Good morning, it’s Friday!
I read an article the other day that I found really disturbing. It was in the New Yorker and focused on how our ability to focus for any length of time in the modern age has deteriorated significantly due to the toxic combination of ubiquitous screens and social media.
This part was especially alarming:
“A study conducted in 2004 by the psychologist Gloria Mark found that participants kept their attention on a single screen for an average of two and a half minutes before turning it elsewhere. These days, she writes, people can pay attention to one screen for an average of only forty-seven seconds.“
Forty-seven seconds. Less than a minute. How pathetic is THAT?
Yesterday, I moderated a panel on the importance of civics education and how we can better engage young people to care about small-d democracy. One of the panel participants – state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa – rightly called out (it was germane, believe me) how many people were listening with only half an ear while tapping away on their phones, iPads, or laptops.
She also noted how few of us are able to get through a meal or a conversation with friends and loved ones without compulsively checking our phones.
Guilty as charged. I check my phone at red lights. I check my phone as soon as I wake up in the morning. I bring it into the bathroom. I am panicked when I don’t know exactly where it is at all times.
I feel the pull to check my phone even when I have deliberately placed it in my bag or face down on the table. I know intellectually that the phone is engineered to make me want to do this – and I do it anyway.
For the record, I did read the aforementioned New Yorker article on my phone – in one sitting. It wasn’t a terribly long article, but I was able to concentrate long enough to get through it in one fell swoop. The same cannot be said (sadly) for a lot of other things in my life. The truth is that I am guilty as anyone when it comes to multitasking – especially at work.
Right now, I’ve got not fewer than five tabs open on my computer. And my phone is sitting right next to me. I do this even though I KNOW that trying to do multiple things at once is not, in fact, good for productivity. It isn’t good for brain health, either. Research has shown that multitasking can lead to an increase in stress and a decrease in cognitive performance.
And yet, I do it anyway. Why? Maybe because I’m addicted to screens? By the way, the definition of screen addiction is “when a person uses technology excessively – mainly smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs – and becomes dependent on it.” Kinds of sounds like…all of us?
We are at the tail end of Screen Free Week (formerly known as TV Turnoff Week), which, for the record, does not necessarily require a 100 percent detox, which might be too much for some of us. (Definitely me). Instead, participants are encouraged to identify the screen (or screens) that are most problematic for them and their families and set a goal of going without – be it an hour, a day, or the entire week.
Maybe that’s too hard to do during the week because work simply requires that you’re connected. Well, thankfully for you, the weekend is almost upon us. Try powering down for a bit and get outside for a walk, ride, or run; reconnect with a friend or family member; or just sit a while with a (dead tree) book. I’m sure you’ll be glad you did.
A so-so day is on tap, from a weather perspective, with clouds and light rain in the forecast. Temperatures will top out in the mid-60s. The weekend outlook is looking better by the moment, with a mix of clouds and sun on Saturday and cloudy skies with a slight chance of a shower on Sunday. Temperatures will only be in the low-to-mid 60s on both days.
In the headlines….
Israeli officials have slammed the United States and descended into a bout of infighting over President Joe Biden’s remarks that he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel if a full-scale ground operation is launched into the city of Rafah.
Billions of dollars worth of U.S. weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and a review of others by Biden’s administration, concerned their use in an assault could wreak more devastation on Palestinian civilians.
American Jewish organizations issued a series of rebukes against Biden over his decision to withhold arms from Israel, warning that the move would embolden shared enemies such as Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
A White House spokesman warned that Israel “smashing into Rafah” would not eradicate Hamas as he urged the country to find alternatives to the long-threatened assault on a city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering.
Biden’s red lines on a potential ground offensive in Gaza may have upended the U.S.-Israeli relationship as Israel prepares for a possible assault on the city of Rafah.
Whether Biden will appear on Ohio’s ballot is entangled in a legislative fight to keep foreign money out of ballot campaigns, a year after cash tied to a Swiss billionaire boosted a successful effort to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution.
In a party-line vote, the Ohio Republican-controlled state Senate advanced a bill that would relax a pre-convention deadline for Democrats to certify Biden as their nominee — while also outlawing foreign contributions to state ballot measure campaigns.
Biden is scheduled to visit the Seattle area today.
The House approved a resolution rejecting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cryptocurrency accounting guidance that the industry said has deterred banks from handling crypto customers, but Biden is promising he’ll veto the effort if it hits his desk.
A key Oval Office gatekeeper of the Trump administration, Madeleine Westerhout, took the stand at Donald Trump’s criminal trial yesterday as prosecutors began laying the groundwork for testimony from Michael Cohen, the former president’s one-time fixer.
The testimony came after the adult film actress, Stormy Daniels, spent parts of two days on the stand. She swung between defiance and vulnerability in the face of combative questions from Trump’s lawyers, who accused her of inventing a liaison with him.
Trump’s bid for a mistrial over Daniels’ salacious testimony was denied by the judge overseeing his Manhattan hush money trial.
Trump reportedly told oil executives and lobbyists at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort last month that they should donate $1 billion to his campaign because, if elected, he would roll back environmental rules that he said hampered their industry.
