail, and why she's passionate about policies that support parents in the workplace.    Chelsea Clinton and Manoush Zomorodi snap a selife at CGI. (Manoush Zomorodi/WNYC) Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Video games are the new self-help, and Jane McGonigal is here to tell us why. She's an all around gaming boss (see here and here) and she's the director of game research and development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California where she's spent years researching our brains during what she calls, "the state of play." After wading through tons of research, she found that gaming is a wonderland of possibilities to make us smarter, happier, and more creative people.  So game play isn't just an escape? Nope, it doesn't have to be. Jane says that the key to finding positive emotions and empowerment is to ground your gaming in real life. So when you're trapped in Minecraft, don't give up and walk away, trudge on. Fight. Or use creative problem-solving to get to to the next level. Those skills or resources will spill out from the virtual world and into the real one.  In fact, gaming can help cope with depression and combat anxiety, but it's all about the dosage (i.e. how much gaming you're doing). And we didn't want to leave you hanging when it comes to figuring out which games are best for what. Here are Jane's prescriptions: If you're trying to lose weight: "When you feel a craving coming on, play a visual pattern-matching game on your phone -- like Tetris or Candy Crush Saga – for ten minutes. These games have been shown in scientific studies to reduce cravings, by monopolizing your visual imagination and blocking your brain's ability to picture the thing you crave. Research shows that players make healthier eating choices in the hour after they've played!" If you need to reduce stress or combat anxiety: "Try the new game Reigns. It's a simple and easy-to-learn game in the style of games known to activate the same blood flow patterns in the brain as meditation, creating a blissful state of mind known as "flow." Research shows that twenty minutes of these flow-inducing games, three times a week, will help you focus your mind and calm yourself, and improve your mood for hours afterward. (Believe it or not, I've met many Buddhist monks who play Angry Birds!)" If you could use a boost of extra energy and motivation: "Play a really tricky puzzle game, like Sudoku, Cut the Rope, or The Room. Research shows that trying to solve a difficult puzzle increases dopamine levels in your brain, which is the neurotransmitter that increases your work ethic and will power. It doesn't matter if you successfully complete the game or not – just trying will do the trick, and the harder the better. So if you have a difficult project to tackle, or a complex problem to solve, prime your brain for success with fifteen minutes of puzzling first." Manoush is an old-school Tetris addict and she just downloaded it on her phone to play guilt-free. But what's your jam? Tell us what you like playing and why. As per the usual,  get in touch at notetoself@wnyc.org, or the comments section below, or on Twitter or Facebook.   UPDATE: You've been writing in to tell us about the games you use to de-stress or stretch your brain, and they sound so good we had to share.  Below, suggestions from Note to Self listeners:  "If you're looking for a game to play before bed, Harvest Moon is my all time favorite. Nothing is as relaxing as simulated farming." - Maggie "I like playing a game called Wordament to help deal with stress or to calm my brain down at the end of the day. It forces my brain to focus on just one thing rather than having scattershot thoughts." - Chris "The Witness is the epitome of puzzle games. If you want a mind-tearing, beautiful, and unbelievably involved puzzle game, that is the game for you." - Justin "Words With Friends keeps me connected. Monument Valley just tickled me. Klondike Solitaire to empty my head." - Peg "Since I was 11 years old, The Sims has been one of the most effective stress-relieving aspects of my life. There's something about the steady, creative process of building a house, achieving perceived long-term goals (Barista -> Manager in 1 hour, what?!) and social experimentation that completely relaxes me. Crazy to think after 15 years of turbulent high school emotions, unrewarding internships, stressful career deadlines, that this one game has evolved with me and, in my opinion, heightened by durability to the pressures of everyday life." - Angelique "I remembered  while looking into Monument Valley in particular that the soundtracks are so also so helpful for studying. My favorites right now are MV's, Journey, and Firewatch!!" - Tracey "I play ancestry.com. It's the only technology driven game I've ever played. I find it fun, interesting, challenging and then I have a kinship chart for my children when I'm finished." - Leslie "My game is Spelltower. My daughter enjoys playing many games- Satellina, Monument Valley, Pictoword, Twist -- and I think most are useful in teaching problem-solving." - Leanna  For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Come along with us... into the future. A place where there is a written record of everything you've said-- ever.  We're calling it the transcribed life, and our guide is Rose Eveleth, the host of the Flash Forward podcast. This week, Rose delves into the benefits and dangers of this not-so-distant future.  The tech is coming. It's just a question of getting past the "sheep and goats" hurdle according to Steve Renals, professor of speech technology at the University of Edinburgh. Sheep and goats? It's a nerdy metaphor technologists in the field use.  Sheep are the voices the software can easily recognize. Goats are outliers. As the technology gets better, it'll hear us all as sheep. Once the machines can consistently recognize-- and transcribe-- our speech patterns, things get tricky.  Sara Watson, technology critic and research fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, considers whether such technology could fundamentally change the way we communicate with each other. Finally, we get a taste of the transcribed life with Heather Ratcliff, who, because of a rare genetic disorder, wants a detailed log of her day to help her fill in gaps in her memory. Her experiment brings some unexpected results.  As we consider the pros and cons of this technology, we want to hear from you, dear N2S listener. Does the transcribed life sound good to you? Or does this searchable record terrify you to your core? Tell us about it. Record a voice memo and email it to notetoself@wnyc.org, or tell us in the comments section below, or send us a message on Twitter or Facebook.   For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

