Guess what newly published research has unveiled Americans are addicted to. No, it isn't junk food, Netflix, or mere smartphone use, though I'm sure a case can be made for those! Americans are addicted to tracking packages. Indeed, people have developed an acute obsession for tracking the status of their packages. So much so, that is has become an addiction. According to a new study, 60% of people who make purchases online check their delivery status daily, if not multiple times in a single day. The study even found that over 80% of online shoppers have experienced anxiety when packages fail to arrive on time. Two in three online shoppers look out their window to watch out for deliveries, and 65% of study participants feel delivery tracking has become an addiction, stating that they expect packages to be delivered within three days of ordering. In addition, 57% said package tracking is “very important” to them, while 29% refuse to purchase something online if they can’t track i...

According to research conducted at Georgetown University, social media tends to leave people lonelier and more depressed. You're probably thinking it all sounds, well, counterintuitive. After all, we all enjoy receiving likes and compliments on sites like Facebook, so it would seem like social media should improve one's mood and bolster self-esteem. Likes and comments do in fact promote small rushes of dopamine. But the study revealed that these tiny boosts don't come anywhere close to compensating for the large loss experienced by no longer spending real-world time with the person in question. The researchers note that smartphones have a way of cultivating behavioral addictions. People may not necessarily wish to spend so much time online, but between flashy games, humorous memes, and content posted by our buddies, we become inextricably sucked in -- often resulting in physical, mental, and spiritual exhaustion. Those who embrace what researchers have dubbe...

Studies show that our criteria for measuring success is markedly different now than it was several years ago. In the past, we typically perceived someone as successful if they boasted possessions that signaled wealth (e.g., car, big house, fancy watch) and appeared to have loads of free time on their hands. We assumed it meant that their net worth was such that they had no real need to work hard. In our minds, they likely spent more time sunbathing in the Caribbean than churning out reports in the office. However, the benchmarks we use to measure success have evolved over time -- not so much when it comes to material possessions, but in terms of overall lifestyle and work ethic. Studies suggest that we are now more likely to perceive someone as being successful if they have little to no time available for leisurely pursuits due to the many responsibilities they shoulder. For example, let's say Joe works 60 hours a week, has kids, and volunteers at a local non-profit. He h...

Could you imagine living without a cell phone? I'm sure most of us couldn't, and it would take us a long time to grow accustomed to not carrying one around. Many people use their cell phones even in the bathroom and while at the dinner table. It's becoming an obsession unlike any other I've witnessed. Some of us would even admit to using it while driving, which is an awfully dangerous habit we ought to curb. From texting, emails and social media to watching YouTube videos, taking pictures, listening to music on Pandora, and using GPS, a smartphone is basically a mini-computer in the palm of our hands. One could easily make the case that it's the ultimate boredom buster, whether they're at work, stuck in jury duty, or listening to a dull lecture at school. Some kids are getting cell phones even before they hit their teens! Beyond that, there's no question they've redefined convenience. Buying something on Amazon or eBay at the push of a bu...

Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century. His copious body of work -- he wrote or edited more than 500 books and roughly 90,000 letters and postcards -- spanned a myriad of genres ranging from science fiction to history and chemistry. He is perhaps best known for his Foundation and Robot series. His books have been published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification. Asimov once said the following, with which I wholeheartedly concur: "Education never ends." So short and sweet, and yet so powerful a statement. I've seen clips on YouTube of many of his interviews. Asimov championed self-learning and fretted that many people cease trying to learn new things once they graduate from high school or college. He foresaw that one day technology would enable people to educate themselves without having to set foot in a school (i.e., the internet). Unfortunately, he did not live to see how the World Wide Web has mad...

In many of my posts, I muse about what life must have been like in the 18th century and express a burning desire to travel back to colonial times. One of the things I can't imagine, though, is living in an era devoid of the technology we've come to rely upon today. Indeed, the internet has revolutionized the world like nothing else. Who would have imagined we'd be availing of it to do so many things -- from buy groceries and find love to speak with friends and family in different corners of the world? But the internet wasn't always as vast as it is today, with more than one billion websites. In fact, on August 6, 1991, British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website while working at CERN, a physics lab in Switzerland. Appropriately, the site described the Web and how to use it. We should feel blessed to live in a time when technology affords us the opportunity to do things our ancestors could only dream of. You can buy virtually...

There are certainly many perks to using our smart phones. How convenient is it to be able to check the weather, our email, or our home (remotely via our home security app) through these small yet highly sophisticated devices while on the go? However, cell phone use has infiltrated our lives in a way most of the phone manufacturers probably never imagined. We take the phones with us to the bathroom, use them while eating dinner and conversing with people and -- worst of all -- while driving. Cell phones have made our lives easier in myriad ways while making society far more impersonal. These days, wishing people a Happy Birthday via Facebook has supplanted the more traditional methods of calling by phone or sending someone a card in the mail. But when phones become so intrusive as to disrupt family time, that's when you know we've taken our usage of them to a whole new level. My wife often uses her while we're watching movies in the living room, resulting in my admon...

