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Behavior : All Tech Considered Tracking how technology — from the simplest tools like pencils, to the most advanced artificial intelligence — is affecting and changing our individual habits, but also group behavior and society.
All Tech Considered

All Tech Considered

Tech, Culture and Connection

Behavior

Monday

FAA May Stop Making You Power Off Those Electronics

An expert FAA advisory committee has recommended that airline passengers be allowed to use most personal electronic devices below 10,000 feet. Leonardo Patrizi/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Leonardo Patrizi/iStockphoto.com

Behavior

FAA May Stop Making You Power Off Those Electronics

An expert advisory committee recommended Monday that the Federal Aviation Administration allow the use of some personal electronic devices during takeoff and landing. But while many passengers are eager to use their tablets and music players all flight long, it may be months before any rules are changed.

FAA May Stop Making You Power Off Those Electronics

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Friday

Phantom Phone Vibrations: So Common They've Changed Our Brains?

Phantom Vibration Syndrome: That phenomenon where you think your phone is vibrating when it's not. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Behavior

Phantom Phone Vibrations: So Common They've Changed Our Brains?

The feeling that your phone is vibrating when it isn't has been around long enough to warrant scientific research. One psychologist recommends taking regular breaks from our phones to keep anxiety down.

Phantom Phone Vibrations: So Common They've Changed Our Brains?

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Tuesday

Tuesday

Why Spying On Our Kids To Solve Cyberbullying Might Not Work

Cyberbullies can reach victims around the clock – before school, during school, even while lying in bed at night. And in public online spaces, everybody else finds out about it. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Society

Why Spying On Our Kids To Solve Cyberbullying Might Not Work

A school district in California has attracted some suspicion and much media attention for hiring a company to monitor the social media pages of 14,000 students. But an expert says teaching kids empathy is a better approach than spying on them.

Monday

Saturday

Will New iPhone Colors Create A Hierarchy Among Users?

The new iPhone 5c is displayed during an Apple product announcement Tuesday in Cupertino, Calif. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Behavior

Will New iPhone Colors Create A Hierarchy Among Users?

Apple's introduction of two new iPhones — one, made of plastic in bright colors; the other, a more expensive aluminum model available in gold — may create two classes of users. So it will be easy to tell who paid the big bucks and who decided to go cheap.

Monday

The End Of Buttons: The New Gesture-Control Era

BlackBerry smartphones on a table during a "BlackBerry Brunch" in June in Berlin. Timur Emek/Getty Images hide caption

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Timur Emek/Getty Images

Behavior

The End Of Buttons: The New Gesture-Control Era

The newest smartphones are abandoning both physical and on-screen buttons in favor of gestures. As with so much behavior change ushered in by technology, the change happens before we take wider notice.

The End Of Buttons: The New Gesture-Control Era

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Thursday

Teens Use Twitter To Thumb Rides

Teenagers turn to their phones and social media to find rides. Tanggineka Hall/Youth Radio hide caption

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Tanggineka Hall/Youth Radio

Social Web

Teens Use Twitter To Thumb Rides

YR Media

Need a ride to the party or the concert? Instead of making endless phone calls, these days teens turn to social media to arrange transportation. It's called ridesharing, a form of cyber-hitchhiking used by a generation that isn't rushing to get a driver's license or dream car.

Teens Use Twitter To Thumb Rides

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Sunday

Digital Seen Surpassing TV In Capturing Our Time

A study shows digital media consumption will surpass TV viewing for the first time this year. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Behavior

Digital Seen Surpassing TV In Capturing Our Time

2013 is the first year in which Americans will spend more time on digital online devices like laptops, smartphones and tablets than viewing traditional TV. Still, households that subscribe to Netflix watch about the same amount of traditional TV as non-Netflix households.

Tuesday

In The Digital Age, The Family Photo Album Fades Away

In the future, a hard drive full of photographs may serve as the digital analog of a pile of old pictures. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Behavior

In The Digital Age, The Family Photo Album Fades Away

For years, it was easy for parents to organize, assemble and pass along the story of their children's lives in photographs. As we've moved to the digital age, there are challenges for this rite of passage. When our digital lives are ephemeral, how do we preserve our kids' childhoods?

Wednesday

Online Marketers Take Note Of Brains Wired For Rewards

Popular online games like FarmVille use powerful reward systems to get players to spend real-world money on virtual items. Zynga/AP hide caption

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Zynga/AP

Behavior

Online Marketers Take Note Of Brains Wired For Rewards

Are you addicted to technology? Do you check email obsessively, tweet without restraint or post on Facebook during Thanksgiving dinner? Many techies and marketers are tapping into powerful reward mechanisms in our brain to make their products as compelling and profitable as possible.

Online Marketers Take Note Of Brains Wired For Rewards

Listen · 5:39
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Tuesday

Thursday