It's tough being a teenager these days. This week, we head to Fayetteville, North Carolina where high school star quarterback, Cormega Copening, faced five felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor for exchanging racy (or romantic, depending on your point of view) photos with his girlfriend in 2015. Just half of states in the U.S. have proposed or implemented laws that address teen sexting directly. Depending on where you live, teens who send or receive a sext to/from anyone under 18 can be charged with child pornography. In Fayetteville, things took a turn for the Kafkaesque because of a North Carolina law that treats 16-year-olds as adults if they are charged with a crime. Fayetteville Observer reporter, Paul Woolverton, explains, "We're one of two states that say that if you are 16 or older, if you're charged with a crime, you're an adult. But if you're the victim of a crime, you're a minor. So in these cases, since they were under 18 but over 16, they were both the adult criminals who exploited their minor selves."  Click "listen" above to hear more about the case of two consenting teenagers who expressed themselves in sexts and became the center of a very public debate.  Further listening:  Last year, N2S spoke to Cañon City Schools superintendent the day after students were found trading nude photographs "like baseball cards."  Listener favorite: Manoush and Peggy Orenstein discuss what it's like to be desired AND empowered as a young woman. And don't forget, 16-year-old Grace who schools Manoush on how cell phone envy is still a thing. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is stocked with all kinds of gadgets: singing calculators, talking typewriters, even video games that you navigate using only sound. Most are specialized and expensive — the school can afford them, but a lot of families can't. There is one piece of tech, however, that almost every student has, and, absolutely every student wants. It's a status symbol, it's a social media machine, and it will read text out loud. Yes, it's an iPhone. And 'reading' on a smartphone is gaining prominence as a reliable tool for the visually impaired.  However this tool is the center of a larger question blind students and society at large are facing: Are iPads and iPhones rendering Braille obsolete? And if so, should advocates for the visually impaired be worried? Click "listen" above and hear reporter Ryan Kailath take us into The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired to hear all sides of the issue.  And don't forget to check out our test to see how fast you can 'read with your ears,' a skill that blind kids often acquire and master.  This is a repeat episode which originally aired in 2015. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.   Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

"You go, 'Damn, just it's not my crazy person... it's everyone's crazy person!'" – Elan Gale, creator of Texts From Your Ex, Tinder Nightmares, Unspirational and more If you're not one of Text From Your Ex's 1.9 million followers already, here's what you need to know: Elan Gale's brainchild is an Instagram account with pages and pages of awkwardness captured in screenshots. They're submitted by email, and Gale says he has a backlog of 40,000 "just sitting around." ROCK AND ROLLLLLL A photo posted by Unspirational (@textsfromyourex) on Jun 9, 2016 at 10:16pm PDT It turns out, reading through hundreds of thousands of other people's emotionally loaded conversations gives you some pretty profound insight into relationships, technology, and privacy (or rather... the utter lack thereof). "You've never had an interesting text conversation that hasn't been sent to ten people. That's just what people do," Gale says. "Even though we treat relationships more casually because of text messages and the way we communicate, you have to actually trust people more to be open and honest with them because you have your entire personal life on their phone, or their watch, or their unguarded computer. And they're irresponsible dicks... and at any moment anyone could just have a lapse of judgement for 45 seconds and leave their phone on a table without a passcode and your entire life is visible. So why pretend that it's not?"    Seems like a fair trade A photo posted by Unspirational (@textsfromyourex) on Sep 9, 2015 at 2:06pm PDT Elan Gale's "Texts From Your Ex" book is available in paperback. This is a repeat episode which originally aired in 2015. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.   Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

According to the internet security company AVG, 92% of children in the U.S. have a digital presence by the time they turn two. But a University of Michigan poll from March 2015 found that three-fourths of parents think another parent has shared too much information about their child online. In this episode, we bring together three people with very different approaches for a conversation about ethics, photography, and the struggle of weighing future consequences in a world we can't quite picture yet (no pun intended). Here's where our three moms stand on posting photos of their kids: Note to Self Host Manoush Zomorodi, who posts nothing. Note to Self Executive Producer Jen Poyant, who posts every day on Instagram. Longest Shortest Time Host Hillary Frank, who posts drawings and side-angles but no faces. This is a repeat episode which originally aired in 2015. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.     

Reading this right now?  Congratulations. You're winning. Yes, all of the usual corporate and government entities know you're here. Google remembers everything you've ever searched, BuzzFeed knows how you've scored on all their quizzes, and your cell phone provider knows who you talk to and who you sleep with. Terms of Service agreements are an exercise in futility, encrypted email often takes more trouble than it's worth, and yeah, sure, go ahead and give Facebook a fake name, but don't think you're fooling anyone. Companies are collecting your data from just about everywhere, storing it through time unknown, and using it however they want. Oh, and that's where the FBI-and-friends find it. But Bruce Schneier, author of the book, "Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World," says the fact that you've taken the time to read this far means you've got the one reliable protection available to us in year 2016: awareness. Schneier also happens to be a security technologist and cryptographer and well, he's kind of a tech hero - a Chuck Norris - of the digital sphere. His cause: privacy. In fact, even before The Economist called Schneier a "security guru," a different company tried to make him into an $100 dollar action figure (he didn't like their price and proposed $40 instead). Go to the site, "Bruce Schneier Facts," and you'll find photos of Schneier's face pasted onto different movie heroes' bodies, bearing captions like: "Bruce Schneier watches Blu-ray movies by looking at the discs." Click on listen above and hear Manoush and Schneier discuss ways we can feel less helpless when it comes to protecting our data and maintaining some online privacy.  PLUS: We still want your feedback on N2S and we want YOU to help us decide what we should cover in our next big project. So please, fill out this short survey - it's only 11 questions and won't take you more than 3 minutes.  This is a repeat episode which originally aired in 2015. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.

