Digital Madness

Digital Madness
Author: Nicholas Kardaras
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2022-09-13
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1250278503

From the author of the provocative and influential Glow Kids, Digital Madness explores how we’ve become mad for our devices as our devices our driving us mad, as revolutionary research reveals technology's damaging effect on mental illness and suicide rates—and offers a way out. Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is at the forefront of psychologists sounding the alarm about the impact of excessive technology on younger brains. In Glow Kids, he described what screen time does to children, calling it “digital heroin”. Now, in Digital Madness, Dr. Kardaras turns his attention to our teens and young adults and looks at the mental health impact of tech addiction and corrosive social media. In Digital Madness, Dr. Kardaras answers the question of why young people’s mental health is deteriorating as we become a more technologically advanced society. While enthralled with shiny devices and immersed in Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat, our young people are struggling with record rates of depression, loneliness, anxiety, overdoses and suicide. What’s driving this mental health epidemic? Our immersion in toxic social media has created polarizing extremes of emotion and addictive dependency, while also acting as a toxic "digital social contagion”, spreading a variety of psychiatric disorders. The algorithm-fueled polarity of social media also shapes the brain's architecture into inherently pathological and reactive "black and white" thinking—toxic for politics and society, but also symptomatic of several mental disorders. Digital Madness also examines how the profit-driven titans of Big Tech have created our unhealthy tech-dependent lifestyle: sedentary, screen-staring, addicted, depressed, isolated and empty—all in the pursuit of increased engagement, data mining and monetization. But there is a solution. Dr. Kardaras offers a path out of our crisis, using examples from classical philosophy that encourage resilience, critical thinking and the pursuit of sanity-sustaining purpose in people’s lives. Digital Madness is a crucial book for parents, educators, therapists, public health professionals, and policymakers who are searching for ways to restore our young people’s mental and physical health.

Rant of the Mad Man

Rant of the Mad Man
Author: Charlie Greer
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2003-10
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0595300391

Charlie Greer let's it all hang out in this tell all book about the highs and lows of a struggling independent artist making his way through the topsy-turvy world of entertainment. Read along as Charlie burns every bridge he's ever crossed! A hilarious, "laugh out loud" must read!

Introducing Religion

Introducing Religion
Author: Robert S. Ellwood
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2024-08-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1040094988

Introducing Religion examines the different ways of looking at religion in the twenty-first century. Providing a broad overview to the discipline of religious studies, this new edition continues to introduce students to engaging and contemporary topics such as: sociology of religion psychology of religion history of religion religion and art religious ethics popular religion religion and violence Thoroughly updated throughout, this sixth edition includes new coverage of current debates and hot topics in the field, such as concerns about "essentialism" in religion, the importance of categorization, and the role of psychology in religious experience. This textbook is fundamental reading for students approaching this subject area for the first time.

Automatic Society, Volume 1

Automatic Society, Volume 1
Author: Bernard Stiegler
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2018-03-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1509506322

In July 2014 the Belgian newspaper Le Soir claimed that France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and the United States may lose between 43 and 50 per cent of their jobs within ten to fifteen years. Across the world, integrated automation, one key result of the so-called ‘data economy’, is leading to a drastic reduction in employment in all areas - from the legal profession to truck driving, from medicine to stevedoring. In this first volume of a new series, the leading cultural theorist Bernard Stiegler advocates a radical solution to the crisis posed by automation and consumer capitalism more generally. He calls for a decoupling of the concept of ‘labour’ (meaningful, intellectual participation) from ‘employment’ (dehumanizing, banal work), with the ultimate aim of eradicating ‘employment’ altogether. By doing so, new and alternative economic models will arise, where individuals are no longer simply mined for labour, but also actively produce what they consume. Building substantially on his existing theories and engaging with a wide range of figures - from Deleuze and Foucault to Bill Gates and Alan Greenspan - Automatic Society will appeal to students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities, as well as anyone concerned with the central question of the future of work.

Do the Movies Have a Future?

Do the Movies Have a Future?
Author: David Denby
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2012-10-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1439110093

In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the movies, once America’s primary popular art form, have become an endangered species. Do the Movies Have a Future? is a rousing and witty call to arms. In these sharp and engaging essays and reviews, New Yorker movie critic David Denby weighs in on “conglomerate aesthetics,” as embodied in the frenzied, weightless action spectacles that dominate the world’s attention, and “platform agnosticism,” the notion that movies can be watched on smaller and smaller screens: laptops, tablets, even phones. At the same time, Denby reaffirms that movies are our national theater, and in this exhilarating book he celebrates such central big movies as Avatar and The Social Network as well as small but resonant triumphs like There Will Be Blood and The Tree of Life. Denby joyously celebrates what remains of the shared culture in romantic comedy, high school movies, and chick flicks; he assesses the expressive triumphs and failures of auteurs Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Pedro Almodóvar, and David Fincher. Refusing nostalgia, he mines the past for strength, examining the changing nature of stardom and the careers of Joan Crawford, Otto Preminger, and Victor Fleming, and the continuing self-invention of Clint Eastwood. And he recreates the excitement of reading two critics who embodied the film culture of their times, James Agee and Pauline Kael. Wry, passionate, and incisive, Do the Movies Have a Future? is both a feast of good writing and a challenge to fight back. It is an essential guide for movie lovers looking for ammunition and hope.

