Cellphones have become a constant in many of our lives.  They are the first thing we reach for in the morning and the last thing we put away at night.  This situation has led to plenty of complaints and worries about these devices.  However, there are upsides of cellphones we can focus on to keep that positive outlook. Cheaper Long Distance The ability to talk to people outside of your area code used to cost extra.  This feature could be costly.  The standard cell phone plans quickly dropped long-distance charges.  While many things have opened our ability to work remotely, that may be one of the most impactful ones.  Think about those zoom meetings if people had to pay long-distance charges in... Read more

Our modern communication within a group is dominated by tools like MS Teams and Slack.  These messaging tools are the outcome of several years of working on the problem of quick and thorough communication.  We have looked at how e-mail is intended for lengthy or cumbersome conversations.  Now we look at tools that are designed for a quick response and often a short one.  These provide for much more transactional communication (Q&A) rather than full dialogues.  While the tools can be a nuisance and disrupt our day, there are positives in using them. A Paper Trail We have looked at the problem of forgetting details in a complicated conversation.  This issue is still a common one faced in simple conversations... Read more