Do we need to be worried about our phones tracking our every move? Because it sure seems like they are. Walter Kirn wants you to know that you're NOT going crazy and maybe you should be a little paranoid with your phone. He covers privacy, tech and surveillance, and – unrelated – he wrote the book behind "Up in the Air" with George Clooney. He answers some of your most pressing questions on phone privacy and how concerned we should be about what our phones are tracking. Here's a sampling of one of the many questions we've received from listeners that captures a thought-to-be-private moment: Between Me and My Dog"So, I get out of the shower and I'm getting dressed and of course my dog is over there on his chaise and I'm looking at him and I'm feeling all sad that I'm about to go to work for a couple hours. I'm humming to myself a song... my poor dog is tortured by this, but I start singing, 'Every time we say goodbye I cry a little, I die a little,' you know... that song. I get in the car, I put on the iPhone music. I have 6157 songs. I hit shuffle randomly, and the first song to play is the song that I was just humming... I haven't heard this song in forever... So anyway, that's my question... and make sure you sing to your dog whenever you can because they love it, they absolutely love it." – Michael Grant So... should we be paranoid? Do we know whether our gadgets are passively listening to us? No. We don't know for sure, beyond what they tell us in their privacy policies. But we do know that voice recognition is what many major companies are trying to get us to start using. Google has OK Google, Apple has Siri, and Amazon has Echo, a home appliance that listens to you all the time. We know that many third party apps use location data services, and we know that personalization – especially personalized ads – rely on tracking.   Listen to the our show to hear our interview with Walter Kirn and if you're interested for more phone privacy discussions, be sure to read his article in The Atlantic, "If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy." Also, enjoy the picture below (from listener Michael Grant) if you're feeling stressed out by all the privacy talk. Note to Self listener Michael Grant wrote in with a strange story about a private moment talking to his dog, which may or may not have been overheard by his phone. This is that dog. (Courtesy of Michael Grant and Bodhi the dog) One last thing: We want your feedback so Note to Self can get better and better. Please, fill out this survey. Your answers will help us make content that fits into your day-to-day and keeps us at the top of your playlist.  This is a repeat episode which originally aired in 2015. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

We just wrapped up our four-part series "Taking the Lead." It's about two Brooklyn moms turned entrepreneurs with a big idea to revolutionize caretaking. It's also about women, work, families, priorities and relationships... and how our listeners are juggling all those things. If you missed the series, start at the beginning and enjoy the ride. It's right here: Episode 1: The Pain Point Episode 2: The Paradox Episode 3: The Pressure Episode 4: The Partnership In this bonus episode, listen to Manoush's full conversation with Andrew Moravcsik, the accomplished author, academic, and husband to Anne-Marie Slaughter (yeah, the one who literally wrote the book on women in the workplace.) Even if you listened to our "Taking the Lead" series, you'll want to hear Andy's insights into what being the lead parent has meant for his career, his psyche, and their marriage.     For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

It all comes down to this — we've arrived at the fourth and final episode of our month-long series about women and work: "Taking the Lead." And the timing couldn't be better: Ivanka Trump took on equal pay and affordable childcare during her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, becoming the model mother/entrepreneur for her dad's campaign. Hillary Clinton goes into the final stretch as the Democrat's presidential candidate, breaking political glass ceilings no matter which way you vote. Back in podcast land, a quick recap: our two Brooklyn moms turned tech entrepreneurs, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker are co-founders of Need/Done, a service for backup childcare and household support. (It doesn't exist yet but think Nextdoor meets Sittercity.) If you missed the first three episodes of our four-part series, enjoy catching up here: Episode 1: The Pain Point Episode 2: The Paradox Episode 3: The Pressure In the final chapter, the women face difficult choices: Should they drop the feminist mission behind the company when they make their pitch to investors? Does Rachael need to give up entrepreneurship so she can remain the kind of mom she wants to be?   Plus, we'll end the suspense and talk about the seismic shift happening to our culture around women and work with Anne-Marie Slaughter, Hillary's former advisor at the State Department. Anne-Marie is now the CEO of New America and the author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family, which she wrote after detailing her struggles to combine her career with parenting in a hugely popular piece for The Atlantic called "Why Women Still Can't Have it All." And yes, we'll tackle the male perspective on caretaking and professional ambitions by speaking with Anne-Marie's husband, Andrew Moravcsik. He's a professor of Political Science at Princeton University and the "lead parent" at home. Andy explains how being his family's primary caretaker has affected his career, psyche and marriage... and why he feels so strongly that the conversation about work/life balance is really about men and their role in society. A special note to listeners: Your thoughts on these issues have been a hugely important part of this series. Thank you so much for being so honest and open with your stories and struggles. We want to continue to hear what you think — any/all of your reactions. Send them to us by recording a voice memo or emailing notetoself@wnyc.org.   We'd also like to make a request: Please share this episode with one person whom you think needs to know more about this topic (or needs to know she's/he's not alone!). Share and talk about the series with a colleague, boss, spouse, or friend by cutting and pasting this link here [http://www.wnyc.org/story/work-life-balance-need-done-partnership] in a Facebook post or email. Also, if you enjoyed the little bit of our conversation with father and lead-parent Andy Moravcsik, we've got great news: You can listen to his full conversation with Manoush in a bonus episode right here. For more Note to Self, and to get episodes like this one sent straight to your feed, make sure you're subscribed in iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.

Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker are two Brooklyn moms and the co-founders of Need/Done, a digital platform with a feminist mission to help more women make it to the corner office. How does it work? Through a crowdsourced community of parents, the service provides backup childcare and household support. Think: Nextdoor meets Sittercity. If you missed the first two episodes of our four-part series, catch up. They're right here: Episode 1: The Pain Point Episode 2: The Paradox Faced with financial barriers, this week Rachael and Leslie join a startup accelerator and pitch their idea to investors. But while honing their pitch, the business partners' different goals surface. Rachael is focused on the service's potential for social change. Leslie sees the potential to create a giant female-led company. This week the pressure is on: The pressure to deliver the perfect pitch; pressure from family; and — this is a big one — financial pressure. Under the strain, they make a strategic move that confounds Manoush. Next week, on the fourth and final episode of "Taking the Lead," Manoush shares what she learned from the investors with Rachael and Leslie. Plus, Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of "Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family," returns — this time with her husband, Professor Andrew Moravcsik — for an intimate conversation about the professional and personal sacrifices they have made for their marriage. Housekeeping Several of you have asked us how to listen to podcasts. We've got you covered here: Look! I Taught My Dad To Download Podcasts. We're also making a master resource list of articles/books/podcasts for surviving the work/life balance struggle, so please continue to add your favorites to our growing list here. In the beginning of this week's episode, Manoush labels (in a fun way!) Rachael and Leslie with a personality test called the "Enneagram Test." It's a pseudoscientific survey that categorizes people into 9 groups that represent a person's core qualities, or most primal selves. Rawr. Take it for yourself here. If you have an opinion on our series, Rachael and Leslie's strategy, or your own work/life balance story, please tell us by sending a voice memo to notetoself@wnyc.org. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast,Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.    

Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker are two working moms who hatched the idea for Need/Done, an app that they think could help get more working parents — especially working moms — into top-tier positions, while also being present at home. How does the app work? Through a crowdsourced community of parents, the service provides reliable childcare, meal planning suggestions, and groceries delivered to your door. Think: Nextdoor meets Sittercity. In the second installment of our four-part series, the co-founders test out a prototype of the service on 20 Brooklyn moms, including one very eager and willing participant: Manoush. She wants to check dinner off her to-do-list... but things don't go quite as planned.  "They delivered sausages with pork casing which is a problem for my Jewish husband, so I took all the sausage meat out of the casings, and I'm cooking it now before he gets home so he doesn't find out about it. Except now I'm telling you." Meanwhile, one of the founders discovers that she may be ready to swap in her corporate blazer for a Silicon Valley hoodie, but the other is beginning to question if she can maintain momentum with her current day job, lead-parenting, and starting a new company. If you like this episode, you'll want to check out the first episode in our month-long series,"Taking The Lead: The Pain Point." We're also making a master resource list of articles/books/podcasts for surviving the work/life balance struggle, so please continue to add your favorites to our growing list here. Also, we'd like to thank those of you who reached out to tell us about your own experiences. We know that families come in all shapes and sizes and we love hearing your stories. If you have a work/life balance moment tell us about it by sending a voice memo to notetoself@wnyc.org. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast,Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

Welcome to a very special month of Note to Self. For the next four weeks, we're telling the story of two Brooklyn women, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker, who have an idea (a tech idea) to help harried working mothers who still want to rise up in their professional ranks. Why? Because of numbers like these: 4.6 percent of S&P 500 companies have female CEOs  43 percent of highly-skilled women with children leave their jobs voluntarily at some point in their careers The U.S. is the only developing country that doesn't mandate paid maternity leave. The Family Medical Leave Act gives workers a maximum of 12 weeks off unpaid per year Almost 70 percent of mothers and over 90 percent of fathers are in the workforce Caregiving is projected to be the largest occupation in the U.S. by 2020 Only 7 percent of U.S. startups that received at least $20 million in funding have founders who are women  Being a working parent can take its toll. Between school lunches, conference calls, soccer practices, quarterly reviews, sleepovers, and PowerPoint presentations, many of you told us that maintaining your sanity, succeeding professionally, and being a present parent feels nearly impossible. Here's what some of you said: I am a freelancer and because of that don't have paid maternity leave. Thanks, America. We ended up in this situation where I could only really take the day I gave birth off. - Amy   I am a full time high school English teacher and I have two young sons. Last year, my younger son was sick. He had some sort of fever so he couldn't go into preschool, and my husband had a meeting at work so he couldn't take him in, and I couldn't get a sub on short notice. So he came into school with me. And everything worked fine for a little while and suddenly I heard "mommy" said in the tone that all moms know is not a good sign. And it was followed by the sound of my poor child vomiting everywhere.  - Serena   I was schlepping a breast pump into an old bathroom of a building I used to work in that was not remotely accommodated for nursing moms. And I had an extension cord coming out of the bathroom into the stall with my laptop while I was on a conference call and pumping and staying on mute and sending out an evite for a girls night reunion at my house. - Rebecca   My daughter was about three or four and she was sick and had to stay home from school, but I didn't have anyone to stay with her. So I took her to work with me. I was working in an office with cubicles, so I sort of stuffed her under my desk at the bottom of the cubicle where a couple of pairs of shoes and a lot of wires and my hard-drive were, and I kept her under the desk for the whole day. - Julia   Even though we live in progressive times, some mothers still find themselves doing the heavy lifting at home. Enter Rachael and Leslie, who team up to create Need/Done, a service they think will help working mothers conquer their to-do list and concentrate on their professional ambitions. Think of it as the working mom's command center. This week, Rachael and Leslie leave their families behind in a snowstorm to visit Silicon Valley, meet the competition, and find out whether two Brooklyn moms have a shot at VC funding. We also talk to Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of The Atlantic article "Why Women Still Can't Have it All" and the book "Unfinished Business," about why there's still resistance to gender parity at the top of many corporations.  As part of this series, we're creating a list of stellar content (books, podcasts, etc.) to help anyone trying to stay sane as a working parent. To kick things off, Manoush started a list of things that she's heard and read that have stuck with her. And we want to grow that list by hearing from you, so please share your resources for work/life balance with us in the comments section or by emailing notetoself@wnyc.org.  For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast,Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed. Support Note to Self by becoming a member today at NotetoSelfRadio.org/donate.   

