Over-Simulated

Staying human in a post-human world

by Todd Essig, Ph.D.

Future Nostalgia and Defensively Using the Instant Moment

The future no longer provides a comfortable home for human imagination; its discontinuities are becoming impossible to imagine. But rather than mourn the loss, we increasingly turn to the instant moment of always on connected culture. Read More

Ask Your Magazine (or Your Doctor) About Psychoanalysis

Cherishing one's inner life is made difficult by the always-connected demands of the digital world. Psychoanalysis can help and accurate portrayals of psychoanalysis, such as by Molly Knight Raskin in the current print edition of PT, provide helpful reminders. Read More

The Dehumanizing Consequences of Online K-12 Education

The unintended and often hidden harm from K-12 online courses just may outweigh the obvious benefits. Read More

So Not a Pane in the Glass: When Social Networks Work

Two recent examples of social networks are helping fully embodied people be better people: revolutionary political action and hydroponic window farms. They have more in common than you might think. Read More

The 5 Best Books of 2010 for Staying Human in a Post-Human World

With 2010 coming to a close, here are 5 books published this year that help us think through the challenges of building a good life in the digital age. Read More

The "Real" National Sandwich Day: More life, not less technology

Build a post-Thanksgiving sandwich-based tradition of celebrating friends and food. Read More

TSA body scans through the lens of Annie Sprinkle's cervix (NSFW)

Transform being viewed from an objectifying intrusion into a shared commitment to collective safety and community. Don't revolt, take control Read More

From Screen to Fantasy and Back: What People Really Do at Online Dating Sites

People don't just want the efficient monogamy marketplaces online dating sites claim to be. People want the rich opportunities to explore the full range of human desire those sites actually provide. Read More

If you see Juan Williams at the airport, be afraid—be very, very afraid

Watch what you say; participating in the hate speech made normal by Fox News makes it easier to hate. Read More

The "Sweet Spot" That Makes Online Dating Sites "Sticky"

Online dating sites are remarkably adept at finding the psychological sweet spot that keeps people coming back for more. Read More

9/11/01: If you don't remember, you forget

Taking time to remember the events of 9 years ago can help heal destructive divisions. When you're feeling helpless, the best thing you can do is help someone. Read More

Confusing race and religion is dangerous

The President has as much Muslim blood as you or I have: none. There is no such thing as Muslim or Jewish or Catholic blood. Religion is not race and it is dangerous to confuse them. Read More

Advice for our techno-present: "Turn off, tune out, drop in"

Merely waiting for the next text, tweet, or email uses up some, however minimally, reserves of attention. So, maybe it is wise to take some time each day to turn off, tune out, and drop in. Read More

Millennials as Generation Us, not Generation Me

Today's new adults are the first generation of digital natives to come of age. And they are getting an underserved rap for being shallow victims of the self-esteem movement. More than Generation Me, they are Generation Us. Read More

The threat of naked techno-emperors

We should pay very close attention when a technologist as accomplished and gifted as Jaron Lanier takes issue with the outrageous predictions and rhetorical excesses of the technological elite. But it is up to both the producers and the consumers of emerging technologies not to confuse the technical with the human. Read More

How the stupidity of crowds helps kill a planet

Our increasingly networked world can magnify both the wisdom of crowds and the stupidity of crowds. After all, networks exhibit tremendous content-apathy: crap flows as freely as gold. Understanding ill-considered collective decisions, such as the July '10 US Senate failure to enact climate change legislation, benefits from understanding the structure and function of networks. Read More

Lessons from "The Hatred of the Gibson"

Celebrity meltdowns can often teach valuable lessons. Consider Mel Gibson. "The Hatred of the Gibson," a story without a resurrection at the end, shows that hatred is corrosive. Hatred almost always hurts the hater. While you don't always see it, while you may try to ignore it, the foundation of someone's character can get so worn away by hate that the person's facade cracks and falls. Read More

In 'Books vs. Bits' kids are kids and parents matter

When it comes to trying to understand the Internet's psychological consequences, Jimmy Durante, the old vaudvillian with the prodigious schnoozola, has it right, "Everybody wants ta get inta da act!" But when it comes to literacy and quality education, does it make sense to talk about children as though they were lone warriors wrangling information. Or is it better to once again realize that children learn from what we adults do and how we care for them. Read More

Jeopardy! gets a computer champion: Does it put our humanity in the form of a question?

While an IBM computer named Watson is on the verge of becoming Jeopardy? champion—something that is a pretty significant milestone in natural language processing systems—we need to remember that humans made the technology. Watson's eventual victory is actually a victory for our species. Read More

Here's how to wash the Gulf oil from YOUR hands

The only way to wash oil from the BP Gulf spill dripping from our hands is to shoulder personal responsibility and work for a future of renewable energy. Read More

4 reasons for good-bye: Keep 'social networking’ from becoming ’social notworking’

Saying good bye is never easy, but it is worth it. Don't hide behind the illusion that social networks make saying good-bye unnecessary. Instead, embrace the full human experiences that can come from the process of saying good-bye. Read More

Facebook Fixes Privacy Tools, Not Privacy Problems

Facebook may be getting the new privacy tools right, but their underlying understanding of the psychology of privacy remains misguided and potentially dangerous. Read More

‘More human than otherwise’: Reducing the stigma of mental illness

A Public Service Announcement written by consumers at the Rockland Psychiatric Center with guidance from filmmakers Alicia Salzer, MD, and Nikole Cattell. Mary Barber, MD is the Clinical Director at Rockland Psychiatric Center and she wrote that the project specifically was "made to raise awareness and reduce stigma around people with mental illness." Read More

Telephone Therapy Study Oversold, Polarization Illustrated

Discussion about technologically-mediated psychotherapy too often become polarized arguments rather than thoughtful debates. When the media oversold a small, preliminary study about CBT telephone therapy for depression the reflective space between technophilic enthusiasm and technophobic resistance got lost. Read More

A Clinical Portrait of Excessive Online Porn Use (Part 10)

Three years after the therapy ends, Paul contacts his therapist a final time. But for what reason? Read More

A Clinical Portrait of Excessive Online Porn Use (Part 9)

Paul faces a life-defining choice and the challenge of making that choice an authentic, genuine one.

The story of Paul and his girls begins to end with a struggle in therapy, a war actually, in which Paul discovers life and the pleasures of living, all while challenging his therapist's empathy and openness.

In this installment of "Paul and His Girls," the story moves towards a climax with an outbreak of hostility between Paul and the therapist. Read More

A Clinical Portrait of Excessive Online Porn Use (Part 6)

Continuing the story of "Paul and His Girls" with a brief journey into clinical theory and one therapist's need (mine) to understand this confusing patient. Read More

A Clinical Portrait of Excessive Online Porn Use (Part 5)

Continuing the story of "Paul and His Girls" with an installment in which I learn more about the kinds of images Paul includes as "one of my girls." Read More

Todd Essig, Ph.D., is a training and supervising psychoanalyst at the William Alanson White Institute with a clinical practice treating individuals and couples.

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