Hillary Clinton criticized campus protesters, saying young people “don’t know very much” about the history of the Middle East.
Colson Whitehead, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author slated to deliver a keynote speech at the UMass Amherst’s undergraduate commencement, withdrew after the arrests of some 130 people, including about 70 students, protesting Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
The University of Southern California held a hastily arranged party last night in place of its usual universitywide commencement ceremony amid harsh criticism of how it has handled pro-Palestinian protests on its lush quad.
There were no protesters or any direct mentions of the recent turmoil in the tight one-hour ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Jimmy Kimmel, the late night TV host, said in a videotaped greeting that “this class has been through a lot.”
Two blocks west of the White House, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters at George Washington University occupied the street in front of the residence of the school’s president, Ellen Granberg.
A group of Jewish Columbia students has written an emotional and forceful public letter that takes on one of the most divisive issues on college campuses: whether opposition to Israel should be equated with antisemitism.
University commencement season in New York City starts today, in a climate that is anything but normal.
Cornell University President Martha Pollack is ending her 7-year tenure as the head of the Ivy League school in upstate Ithaca — following months of turmoil including demonstrations and threats to Jewish students.
In a victory for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the court upheld a lower-court ruling against the ethics commission, created by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The state promised to appeal again.
The 5-0 ruling will at least temporarily cripple the ability of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government to conduct investigations and enforce penalties against those who violate state regulations.
The decision was issued as part of a long-running court battle in which Cuomo has challenged the ethics commission’s efforts to investigate his $5 million deal to write a book about his administration’s handling of the pandemic.
The state’s recently enacted early vote-by-mail law will remain on the books — at least for now — after a mid-level appeals court issued a decision in a case brought by Rep. Elise Stefanik, who chairs the House Republican Conference.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signaled her support for reauthorizing the city’s tiny red light camera program — but stopped short of calling for an expansion of the decades-old program.
Hochul signed Sammy’s Law, which grants New York City the authority to lower the citywide speed limit from 25 MPH.
Republican state Sen. Jake Ashby has had enough of the “same song and dance” over the delayed dispersal of taxpayer-donated funds for veterans’ causes.
A taxpayer-funded day care center operated by the state Assembly majority office that provides free child care services to a select group of Democratic lawmakers reopened quietly a few months ago in a renovated space in the Empire State Plaza concourse.
Proposed changes to the state’s “bottle bill” that are backed by environmentalists are facing increasing opposition from businesses and labor unions amid concerns about increased consumer costs and potential threats to jobs.
Lawmakers are racing to update trial procedures for accused perverts, after New York’s highest court threw out the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weintstein’s 2020 sex crimes conviction last month on a technicality.
The lawmakers, Michael Gianaris, the Senate deputy majority leader, and Amy Paulin, an assemblywoman, announced the proposed legislation at a news conference yesterday.
More than half a dozen New York City residents described encounters with people seeking their signature who did not make clear that their aim was to place the independent 2024 candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot.
Adams’ administration is mounting a push for state lawmakers to pass a set of bills loosening some of the rules that govern the city’s notoriously slow capital process, which city leaders say would allow major projects to get done more quickly and cheaply.
The mayor’s brother, Bernard Adams, has joined forces with a former model to start an organization that aims to improve New York City children’s access to arts and culture.
A Chinese entertainment magnate who pleaded guilty to making more than $10,000 in illegal political campaign donations to three candidates, agreed in federal court to give up his green card and leave the United States.
City Council leaders grilled the NYPD over “dangerous, unethical, unprofessional” social media posts by top officials — as well as $168 million in unplanned overtime costs including policing anti-Israel protests and migrant shelters.
More than 4,500 migrants are still pouring into the Big Apple each month — but New York City’s lefty comptroller Brad Lander is calling for an end to the Adams administration’s caps on shelter stays for asylum seekers.
A class-action lawsuit filed yesterday accuses New York City of discriminating against same-sex male couples who want to use in vitro fertilization to conceive children.
A teenage anti-Israel protester who vandalized a World War I memorial in Central Park earlier this week has been arrested — after his father turned him over to the cops, according to the NYPD and police sources.
A man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault for a machete attack on three police officers near Times Square during the 2022 New Year’s Eve celebration was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy wants a proposed county authority to purchase a large portion of The College of Saint Rose campus in a move that hinges on the state creating a new public redevelopment authority.
The former leader of the Niskayuna school district is drawing national attention after a racist poster depicting Lakers star LeBron James ended up displayed as part of a school art show at the school district he now leads in central New York.
Twelve candidates are vying for three seats in the May 21 election for Albany Public Library trustees.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor addressed a NYSBA gathering, telling attendees, “the only fairness the judicial process can give you is the process itself,” in a wide-ranging question-and-answer period with high school and college students.
Assemblyman Phil Steck endorsed fellow Democrat Lee Kindlon for Albany County district attorney against incumbent David Soares.
The prospective owners of a planned professional soccer franchise in Albany want to build an 8,000-seat downtown stadium that would anchor a $300 million entertainment district of hotels, restaurants, apartments and more.
Clean energy firm Plug Power disappointed Wall Street yesterday with its first quarter financial results.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