Get ready to meet Rachael and Leslie, two working mothers in Brooklyn, who have a big idea (a tech idea) to help women "have it all." From Manoush:  Hi lovely listener, For the past two years, I've been following two newbie entrepreneurs as they try to build a service to solve all our work/life balance issues... but they end up struggling more and more with those issues themselves. (Oh, the irony of being a working mother in tech. #meta) Their journey illustrates how tough it can be for women to reconcile their professional identities with their caretaking identities. The series also brings up so many broader questions: Can women find a place in the tech economy? Is society ready to radically redefine gender roles in the home? What has to change in our culture to get more women into the C-Suite?  Note to Self listeners and I share our own parenting and professional horrors and triumphs. Plus, special guest Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of The Atlantic article "Why Women Still Can't Have it All," also stops by during the series to talk about work/life balance, lead parents, and the career advice every millennial needs. Tell your partner, sibling, boss, employee, mom or dad to join you and us for Taking the Lead!  Let's have this conversation! Manoush 

Bored and Brilliant is back. This time, with a special announcement: The Bored and Brilliant book is coming in 2017!!! Manoush is spending a ton of time sorting through your feedback, listening to your experiences and getting super bored in order to make this book exceptionally useful. So, now it's time for a summer refresher. Last year, tens of thousands of you took part in our Bored and Brilliant Project, a week of challenges that pushed us to rethink our relationship with our phones and jumpstart our creativity. We adapted the idea into a short, condensed version with three very doable, modifiable challenges for those of you on a beach (or stuck at the office wishing you were on a beach). This is not a digital detox. This is not an edict to lock your phone away in a drawer. This is not an ode to mindfulness. It is a way to apply what we know about constant notifications, neuroscience, and productivity to our lives. Right now. Listen above for the boot camp!   And for those of you who want all of the challenges at once, here's the full, extended series: The Case for Boredom What 95 Minutes of Phone Time a Day Does To Us Challenge 1: In Your Pocket Challenge 2: Photo Free Challenge 3: Delete That App Challenge 4: Fauxcation Challenge 5: Small Observation Challenge 6: Dream House The Winning Dream Houses The Results The Personal Stories One final note: Tomorrow we're very excited to drop a preview episode of our upcoming series about work/life balance. So do us a favor — subscribe on iTunes and tell a friend. We've been working on this project for two years, and can't wait to share it with you. For more Note to Self, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio,Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

You might personally aspire to leave work at the workplace, but in some parts of Europe there is actual legislation built around a worker's "right to disconnect." And in Korea, Wi-Fi is so strong and available that people watch hours-long live broadcasts of other people eating. This week we're taking you overseas to learn how people in other countries commune with tech. Consider this podcast your RTW ticket for the world's tiniest, pocket-sized airplane. Eleanor Beardsley, Elise Hu, Gregory Warner — if these names get you excited, you might be a nerd. They're NPR international correspondents who live and report in France, Korea and East Africa. We asked them to share some of their insider knowledge about how tech functions differently in the lives of people abroad. For example, mukbong in Korea. See for yourself:   In the name of discovery, we hope this week's episode inspires you to do some personal reflection. Does your culture influence how you use technology? Also, look outside of yourself. Here's a reading list to get you started: France: France bans Wi-Fi in nurseries (Feb., 2015) French employers agree to ban company email after work hours (April, 2014) More email-after-work bans (May, 2016) French parents try to explain terror attacks to their kids (Nov., 2015) France tries to tax smartphones (May, 2013) French people don't love cat videos as much as Americans (Nov., 2014)  Korea: Korean teens are addicted to the internet (May, 2015) The first Korean tech rehab (Nov., 2007) Korean tech rehab today (Jan., 2016)  Koreans have an insatiable appetite for watching strangers binge eat (March, 2015) East Africa: Ethiopia's Internet (Feb. 2016)  Kenya's taxi economy (June, 2015)  The Kenya-based company, Toto Health (May, 2016)   Kenya's digital currency, M-Pesa (May, 2014)  Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Pocket Casts or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

Think about where you go to find news. Podcasts? WNYC? The New York Times? Facebook? Twitter? Newsletters? Do you want us to stop asking questions? Welcome to the Attention Economy. There is fierce competition for your eyes and ears — (thank you for choosing correctly). Media companies know that a good way to find an audience is to write and speak like the people they're trying to reach. It's the reason Buzzfeed, Vice, Mashable and so many others are popular with Snake People. Identity Media is a big part of why theSkimm — a newsletter that targets Millennial women by rounding up the day's news from Kanye West to Ban Ki-moon — has over 3.5 million subscribers. You might be one of them. This week we talked to theSkimm co-founders Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg about how they go about presenting the news. Identity Media is more than just a business model, it's changing how we consume the news. To try and sort out why this "Skimm" approach to serious stories made her feel a little queasy, Manoush talked to John Herrman. He reports on the media for the New York Times. Together, Manoush and John embark on a mission to answer that age-old question: Do Justin Bieber and Hiroshima belong in the same sentence? Here's a rundown of links to supplement this week's episode: The Skimm issue that mentions President Obama's trip to Japan The New York Times article about the same trip How the Japan Times covered the same trip How Buzzfeed covered it, and then went in a different direction The Politico playbook A silly guide to generation gaps In a way, this whole conversation ties into — you guessed it — our Infomagical project. (Did you catch last week's boot camp?) How we consume media and our goals for reading the news can influence our ability to think and communicate. If you want to get in on the project, it's still around for a limited time. For more Note to Self, subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio,Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