Big Book of Random Crap Book One (With ISBN)

Big Book of Random Crap Book One (With ISBN)
Author: Sam Backhouse
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2015-10-28
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1326462938

SAM BACKHOUSE'S BIG BOOK OF RANDOM CRAP Book One (2nd edition with added ISBN Number which I accidentally forgot to add on first edition. Another alteration is the spine font is different than the original). This book contains every little book of Random Crap (books 1-7) created from June or July 2012 to November 2013 all in one monster of a book. The book contains comic strips, short stories, poems, doodles, childhood drawings, fake adverts, crowd scenes, crap jokes, crap puzzles, experimental comic strip pages and lots more... This book would make an ideal present for anyone who loves comics and British humour. The main characters I draw include L'il Shrimp, Gobby the boy who never stops talking, Peter the Pissed off Parent, Longface (the boy with the stretchy body), Mister Mad, Rude Dog, Pissed off Snowman, Eric Rose and his big nose, Professor Amazing, Supermarketman, Me (occasionally!) and lots of one off characters... Unsuitable for children. www.sambackhouse.com

The Golden Nugget “Matildas’ Night out & the Fortune Teller”

The Golden Nugget “Matildas’ Night out & the Fortune Teller”
Author: Mina Laroashun
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2018-12-20
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1546266771

The Golden Nugget “Matilda’s Night Out and the Fortune Teller” is a fun short fiction story meant to offer its readers a bit of adventure and enjoyment. The story is a contemporary urban fairy tale that is bestowed upon the story characters by requiring that they each use “magical realism,” which is needed in order to create positive change and which arrives by way of encouragement of a warm, very likeable well-traveled experienced fortune teller. Unlike Cinderella, the magic of the fairy tale continues on into the everyday world in which the characters live. An unexpected special occasion and night out results in all having a fun time and a welcome surprise. The story identifies the significance of past, ancient story tales of many world cultures, which still influence us today for positive good. Folklore and foxfire used in past tradition is known today as contemporary folk magic, which gives each of us a bit of stardust and offers each of us hope today in understanding why superstitions, personal beliefs, good versus evil, the powers of “magical realism,” positive thought and one’s belief in self-magic reveal how folktales intend to heal the human spirit and instill one’s belief in both natural and self-magic. The purpose of the book is to encourage each of us to appreciate the true meaning of the first gypsy legends, who were the first trendsetter pioneers and human legends, whom both established and carried on enjoyable American traditions. The book encourages each of us to “never stop believing in the magic.” If you know of at least three superstitions you personally believe in or know of just for fun and know of a few special fairy tales, you should enjoy this book.

Azure Dying

Azure Dying
Author: C W Gordon
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2011-08-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1612049044

Tortured by the memories of his incestuous upbringing and the specter of his deviant mother, Adam Parker has decided to take all the pain and anguish of his life and "give it back." Adam's madness plunges the city of Austin into a nightmare of senseless murder. The city is left to wonder who is the menace that calls himself "D" and how can he perpetrate his heinous crimes while leaving so little evidence.----Chosen to end the nightmare is Sergeant Stanley Bodinger. He's a seasoned detective who's bent on tracking down the serial madman. Alcoholic ex-cop Frank Castro is also on the case. Inspired by the grace of a wealthy client, the private investigator sees it's time to change his ways. Just when things are looking up, Frank's world becomes chaos.----Azure Dying is the story of three men. Three men set on a collision course to destruction...of which only one may survive.---- "Readers will be unable to put Azure Dying down. Extending far beyond realism to a realm most people never experience, and probably do not care to contemplate, the book takes readers on a twisted journey into abuse, alcoholism and serial killing. A disturbing, well-written page-turner." - Kirkus Reviews-

Media Literacy in Action

Media Literacy in Action
Author: Renee Hobbs
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2024-10-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1538185989

There’s never been a more important time for students to develop media literacy competencies. When students ask critical questions about the media they consume, they develop fundamental knowledge and critical thinking skills that prepare them for life, work, and meaningful citizenship. Media Literacy in Action addresses learners who are simultaneously active as both creators and consumers of media messages. At the same time, the book recognizes that everyone is vulnerable to media influence because of our dependence on the instant gratification and feelings of connectedness that digital platforms provide. To thrive in a media-saturated society, people need to ask critical questions about what we watch, see, listen to, read, and use. This book gives students those tools. Key features of the second edition: Critical examination of AI technologies, algorithmic personalization, data privacy and surveillance, and the increased global regulation of digital platforms Attention to media literacy for empowerment and protection Inquiry-oriented approach to learning that cultivates intellectual curiosity and creative expression Full-color presentation with figures and photos to increase student engagement Each chapter includes: Media Literacy Trailblazers: Profiles of key thinkers and their theories connect students with the discipline of media literacy Media Literacy DISCourse (NEW): Visual representations of media literacy theoretical principles help learners internalize the practice of asking critical questions as they respond to specific media examples Learning in Action (NEW): Summary and vocabulary sections combine with Analyze, Create, Reflect, and Act activities to empower students to apply ideas from each chapter. Supplemental Materials available at www.mlaction.com: Students can review key ideas, learn about more Media Literacy Trailblazers, and watch videos aligned with each chapter Instructors can access a Teacher’s Guide of best practices, in-class activities, homework, and projects. Also available are chapter summaries, lecture slides, YouTube playlists, and test materials.