Note to Self

Your third challenge: Avoid a trending topic, or “must read” today. Consume only what's valuable to you. Issued by Cates Holderness, who launched The Dress meme, and Ann Blair, historian of information overload. More instructions here: http://wny.cc/XOEXS

Tidy up your apps and transform your phone into a portal of wisdom. Brought to you by "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" author Marie Kondo herself. More information here: http://wny.cc/XPaMH

No multi-tasking today. Work on one thing at a time, and give each task your full focus. For more information: http://wny.cc/XLutv

All of the information you need about information overload. Sign up for Note to Self's Infomagical project at wnyc.org/infomagical!

Caterina Fake (the person who popularized the term "FOMO") talks with Anil Dash (the person who coined the term "JOMO"). Turns out, they're good friends.

Two Dots game director David Hohusen on what it's like to balance "caring about users' well-being" with "designing an addictive game." The brave man came back!

If you had to guess, how many facts have you taken in today? Dr. Daniel Levitin says it's probably way too many to process.

Love it or hate it, there's at least one important thing only voicemail can do. A reprise of one of our favorite episodes from 2015.

Your kid's seven new LEGO kits really do matter for the future of creative thinking.

Caitlin Dewey, one of our favorite technology and culture critics/newsletter curators, picked five stories of the year for your listening (and actually relaxing into the idea that we don't REALLY have to care about EVERYTHING) pleasure.

Why Marina Abramović, one of the world’s most famous performance artists, is making you sit in total silence for 30 minutes before a "magic" performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations.

What to do in the face of real life zombie apocalypse? Slate's newest Dear Prudence – the one and only Mallory Ortberg – advises listeners on dealing with the most annoying technology users.

The time is ripe for our step-by-step guide on handling offensive posts on your social media feeds. The Thanksgiving table too.

We're pretty sure "photo clutter" is about a lot more than tidying up. We're talking about how, why, and when we're using your cameras.

European officials believe encryption software was instrumental in allowing the Paris attackers to coordinate their actions in secret. Manoush talked with WNYC's Brian Lehrer about the challenges of encrypted technology and national security. We thought this would be useful as the terms swirl around, so we wanted to share it with the rest of you. We'll be back with our usual Note to Self podcast tomorrow.

Last week, a small Colorado town discovered that dozens of students had been taking and trading nude photographs, shaking up the parents, police, schools, and even the football team. This week, we're having a discussion about the murky consequences of teen sexting.

Some coincidences seem just a little bit too, well, coincidental, especially when you consider the technology recording our every move. This episode, author Walter Kirn talks about the line between caution and paranoia... and comes down on the side of paranoia.

Your digital photos are stressing you out. We're here to help: Welcome to the Note to Self Photo Decluttering System That Will Make You Feel Better About Your Mortality and More.

We tend to click on things we agree with already. Social media networks like to feed us the things we'll click on. This week, we talk with two professional Internet readers from BuzzFeed about why that could be a problem, and get their tips on widening our every day nets.

We’re examining moments of closeness — when texting encourages intimacy between us, and when those messages really just create the illusion of deeper connection. Featuring Fusion's Kashmir Hill, author Sherry Turkle, and more.

A bonus episode of Note to Self featuring Sherry Turkle, acclaimed psychologist, researcher, and author of "Reclaiming Conversation."

Science says you really don't need to worry about carcinogens and WiFi. We sort through all of the research with Only Human's Mary Harris.

A story of racism and deep learning, otherwise known as "the best, best reason for diversity in tech."

With the latest iOS update, you can start using ad blockers on your phone. But should you? Meet the ethical quandary at the heart of the Internet as we know it.

A conversation with Elan Gale, creator of "Texts From Your Ex." Because 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).

"Price discrimination differentiation is, simply put, trying to charge different people, different prices for the same item, based on their willingness to pay."A question about the complicated ethics of "dynamic pricing," and the piece of actuarial literature that brought discrimination to light.

A back-to-school reprise of one of our favorite episodes: How at least one 16-year-old uses the device giving adults so much angst.

Tips from a professional online profile ghostwriter. Because of course that's a thing.

This week, we're exploring the future of creativity, the best ways to brainstorm, and the importance of free-association, all through the lens of every techie's favorite toy: LEGO.

Sure, a really cute picture of a really cute toddler can go viral. But not everyone chooses to post pictures of their kids online.

Manoush visits Etsy's Usability Lab to figure out why she might buy six sweaters she never wears.

Tech entrepreneur Tristan Harris imagines technology without constant notifications - and a funding system that incentivizes techies to build it.

A summer version of our Bored and Brilliant project, designed to get you rethinking your relationship with your smartphone. Works equally well on vacation, or when you just WISH you were on vacation.

"Book of Numbers" author Joshua Cohen answers the question: If we know people are only going to skim, how does that change the way we write?

There's a not-so-crazy chance that we'll have the opportunity to vacation to space in our lifetimes. That said, commercial space travel is a high-stakes proposition — one that has become even riskier and more expensive in recent months. Plus: It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you pee in a bag.

Author and introvert advocate extraordinaire Susan Cain answers a listener's question about finding quiet places in a buzzing world.

Silicon Valley thinks Gwyneth Paltrow might be onto something, and they're creating the data sets to prove it.

Daniel Rigmaiden is a criminal. A very hard to capture criminal. It took the use of a secret police weapon that sent beams through the walls of his apartment to track him down. But, despite long odds, he figured out the secret. And his discovery has changed how we understand citizen surveillance. A collaboration with Radiolab.

Reading on screens is changing your brain and making it harder to finish a thick book. Here's why it's happening and some ideas for what to do about it.

Turnitin and programs like it are used to fight plagiarism in a third of high schools and half of colleges nationwide. The system is pretty much air tight... but it also reveals a pretty fundamental truth: It's tough to say anything new about Romeo and Juliet, especially when you're a teenager responding to the same old prompt.

To introduce Note to Self — we're bringing you an episode that is about exactly that: the self. Meet Crystal Knows, an email-writing service that takes "personalization" up a notch.

New Tech City got a new name! We're now called Note to Self. And we're glad you're here. Listen here for more on our renaming.

Easy to find, but also easy to miss, pro-eating disorder websites are all over the internet. But what should we do about them?

We talk with a father of four diagnosed with adult-onset ADHD, struggling to function as a tech executive in an increasingly distracting world.

There's something about video games that makes them a magnet for kids questioning their gender identity. Is it a safe space?

Three useful tips for any working woman, or anyone who employs women, from Laszlo Bock, Google’s head of Human Resources.

Could smartwatches make us less addicted to our phones? Listen to this techies's argument for using more tech to beat back a tech obsession.

IBM's Watson won Jeopardy. Now, it wants to win your trust in the kitchen — and beyond. This week, we test out the premise of cognitive computing. And cook an avocado.

We spent weeks talking with teachers, parents and ed tech experts all over the country. Here's what we've learned about learning today.

Teachers are using apps in class, raising privacy issues for kids and parents. Classroom management app ClassDojo has been thrust to the front of an conversation about student data and privacy stretching far beyond little monster avatars. On this week's episode, we talk with Sam Chaudhary, co-founder of ClassDojo, Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, and a community of parents and teachers about the obligations — legal and otherwise — techies have to today's kids.