You haven't watched Lemonade all the way through yet, have you?  Oh, you didn't notice the extra twist of the knife in Sunday's Game of Thrones? Yes, Hillary just became the presumptive nominee. Yes, we know you haven't been paying that much attention. National Doughnut Day was last week. But you? You're eating one today, aren't you? In sum: There's a million things you haven't done – but just you wait! Just you wait!  It's time for Infomagical BOOTCAMP. Earlier this year, 30,000 of you participated in our Infomagical project, five days of challenges designed to fight information overload – that buzzy, anxious feeling of, there's way too much out there to consume, I am not getting anything done all the way through, and I still have no idea what people are talking about. This week, we've made an extra special, super-charged challenge that only lasts one day. A very, very, very productive day. Perhaps you participated in the first round, you've been very focused ever since and now you want to get something 100 percent DONE before you leave for a well-deserved summer vacation. Perhaps you participated, and you've fallen off the wagon. Perhaps you did not participate because you were overwhelmed by the idea of a week-long commitment. Perhaps you did not participate because you did not know about it. This is your chance. ATTENTION!  Listen to this week's Note to Self wherever you listen to your podcasts for your challenge and instructions. And if you want to do a full Infomagical week – or if you know anyone who could benefit from one – you can still sign up here for a few more weeks. If you're doing it? Or if you have big ideas for our next big project? Let us know @NoteToSelf (#infomagical) or Note to Self on Facebook.

Last week Brian Christian, co-author of the book "Algorithms to Live By," taught us how algorithms can optimize how we live. They can help explain that messy pile of papers on your desk, or why you sometimes have a brain fart. If you missed that episode, it's right here. This week we're raising the stakes (and steaks). We're putting such algorithms to the test to see if they can actually help solve some of our daily inconveniences, like picking a place to eat or finding a date. Here's what happened: The Name's Zomorodi, Gitta Zomorodi Meet Gitta. She's Manoush's sister. Usually when Gitta and Manoush get together for a meal, they feel a lot of pressure to pick the perfect spot. But instead of settling, they wander around until they're sufficiently hangry, and end up almost eating one another. But this time out, the two decided to give "optimal stopping" a shot — that's an algorithm that says if you evaluate 37 percent of your options and establish a baseline, the next option that comes along that is better than anything from the baseline, that is the one you should pick. Since it wasn't really practical for Manoush and Gitta to evaluate 37 percent of all the restaurants in New York, they pledged to make their decision 37 percent faster than they usually would, which, in this case, they calculated at about 11 minutes. They made their decision and, guess what — they had a great time. And they weren't even hangry, so their could enjoy each other's company. Algorithms: 1.  See Gitta (left) and Manoush (right) reveling in their new algorithmic lives: Coffee Meets Kagel Next, eligible bachelorette Jenna Kagel (who also happens to be one of the fine producers on this show) tried applying algorithms to online dating. She used the app Coffee Meets Bagel which, for those fortunate enough to be uninitiated, is like Tinder — you swipe "pass" or "like" on a series of profiles, and hope the other person reciprocates — but in this case you only have 24 hours to choose. Jenna swiped away, but to no avail. She even connected with a bookstore owner in Brooklyn who didn't respond when she asked him out to drinks. (Brooklyn book man: If you're reading this, Jenna is out of your league and you don't deserve her.) Algorithms: 0. But that's the thing: even algorithms have a margin for error. Maybe if Jenna tried again a different week, she might get a date. If Manoush and Gitta decide on restaurants using an algorithm every time, eventually they're going to have a crappy meal. So, knowing that they're fallible, how much trust should we place in algorithms to help make decisions? Use the audio player above to hear move about Manoush, Gitta and Jenna's adventures with algorithms, plus a super nerdy love story. And tell us if you've tried using an algorithm in real life. How did it go? We'd love to hear from you. Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Pocket Casts or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

There's been a lot of negative press lately about algorithms (Facebook, Snapchat, the prison system). But this week we're exploring ways that mathematical and scientific algorithms can actually help improve how we live. Brian Christian co-wrote the book "Algorithms to Live By" with his friend, Tom Griffiths, a psychology and cognitive science professor at UC Berkeley. Brian is all about the intersection of technology and humanity, and figuring out how to use data to help people optimize their lives. In their book, Brian and Tom offer really practical applications for scientific principles, which we'll get to in a minute. But first, here's the catch: There's no formula for perfection. Even if you apply these algorithms to your life, things will go wrong. But by trying out these algorithms, you can statistically give it your best shot. In part one of this two-part series about practical applications for algorithms, Brian tells Manoush about six small changes anyone can try. 1. Temporal Locality This algorithm posits that the paper you're most likely to use next, is the last one you touched. So that pile of papers on your desk? You have a scientific reason to never organize them. The most relevant stuff will rise to the top. 2. The Search/Sort Trade-off If you tag and file your emails, you might be wasting your time. Weigh the amount of time you spend organizing against the amount of time it takes to use the good ol' search function. 3. Computational Kindness The next time you try to plan a meeting, skip the classic line, "I'm totally free." Brian calls this "Passing the computational buck." Instead, ask a binary question like "Are you free for dinner at 5 p.m. on Thursday?" It may go against the rules of etiquette, but setting a specific window for availability should be more efficient. 4. Cache Miss There's a fundamental trade-off between size and speed. The more we know — the more data we collect in our minds — the more likely we are to have a brain fart.  5. The Explore/Exploit Trade-off The more experiences you have, the less likely it is that something will blow your mind. That's why Manoush has such fond memories from a Squeeze concert she went to in ninth grade. It may not have actually been that incredible, but she had less to compare it to. 6. Radix Sort You might be compelled to sort your kid's Legos (or yours, this is a judgement-free zone) by color. But radix sort says efficiency trumps aesthetic. Try sorting by size instead. Click the "Listen" button above to hear Brian and Manoush talk all about how to use these algorithms to live a better life. And when you're done, check out part 2 of the series where Manoush tests some of them out. Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Pocket Casts or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

