Using smartphones increases boredom, instead of relieving it.

Studies document strong correlations between chronic boredom and social media addiction. But the reasons for this relationship will upend how you view social media.

The next time you feel the urge to scroll, click, or even glance at your phone, tamp down the urge even just to stave off boredom. Instead of keeping boredom at bay, your screen time intensifies boredom by increasing inattention, one of the main drivers of boredom. 

Outside lab settings, generation effects are illusory—making ads puzzling, rather than catchy and memorable.

Even more than hurtful words you can never unsay, an email is more long-lasting than a published article or book. Offended readers can easily search for it, share it, and reignite their anger at you.

Faced with a barrage of social media and shrinking attention spans, parents may feel powerless to influence their children’s reading habits. In reality, parents impact their kids’ reading fluency, level, and comprehension. 

According to countless studies, everyone admits to procrastinating, especially on writing tasks. Yet the origins of our urge to put off writing are surprising, and its effects, even more severe than most of us realize. 

Need to convey some less-than-stellar information to a client, patient, or parent? Deliver the bad news with the PROP Method to avoid pissing off readers and retain precious goodwill.

Currently, schools tout AI literacy as a necessary skill. But the damages inflicted by AI may far outweigh its benefits in the classroom. But you can counter these effects with some careful planning.

Writers who need to persuade an audience usually think about logos, ethos, and pathos. Or about what they need to say. But, ironically, where you put information can trump what you say. 

Save yourself the fat charge to your credit card from the books and courses that claim to teach speed reading, which claim readers can take in an entire page in a single eye fixation. But in reality, any skilled and determined reader can reduce the amount of time they spend poring over scientific papers or even the latest news by following four proven practices.

I remember the first time I received an essay written by ChatGPT. My student, a reluctant writer, wrote in sentence fragments and avoided commas like they were a disease.

Just when you think AI had already complicated our lives enough, you encounter something worse. The latest development is a service that guarantees AI-generated essays will register as human, no matter which AI detector you use.

For teachers of ELA and writing, ChatGPT seems like our calculator moment. The debut of the calculator terrified teachers who feared it might erode students’ math skills.