Thoughts.

I write about the messy place where technology and humanity smash into each other – and how we can make both better.

Some programming updates

Some bad news: I’m winding down my weekly 3 Simple Things email, for now. And I’ll be writing here less frequently going forward. But the good news: It’s for a really great reason.

March 31, 2025

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This year’s college students on social, mobile, and more

Last night in class, I turned the room around for one of my favorite parts of the semester, our focus group class. Every year, instead of standing up front droning on, I spend a session asking my students about their digital lives – and every year, I learn something new.

March 25, 2025

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The Streisand effect – you can’t hide things

Over twenty years ago, a photographer took a few thousand aerial photos of the California coast. This work was part of the California Coastal Records Project, an initiative to document the state’s shoreline for conservation and other purposes.

March 17, 2025

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Slides are free

When I was in school, every classroom used to have a bulky metal box that lived on a wheely cart. The overhead projector. It was a whole thing.

March 3, 2025

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Websites aren’t technical projects anymore

A generation ago, it took a lot of technical know-how to build a website. So, the people that built and managed them were technical people. And, despite a parade of advances in the years between, things just kind of stayed that way.

February 18, 2025

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You can’t give too much away

People aren’t buying your book, your course, your tour, or whatever other knowledge offering because you have secret information. They buy it because you’re offering a more convenient, more compellingly presented, or just otherwise better experience.

February 3, 2025

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Some recent AI questions

In a few weeks, I’ll be heading down to Austin to speak at SXSW about communicating in the age of AI. As I’m preparing my notes for this conversation, I’ve recently come across a few questions that have been nagging at me. Figure I’d share them.

January 27, 2025

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TikTok was never social media

Well, they did it. After years of will-they-won’t-they, TikTok went dark in the US on Sunday. I’m kind of amazed it actually happened. But then it unhappened. But either way, there’s one thought about TikTok that I could never shake: it wasn’t really social media.

January 21, 2025

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A “blanding” backlash?

What do Johnson & Johnson, Eddie Bauer, Airbnb, and Balmain have in common? Baby shampoo, rugged flannels, beach house rentals, and $3,000 handbags aren’t often stocked in the same aisle. But, as of 2025, they all have logotypes that look pretty similar.

January 13, 2025

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Some predictions for 2025

With 2025 dawning tomorrow, here is my final entry into list season: An unscientific set of predictions, along with my confidence level in each.

December 31, 2024

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