Girls who grow up with the Internet hear a lot of messed up cultural messages. They're led to believe that if they post sexy pictures, and get a lot of 'likes,' that is empowerment, and that taking revealing pictures is owning their bodies and sexuality. There are also a lot of hilarious women in popular culture — Amy Schumer, Rachel Bloom, Lena Dunham, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson to name a few — who use their comedy to highlight the contradictions inherent in navigating this media saturated world, full of images that define feminine desirability and hotness. But which messages are getting through to adolescent girls? It's a grab bag, according to Peggy Orenstein who noticed these, and a lot of other troubling trends when she interviewed 70 college-age girls about their personal lives. She wrote a book about it called "Girls & Sex," and talked to us this week about some of the things she learned. If you listen to this show a lot, you'll hear fragments of ideas we've touched on before like sex, teens and interaction in this digital world. And if you're new to the show, welcome to it! This is the kind of stuff we love talking about, so we hope you'll get in on the conversation. And one more thing: We are working on a very special project for July and we need your voice. Tell us about an experience as a woman trying to achieve "Work-life balance." It can be minor, major, catastrophic... anything. We're here to listen. Record your voice memo and send it to notetoself@wnyc.org. We really appreciate it. Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Pocket Casts or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

We have a confession to make... Virtual Reality? Oculus Rift? HTC Vive? Haven't really given any of them much thought. We're fascinated enough by, you know, actual reality. But with Mark Zuckerberg recently calling VR the “next major computing and communication platform,” and Virtual Reality poised to be a $40 billion industry by 2020 (Wall Street Journal paywall), we decided it's time to face the inevitable, and strap the inevitable to our face. Who? Max Read was our guide. He's a senior editor at New York Magazine where he recently launched their new tech/culture vertical Select All. He's been reporting on virtual reality for a while. Where? The Tribeca Film Festival's "Storyscapes" program. It was a big showroom filled with cutting edge technology related to storytelling. Basically, a temporary VR convention. No non-nerds allowed. Why? It's time for us to get a handle on this new wave of technology, and figure out how it could impact our lives. We had some reservations — like the cringe-y idea of shining a screen a few inches away from a child's eyes — but with every technological innovation come unwarranted fears. Remember how parents always told their kids not to sit right in from of the TV? Max Read: editor or VR model? In this episode we mention a few examples of VR technology: DEEP VR, developers Niki Smit and Owen Harris  Google Cardboard, boosted by the New York Times The Turning Forest, Chris Pike from BBC Research & Development Listen to the episode (player above) to hear what happened when Manoush and Max took VR off the lot for a tech drive (sorry). But minor spoiler: there's a lot of grey area. Instead of learning about the Great Wall of China, students could actually go there. But what if they become so invested in these immersive, virtual worlds, they withdraw from the real world? We weren't really thinking about VR before... but we are now. Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Pocket Casts or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

Here's the thing about social media; it's supposed to be social. Right there in the name. And yet, across the Internet there are millions of public videos, photos and posts that almost no one has watched, clicked or shared. Which begs the question: If a person puts a video on YouTube, and no one watches, did it even happen? Joe Veix wrote for Fusion about what he calls the Lonely Web. "It lives in the murky space between the mainstream and the deep webs. The content is public and indexed by search engines, but broadcast to a tiny audience, algorithmically filtered out, and/or difficult to find using traditional search techniques." Just to focus on YouTube, the company reports that over 400 hours of video are uploaded every minute. Nobody can watch all this stuff. But it's there... waiting. Joe tells Manoush that watching these videos can give you a refreshingly honest look into someone's life, as opposed to the more edited and filtered versions that many of us share. "But is also emotionally exhausting," he says. "Because on some level you are maybe not supposed to be watching these videos. It's a little voyeuristic." In many ways, the present-day Internet caters to our laziness. The people who work at media companies are pros at understanding our expectations, finding buzzy content, slapping on the perfect headline and setting it right in front of our eyes. The Lonely Web offers something different — its headline might just be a string of numbers, and it doesn't care about your expectations. It's up to you to go out and find it. But first, let Joe and Manoush be your guide by listening to this week's episode. Here are the painfully ordinary, yet somehow wonderful videos they discuss:         If you're looking for more Lonely Web videos, look no further: They're right here. Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Pocket Casts or anywhere else using our RSS feed.