Say it ain't so! It's flabbergasting how Kim Kardashian West's hijinks pass for news these days. Just yesterday, she tweeted a photo of herself in front of a mirror with no clothes on. A couple of black rectangles cover her privates, but other than that, little is left to the imagination. The photo was retweeted a whopping 15,000 times in the first two hours after she shared it. One can presume that, at this point, not too many people on the internet haven't seen or heard about the controversial picture. Can you imagine the backlash such a photo would have drawn, say, two or three decades ago? Apparently, baring it all is in style now even if you don't pose for Playboy. (Check that -- I just remembered that she posed for Playboy, too.) The internet -- and, more specifically, social media -- has made it simpler than ever to put out racy pictures and generate massive buzz. I've said it before: We're living in an age where people are far more like...

A recent study found that 40% of millennials prefer not eating cereal if it means having to clean up after eating it. Such respondents say they'd rather pick up a smoothie or protein bar instead. Now, I know this doesn't apply to everyone -- some of us are very diligent about washing the dishes, even if it's the last thing we want to do in the morning or evening. (I'm that way myself.) But those who do fall into this group seem awfully spoiled or lazy, if you ask me. Seriously -- how long could it possibly take to wash a bowl thoroughly? I'd say it can be done in 10-15 seconds, if that. Technology has made things so easy for people that many just don't want to lift a finger anymore. I suppose they care more about wasting time on their smartphones than being a responsible adult. And the worst part about it is that many people don't "outgrow" this. Many of these millennials will merely rely on their partners to wash the dishes for them. And o...

Well, technology is partly to blame. The daguerreotype, introduced worldwide in 1839, was the first widely used photographic process. The exposure time in those early days was really long, sometimes lasting over 15 minutes. You could imagine how arduous a task it must have been for people to hold a smile that long. Getting your picture taken in the 19th century didn't come cheap. Most people had only one picture taken their whole lives, so the event itself was a big deal. Those with the wherewithal to have several pictures taken probably felt smiling didn't communicate classiness, so they refrained from doing it. Furthermore, at the turn of the century, smiling became more popular with the advent of the camera. Not only did they become more affordable and easier to use over time, but it became customary to use them for casual snapshots -- something those living in the mid-1800s might never have envisaged. Little did those folks know that selfies with cell phone cameras ...

Apple today announced that is has already sold a record 13 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s Plus phones after launching both models just three days ago. The new iPhones will be available in more than 130 countries by year's end. Now, I have never owned an iPhone. In fact, I've remained loyal to Samsung when it comes to mobile phones -- I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active -- and TVs. I do, however, use a Mac computer at work and have been using my trusty iPod for all things music for roughly nine years now. But I have to give credit where credit is due: 13 million iPods in three days is a staggering number. Everytime I walk past the Apple store at my local mall, it is jam-packed with shoppers ostensibly looking to shell out big bucks. Apple has succeeded brilliantly at creating an appetite for its product like no other company in the world. When one thinks of cutting edge consumer products in the 21st century, Apple is top of mind. And the funny thing is that the c...

Thanks to how easy technology has made everything for us, people are becoming lazier and lazier by the minute. At work, people would rather wait five minutes for the elevator than take the stairs. And as I've stressed in some of my other posts, people are relying heavily on technology to do everything from send out wedding invitations to wish people a Happy Birthday. The world has gone digital -- in the process, our relationships with people have grown more impersonal. Traditional Hallmark cards? Written letters sent by mail? These things have gone the way of the dodo bird. While technology certainly has made it possible to do things at the push of a button -- things our ancestors could only dream of -- it has also made us lazy and complacent. I've said it before and I'll say it again here: I think people are spending too much time watching TV and surfing the web. This has contributed in part to what pundits and academics have been saying for years: Society is b...

Most of us would agree that this is an exciting time to be alive. It's the digital age -- one governed by such corporate heavyweights as Apple and Samsung. To be sure, technology is the name of the game in the 21st century. Everyone and his brother has a smart phone or tablet. It's simple, quick, and convenient to find whatever it is you want on the internet -- be it a song, movie, or information for a research paper. Still, it seems many of us can't help but reflect on a much simpler time in our lives -- our childhood -- where we took pleasure in the smallest things. From reading a book to playing tag outside with friends, we had little difficulty finding ways to entertain ourselves. It can certainly be argued that technology makes life a whole lot easier. No need to walk to the library to buy a book or do research. No need to tune into the local radio station to listen to a popular song. The internet can facilitate practically anything these days. So why would som...