There are two sides to every surveillance story. On one side, security; on the other, privacy. Ross McNutt is an innovator in the field. During the Iraq War in 2004, McNutt and his team developed technology to use a plane and a cluster of cameras to capture an entire city, all day. So when a roadside bomb detonated, McNutt's technology could zoom in and scroll back in time, and find out how it happened. In a way, McNutt had a superpower. So back to the debate. For people who believe that security should be our top priority, having an eye in the sky can save lives. But for those worried about privacy, without regulation, surveillance could limit our freedom. Cue the Orwellian fear, panic and "What Ifs."  That's the conversation that took place, and is still happening over McNutt's superpower. Like a lot of technology, it might be developed for one purpose (in this case, the military), but what happens when it's used in a different context? Like Dayton, Ohio — that's one of the many places where McNutt is trying to implement his surveillance technology to help fight crime, and save cities money. If only it could be that simple. This week, we see how McNutt's technology plays out in Juarez, Mexico vs. Dayton, and look at the Great Surveillance Debate from different angles. We tap into the how and why of using technology to live better as individuals and a society, which is exactly the kind of conversation that we think is important to have.  This episode originally aired last year as part of a partnership with Radiolab (Heard of it?). We also did our own episode about surveillance, but realized that we never actually shared this one with you. So we gave it a face lift — including an update from McNutt — and are presenting it to you in all its glory. Better than ever. Special thanks to Alex Goldmark, former Note to Self producer (now of Planet Money) who helped report this episode. Also, thanks to Jad Abumrad, Robert Krulwich, Andy Mills and the whole team at Radiolab. ***UPDATE: After our episode first aired, the Baltimore Police Department contracted Ross McNutt's company, Persistent Surveillance Systems, to conduct aerial surveillance over the city to help with criminal investigations. Read more about Baltimore's Eye in the Sky in Bloomberg Businessweek.   One last thing: For the past few weeks we've been compiling a list of female-hosted podcasts for you to check out and share with the Internet. [Insert whatever deity you do or don't believe in here] knows there aren't enough, but, as a show proudly hosted by a wonderful woman, we're doing our part to help spread the word. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter here to get a weekly update from us sent straight to your inbox. Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  

Here are some things that we've had to come to terms with about the Internet: People watch us when we shop online; They collect data about our likes, dislikes, habits; They using that data to manipulate... err, guide us. This type of design research is called User Experience or UX. And to find out exactly what these designers are looking for, and why they do it, we went to the room where it happens: Manoush volunteered herself as a guinea pig in Etsy's Usability Testing Lab. But unlike most subjects in UX testing, Manoush got to step behind the curtain for a story about online seduction—how designers create an immersive experience that makes you relaxed or happy or excited, and makes you feel like spending time and money. Here she is in the top right hand corner, getting excited about a scarf: Etsy UX researchers watching Manoush shop "for a gift." (Jackie Snow) Here is that scarf in all its winged glory: For the record, she didn't buy it. Yet. (Shovava/Etsy.com) Listen to the full episode to find out what we learned about UX, and how businesses use it to shape our experiences. This episode is one of our favorites—it originally aired back in August 2015, but we liked it so much, we're sharing it again, better than ever. In this week's episode: Mark Hurst, Founder and CEO of UX consulting firm Creative Good Jill Fruchter, UX Research Manager at Etsy Alex Wright, Director of Research at Etsy More good background reading on UX: What a UX designer actually does. And some insight into all the acronyms that start with "U". And one last thing! If you heard last week's episode, you know that we're compiling a list of podcasts that are hosted by women. We asked and you gave us lots and lots of great recommendations. So now let's take things one step further. What's the best podcast episode that you've heard lately, hosted by a woman, or another underrepresented group? Send us your endorsements and we'll include some of your responses in next week's newsletter. Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.  

We have a theory: Listening to female-hosted podcasts is a feminist act. You, right now, if you listen to this show, you are making a feminist statement. Need a little more explanation? When Note to Self started nearly three years ago, it was a little radio segment called New Tech City, and Manoush covered technology with the professional, authoritative, every-word-exists-for-a-reason gravitas that you can still hear on public radio. Also, she was working (almost exclusively) with men. But then, that radio segment became a podcast, and everything changed. Not right away—if you go back and listen to old shows in our archives, it's painfully obvious that it took a while to figure out how our show should sound. But a huge part of that process—that transformation—stemmed from Manoush realizing that it's OK to sound like herself. In fact, the show is better for it. She realized that she can be vulnerable and uncertain, and not always find answers. Because that's how the world works, and that's how people work. Over the years we've grown, and we're proud of our grown-up self. Best of all, you've come with us. You choose to download and listen to what we have to say. But ours isn't the only show that figured out that a podcast—that this digital medium—has a special kind of power. Participating in this format provides a special kind of platform to express different ideas and perspectives, and gives many different kinds of people a literal microphone. Take, for example, all the successful podcasts that have cropped up in the last few years: Serial, Another Round, Death Sex & Money, Only Human, Invisibilia and Call Your Girlfriend. And new amazing hosts are popping up all the time. Like Phoebe Robinson—a stand-up comedian and writer who now has something new to add to her multi-hyphenate title: podcast host. Along with her BFF, Jessica Williams, Phoebe is boldly entering the world of podcasts on WNYC's new show 2 Dope Queens. So this week seems like an opportune time to ask Phoebe about how she plans to use the medium. Where does her voice and her show fit into this digital space? If this episode suddenly compels you to listen to more of Phoebe, you should check out 2 Dope Queens. The first few episodes are live and ready for your ears. (It's not super appropriate for the little ones, but if you don't mind raunch and profanity, listen away.) Also, remember that list of lady-helmed podcasts? Well, we want to hear what's in your podcast feed right now. What podcasts do you listen to that feature people who don't usually get a platform on media outlets? Why do you like them? Email us at notetoself@wnyc.org or send us a note on Facebook or Twitter. We've started to compile your suggestions here and we'll add some of your answers to next week's newsletter too. So keep them coming! Subscribe to Note to Self on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Pocket Casts or anywhere else using our RSS feed.