A recent study finds that people -- teenagers in particular -- prefer forging and keeping friendships online to doing so in an offline setting. If this doesn't signal that we're living in an almost-purely digital age, I don't know what does. It won't be long before "old school" forms of communication -- writing letters, making phone calls even -- become entirely obsolete. But does this indicate that we, as a society, are becoming more introverted? I don't think so. What it means is that as technology continues to become more advanced, we only become lazier. People want things yesterday. As we become busier, we rely more on technology to get things done as quickly as possible. Buy groceries through Amazon.com and have them delivered to us? Check. Watch movies at home via Netflix without having to set foot in the theater? Check. Set up doctor's appointments online? Done. When it comes to friendships, the internet offers the opportunity to...

If you really think about it, life is truly about resisting temptation. It lurks behind every corner in our present society. It has become far to easy for us to fall into temptation, putting our health and/or relationships at risk. The media, television, advertising, the internet, and technology in general are partly to blame for our being influenced into doing many of these things, but human beings, for their part, are notoriously bad at exercising self-control. Here are a couple of ways people fall are ensnared into temptation: Overeating, or eating too much of those foods they know aren't good for them Drinking in excess Taking illegal drugs Abusing prescription drugs Becoming addicted to pornography Spending money recklessly Gambling without restraint Engaging in extramarital affairs An uncontrollable urge to sleep with hookers Far too many of us continue to do things we know aren't good for us in the long run and get in trouble with friends, family, partner...

We can all say that our friendships have evolved considerably with the passage of time. Gone seem the days when you and your buddies could plan an outing at the bar or mall at a moment's notice. While we can partly attribute the changes to shifting responsibilities like work and children, there's yet another factor to take into account: technology. Technology is truly a double-edged sword. While it has made it easier to keep in touch with friends (via email, text, social media, etc), that very convenience has made such friendships much more impersonal. We're now living in an age where it's acceptable to wish someone a Happy Birthday via text or congratulate him on Facebook for his promotion. But we mustn't forget that just a few decades ago, we didn't have all this technology at our disposal, leaving us with only three alternatives: phone, letters, or meeting up in person. Again, while I can certainly see the pluses to digital communication, I think some...

In this day and age of such rapid technological change, anyone who still utters the words "I'm bored" deserves, at the very least, a slap on the wrists. I think our ancestors would be turning in their graves at such a pronouncement considering all that technology has made possible. In their lifetime, all they could really look forward to were leisurely pursuits like reading and writing (my personal favorite even now), knitting, and storytelling. Our generation, on the other hand, has the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, Apple, Amazon -- you name it. Sometimes we definitely take what we have for granted. Back in colonial times, people had to ride a horse for days of not weeks just to reach another city -- let alone a different state. There's so much we can do nowadays, whether or not we avail of the latest technology. Charities could always use another pair of hands. Cities everywhere are teeming with parks, gyms, shopping centers, movie theater ...

My last post centered on how the internet can keep some of us much more entertained than others. Those who are not big on "things" -- the internet, books, and so on -- turn to people to keep them engaged. Why is this? Well, it has to do with two key factors: 1. Our personality 2. Our interests As I have mentioned in prior posts, extroverts direct their energy outward and thrive on social interaction, while introverts direct their energy inward and feel at their best while engaging in solitary activities like reading and writing. What's more, we don't all share the same interests. Many people couldn't care less about blogs, message boards, books, or Facebook. While some have remained reluctant to embrace technology, others don't use the internet as frequently because, well, they'd rather be bantering about in person. The internet can keep me entertained for hours and hours on end, but I realize some people would get flat-out bored after a whi...

The world has become increasingly digital. Nowadays, we can do almost anything online, from paying bills to shopping to finding a date for the weekend. There's concern among a growing number of people, however, that the internet is turning a lot of us into technology-dependent hermits. I think these claims are unfounded. I spend a lot of time online, but I do it because I actually enjoy communicating with people in written form. (I am, after all, a writer.) From writing posts on Blogger to actively contributing to various message boards, there are several reasons why being in cyberspace is more appealing than the "real world": You can remain anonymous: No need to worry about people judging you or knowing where you live You can share your feelings freely: I find it's sometimes easier to open up to strangers on the internet than to people in person. After all, some of those topics may be personal in nature.  You can do so many things in the comfort of your home...

Few things have revolutionized the world in the 20th and 21st centuries like the internet has. As consumers, we depend on the internet for everything from buying groceries to making doctor's appointments. Have you ever imagined what life without the internet would be like? If the internet weren't around, We would not be able to buy gifts, groceries and other consumer goods on sites like Amazon and arrange to have them delivered in a day or two There would be no online banking, necessitating a trip or call to the bank every so often Many of us would not be in relationships or married since a good percentage of us first met our partner online We wouldn't be able to communicate with friends and family members via email, blogs, Facebook or other social media Companies would not be able to sell their products online - (can you imagine how much lower their profits would be?) There would be no iTunes or YouTube There would be little to do via our mobile devices other ...